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Proposal Details

Proposal ID	508
Proposal	PLATFORM: Immigration
Presenter	Platform Committee presenter, Illinois Green Party sponsor
Floor Manager	David Strand
Phase	Closed
Discussion	07/19/2010 - 08/01/2010
Voting	08/02/2010 - 08/08/2010
Result	Adopted
Presens Quorum	31 0.6666
Consens Quorum	68 0.6666 of Yes and No Votes

Background

6-4.6 BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:

The immigration section to the 2004 platform was very good. However, since then, particularly starting with the massive immigrants rights marches in 2006, this issue has become even more intense. Anti-immigrant demagoguery is rampant We need to make the Green Party's stand for social justice absolutely clear. This proposal makes clear the Green Party's support for legalization and for the other immediate and longer term demands of the movement.

Green Party activists from Illinois, Ohio, and Arizona, in particular, have been involved in working on this proposal. We have also incorporated the proposal from the National Women's Caucus on the trafficking of persons as another clause in this proposal.

We believe this proposal has wide support among Green Party activists involved in the immigrants rights movement.

We also recognize that immigration is a very emotional issue and that Green Party activists not involved in the immigration issue may not understand why we take such a strong stand. The platform proposal includes some explanation of our stand, but more needs to be written to help other sincere people understand our position. We hope that activists on immigration can be found to write more detailed explanations of the social justice stance on immigration.

Proposal

6-4.1 SPONSOR(S):

6-4.2 CONTACT:

Jack Ailey, 312-802-9004, jjailey@comcast.net

6-4.3 SUBJECT/TITLE:

Revision of GPUS Platform, Chapter II, Section Immigration/Emigration (IL)

6-4.7 PROPOSAL:

Substitute the following language as the new text for the Immigration/Emigration section of Chapter II of the GPUS platform.

"Chapter 2: Social Justice
Section Title: Immigration/Emigration

Immigration and particularly the large number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. has become a hot political issue. Laws to oppress immigrants have been proposed in the Congress. Millions of immigrants and supporters of justice for immigrants have marched in the streets. Politicians have stirred up anti-immigrant sentiment among sections of the U.S. population.

It also must be acknowledged that the trigger for such an influx of immigrants in this country has been largely due to unfair US trade policies. If it were economically possible to provide for their families many would choose to remain in their native countries. Any immigration policy should be seen a way to address all people’s humanitarian needs as we undo the damage to local communities and chart a course toward sustainable local economies.

The GPUS stands firmly for social justice for all those living in this country regardless of their immigration status. Above all, policy and law must be humane, Anything less would be inconsistent with our Green Values, and with our nation’s values.

The GPUS accepts as a goal a world in which persons can freely choose to live in and work in any county he or she desires. We recognize that this would be impractical without reciprocity between nations. We seek that reciprocity as a practical goal. Countries do have a right to know the identity of persons seeking to enter. They also have the right to limit who can come in to protect public safety.

The U.S. needs a complete overhaul of its immigration laws. Our current situation has created extreme social injustice. Millions of people are living and working in the U.S. with no legal status, making them subject to extreme exploitation and abuse. Immigration raids are terrorizing the immigrant community. Families are being broken up. Employer abuses of undocumented workers are rampant.

The Green Party must consider immigration issues from an international standpoint, taking into account international labor and environmental standards, and human rights.

The following proposals may not yield perfect answers, but they provide better answers than the status quo. We must recognize that there cannot be any true solutions to the conflicts created by immigration until we are able to organize globally to overcome the power of multinational corporations, which are engaged in an unending campaign to drive down workers’ living standards everywhere. International cooperation and solidarity among labor organizations, to advance the rights of labor and raise such living standards globally, are essential to combat this trend. Until the power of the multinationals is curbed, we will continue to be confronted with seemingly “no win” choices.

While working toward that goal, we propose the following immigration policies, consistent with the Ten Key Values.

1. The undocumented immigrants who are already residing and working in the United States, and their families, should be granted a legal status which includes the chance to become U.S. citizens. Persons should be excluded from this process only if they present a clear and present danger to other members of our society. The level of fees required for this process should not be a burden on low income workers. In any path to citizenship created to provide an orderly and appropriate resolution of the status of persons currently in the United States without proper documentation, we demand a recognition of past, uncredited payments into the Social Security System as part of any fees assessed for regularization of status. In regard to who should have a right to come and live and work in the U.S. we believe the following policies are fair:

(a) The Green Party calls for permanent border passes to all citizens of Mexico and Canada whose identity can be traced and verified. The “matricula consular" should be accepted as one means of proving one's identify. Work permits for citizens of Mexico and Canada must be easily obtainable, thereby decriminalizing the act of gainful employment. This action would help eliminate exploitation of undocumented persons by criminals engaged in human contraband (coyotes) and unethical employers. It would also help ensure that taxes will be paid in each corresponding nation per its laws. These measures will also help temporary residents from Mexico and Canada to secure driving privileges and liability insurance.

(b) All persons fleeing political, racial, religious, or other types of persecution must be welcomed and given permanent resident status. The history of arbitrary denial of political asylum claims must be ended. Particular attention should be given to those minorities who are political exiles and refugees and those whose lives would be at risk if asylum is not granted.

(c) Family reunification must be a priority in accepting applications for permanent residency. The years of waiting that families are currently put through must be ended.

(d) Permanent residency should not be denied based on political views, racial or national origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, or any other arbitrary basis.

(e) There are many countries in the world where the economic policies and military actions of the U.S. government or U.S. based corporations have caused extreme hardships. The peoples of these countries deserve special consideration if they wish to come to the U.S. to escape intolerable conditions created by our government or U.S, corporations.

(f) We must keep faith with our commitment to the United Nations, to assist in the resettlement, including to our own country, of refugees currently stranded in refugee camps in other parts of the world.

(g) All those who are issued work permits must have the option to come and go from the U.S. as they desire. They must also have the option of remaining in the U.S. and becoming U.S. Citizens.

2. Recognizing that a just reform of immigration policy may take some time, the Green Party supports:

(a) Measures to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain drivers licenses if they can prove their identity and pass the required tests. This will improve road safety and allow the undocumented who are driving in any case to obtain insurance.

(b) Measures to give legal status to undocumented immigrants who graduate from high school in the U.S. and who are otherwise qualified, to allow them to attend colleges and universities on an equal basis with other high school graduates. The Green Party is opposed to efforts to force undocumented youth into becoming cannon fodder for the U.S. military as the price for legal status.

(c) Reduce wait lists and make the system work more efficiently: current numeric caps on immigrant visas must be increased. The current system of quotas and preferences has to be thoroughly and realistically reformed. Current backlogs must be brought up to date as soon as possible. Wait times for processing and resolving immigration benefit applications should be reduced to no more than six months. Pre-1996 screening criteria for legal permanent residency and citizenship applications should be restored.

(d) The understandable concern about immigrant workers competing for jobs with current citizens cannot and should not be addressed by criminalizing undocumented immigration or punishing fellow victims of U.S. corporatist policies. Instead, we must reverse these policies. Among other things, we should repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, Fast Track and other corporate globalization policies. We must stop using our tax dollars to subsidize corporate agribusiness and to promote poverty in Latin America, and start using them to help reward environmentally responsible family farmers, encourage improved infrastructure and economic conditions in Latin America, and raise labor standards, at home and abroad. Here at home, we must also promote the policies, as outlined in the Economy and Workers’ Rights sections of this Platform, that can help us achieve a full employment economy at a living wage, including strictly enforcing and expanding the rights of all workers to form unions.

e. We advocate an end to employer sanctions, which have been shown to hurt not only undocumented workers but also U.S.-born workers (especially those of color). Instead, the focus on employers must be to vigorously enforce our wage and labor laws. Instead of further victimizing the victims of corporate globalization, create real opportunities and raise labor standards for all!

(f) We oppose the provision of current law which allows local police to become agents of the Immigration agency. Local policing functions should be totally separate from immigration enforcement.

g. Greens oppose “English-only” legislation. Immigrants already have ample incentive to learn English. But when interaction with the government is limited to the English speaking, persons are put at additional risk of exploitation. The focus needs to be on providing adequate and accessible English language instruction and assistance. We advocate legislation to ensure that federal funds marked for communities to provide ESL (English as second language) training, and health and social support services to immigrants actually go to them. When funds are spent in other areas, immigrants are being deprived of benefits that they earn as productive workers in their communities. Meanwhile, courts, social service agencies, and all government agencies dealing with the public must provide trained and certified translators. Additionally, the language rights of peoples who were in this land before it became part of the U.S., including Native Americans and Mexicans in the Southwest, must be recognized and respected.

(h) We oppose the militarization of our borders, (mis-)using the National Guard as border police, and building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. This will further intensify the human rights disaster our immigration policy has become, as well as seriously harm border ecosystems. We demand an immediate end to policies designed to force undocumented border-crossers into areas where conditions dramatically increase the risk of permanent injury or death, destruction of fragile environments, and the cutting off of corridors needed by wildlife for migration within their habitat. For these reasons we specifically oppose the walling off of both traditional urban crossing areas and of wilderness areas. We also call for the immediate dismantling of the border wall. We mourn the death of those thousands of men, women and children who have died trying to cross this border, where a couple of decades ago such deaths were virtually unheard of.

(i) We must resist proposals that use illegal immigration as an excuse to put us all under further government monitoring and control by means of a national ID card or other identification or tracking systems. We also oppose the imposition of the “E-Verify” system to screen people applying for jobs. Citizen workers who have been propagandized to support “tougher” measures to identify and apprehend undocumented workers need to carefully consider what they are asking for. The same snare they want the government to use against undocumented workers can easily be used to repress them. Our government is already engaged in illegal spying and surveillance of its own citizens. It is already invading our privacy. A national ID card system is one of the hallmarks of a totalitarian government or police state. We need to repeal the Real ID Act and resist the establishment of any system that would suppress freedom to travel and require citizens and non-citizens alike to “show their papers” and reveal their private information to government monitors at every turn.

(j) We demand recognition of the sovereignty of indigenous nations whose territories cross national boundaries. These indigenous nations have the right to determine the status of their members.

(k) We demand new policies and laws that deal more effectively and humanely with the victims of the increasing problem of illegal international trafficking in humans, primarily women and children who are bought, kidnapped, coerced, brutalized, defrauded, tricked and sold and marketed for forced sex (rape) and prostitution, with an estimated 50,000 trafficked to the U.S. And we call for stiffer, more appropriate policy, structure and laws to deal with the traffickers. We also demand that procedures that deport victims before the traffickers are prosecuted must be changed to allow the victims to testify against the traffickers which is a major component to bringing these cases to justice and to help to stem the tide of this heinous crime. The victims of trafficking should have the option of permanent residence in the U.S. or return to their home countries according the the individual's own choice.

Here is the 2004 text which is being replaced:

"Chapter 2: Social Justice
Section Title: Immigration/Emigration

We must never forget that we are a national of immigrants, a rich tapestry of nationalities, races, religions and creeds who have come together to forge a new, classless society based on equality of opportunity and the individual freedoms and inalienable rights protected by our Constitution.

While it would be ideal to erase borders between countries, that would be impractical without reciprocity between nations. We seek that reciprocity as a practical goal. While we recognize that there must be some controls on immigration, if only for the sake of national security, the Green Party would endorse a friendlier (less intimidating) attitude towards immigration in all nations within certain guidelines.

The Green Party must consider immigration issues from an international standpoint, taking into account international labor and environmental standards, and human rights.

1. Preferential quotas based on race, class, and ideology should be abandoned for immigration policies that promote fairness, non-discrimination and family reunification.

2. We support policies that reflect our constitutional guarantees of freedoms of speech, association, and travel.

3. Particular attention should be given to those minorities who are political exiles and refugees.

4. Our relationship with our neighbor to the south, Mexico, needs to be given added attention due to the special historical and cultural relation it has with the southwest portion of the United States. Our border relations and reciprocal economic opportunities should be a central concern of a government that is looking to improved economic, environmental, and social conditions for both peoples.

5. The Green Party calls for permanent border passes to all citizens of Mexico and Canada whose identity can be traced and verified. Work permits for citizens of Mexico and Canada must be easily obtainable, thereby decriminalizing the act of gainful employment. This action would help eliminate exploitation of undocumented persons by criminals engaged in human contraband (coyotes) and unethical employers. It would also help ensure that taxes will be paid in each corresponding nation per its laws. These measures will also help temporary residents from Mexico and Canada to secure driving privileges and liability insurance.

6. Labor laws must be adjusted to take into account seasonal foreign workers. Employers must provide full rights to wages and health benefits to immigrant workers who make voluntary contributions to pension plans and pay Social Security taxes.

7. We advocate an end to employer sanctions, which have been shown to hurt not only undocumented workers but also U.S.-born workers (especially those of color). A fair and equitable legalization program will provide equal access to working people of all nationalities, not tied to a specific employer or guest worker program. Programs involving temporary worker status must include the option of permanent residency for immigrants already in the U.S. and protection of migrant worker savings.

8. Greens oppose “English-only” legislation. We would advocate legislation to ensure that federal funds marked for communities to provide ESL (English as second language) training, and health and social support services to immigrants actually go to them. When funds are spent in other areas, immigrants are being deprived of benefits that they earn as productive workers in their communities.

9. We oppose the use of racial profiling. We are concerned about reports of illegal raids and traffic stops based on ethnic appearance and not probable cause of a traffic violation. We would further advocate funding or education programs designed to reduce racism and bias against ethnic minorities. [See section A. 2. Racial Discrimination in this chapter]

10. We advocate adoption of certification standards for translators.

11. We oppose those who seek to divide us for political gain by raising ethnic and racial hatreds, and by blaming immigrants for social and economic problems."

Resources

None

References

6-4.9 REFERENCES:

Visit the Platform Committee webpage for this proposal at: http://www.gp.org/committees/platform/comments/?p=586.

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