Unity Forum Statement

AFLA – June 14, 2008 - Gail Borden Library
(I actually only had time to give about 30% of it)

We decry hostility and discrimination towards immigrants as antithetical to the traditions and interests of the country. At the same time, we disagree with those who would label efforts to control immigration as being inherently anti-immigrant. Rather, it is both a right and a responsibility of a democratic society to manage immigration so that it serves the national interest.

AFLA agrees that legal immigration presents many opportunities for this nation.
That is not to say that AFLA is unmindful of the problems that may also emanate from immigration. Too many have abused the very hospitality that we grant so freely.

Unlawful immigration is unacceptable. Enforcement measures have not sufficiently stemmed these movements. Failure to develop more effective strategies to curb unlawful immigration has blurred distinctions between legal and illegal immigrants.

AFLA is particularly concerned about the impact of immigration on the most disadvantaged within our already resident society--inner city youth, racial and ethnic minorities, and recent immigrants.

For AFLA, the principal issue at present is how to manage immigration so it continues to be in the national interest. Managing immigration presents a number of challenges:

How do we ensure that immigration is based on and supports broad U.S. economic, social, and humanitarian interests rather than the interests of those who would abuse our immigration laws?

How do we manage our borders while still encouraging international trade, investment, and tourism?

How do we maintain a civic culture based on shared values while accommodating the diverse population admitted through immigration policy?

It will be impossible to reach answers to these questions unless our policies and their implementation are more credible. As far as immigration policy is concerned, credibility can be measured by a simple yardstick: people who should get in, get in; people who should not enter are kept out; and people who are deportable should be required to leave.

As a nation of immigrants committed to the rule of law, this country must set limits on who can enter and back up these limits with effective enforcement of our immigration law.

Curbing unlawful immigration requires:
Better border management;
A more effective method of deterring the employment of unauthorized workers;
A willingness and ability to remove those who have no right to remain in the country, with particular focus on criminal aliens;
Better data for making and implementing policy.
No one approach will be sufficient to address unlawful migration.

Employment continues to be the principal magnet attracting illegal aliens to this country. As long as U.S. businesses benefit from the hiring of unauthorized workers, control of unlawful immigration will be impossible. AFLA believes that both employer sanctions and enhanced labor standards enforcement are essential components of a strategy to reduce the job magnet.

At the heart of many of the problems in current application of employer sanctions is the verification process used to determine work authorization. Widespread counterfeiting of documents that can be used for verification of identity and employment authorization has been reported. It is also relatively easy to obtain genuine documents, such as birth certificates or drivers licenses, by fraudulent means.

Moreover, confusion about the verification procedures and wariness about the validity of the documents has led to great potential for discrimination against foreign-looking and -sounding citizens and legal immigrants.

AFLA believes that the most promising option for more secure, nondiscriminatory verification is a computerized registry, using data provided by the Social Security Administration and Immigration.

This verification system will reduce any potential for discrimination. Employers would no longer have any reason to ask if a worker is a citizen or an immigrant--the only relevant question is: "What is your social security number?"

AFLA supports an increase in labor standards enforcement efforts in industries with large numbers of illegal aliens. Deterring unlawful immigration is a key ingredient in protecting U.S. workers. The presence of large numbers of unauthorized aliens in certain industries renders enforcement of labor standards, such as wage and hour and child labor provisions, all the more difficult because unauthorized workers are afraid to demand better working conditions or report infractions and businesses can bypass the hiring of workers who would be more cognizant of their rights.

An effective procedure for prompt and permanent removal of aliens ordered deported is an essential part of a credible deterrence policy. If people unauthorized to enter believe that they can remain indefinitely once having reached the interior of the nation, they may be more likely to come.

AFLA is concerned, however, about the ease with which deported criminal aliens can effect a reentry into the United States, particularly those who are returned to the Mexican border communities.

Now, the surprise. This statement was actually given by civil rights leader Barbara Jordan before a congressional committee in August of 1994. She was chairman of Bill Clinton's Immigration Reform Commission! How soon we lose sight of the problem. The only changes I made were to substitute AFLA for "The Commission."