This a work in progress by the CPUSA's Political Action Committee on the issue of immigration.
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INTRODUCTION
In the buildup to the 2008 elections, the right wing
Republicans have decided to make immigrants the scapegoat
for the failures of the Bush administration and the
shortcomings of the capitalist system. In this, they are
abetted by right wing personalities on cable TV, talk radio
and the print media. Many vicious lies are being told about
immigrants. This little pamphlet is designed to provide you
with the correct information about the impact of immigrants
, with or without papers, on the
invite your comments and urge you to share this information
with co-workers, relatives and neighbors. Write to:
politicalaction@cpusa.org
WHY ARE SO MANY IMMIGRANTS COMING TO THE UNITED STATES?
*
by their subordination to the interests of US and
international corporations via free trade pacts like the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
*After NAFTA came into force in 1994, 1.3 million Mexican
farmers were driven out of business by cheap
imports, and undocumented Mexican immigration to the
went up by 60%.
*Similar things have happened in other poorer countries,
leading to a massive worldwide labor migration to the
wealthier countries.
*Large scale employers in the
to take advantage of the cheap labor, and have sent labor
recruiters into economically depressed areas of
SO WHY DON’T PEOPLE IN THOSE COUNTRIES FIX UP THEIR
SITUATION AT HOME INSTEAD OF COMING HERE?
*When they do, the
with threats, bribery and even military force to stop
change from taking place.
*The us has recently sponsored coups, civil wars and
dictators in
economic pressure on other countries, including
keep their economies open to
MY GRANDPARENTS CAME FROM
FROM
BUTT AHEAD IN LINE?
*Until after World War I, almost any white person could come
here legally to live and work, though non-whites from Asia
and
*Now it is nearly impossible for most people who don’t have
relatives here or specialized skills to come at all.
*In 2005 the
legal resident visas for low skilled workers. Even people
married to US citizens sometimes have to wait years to join
their spouses.
*So it is not a matter of “butting ahead in line”, but of
being completely excluded from the line in the first place.
*Desperate to get money to support their families and
excluded from the visa system, many immigrants risk their
lives to come here without papers.
DO IMMIGRANTS CAUSE UNEMPLOYMENT?
*Most studies find that immigration does not contribute to
the overall unemployment rate.
*While immigrant workers, with or without papers, “take”
jobs, they also interact with the economy as consumers and
taxpayers, which creates jobs.
*Focusing on immigrants “taking” jobs blinds us to the many
other things that deprive people opportunities, such as
racism, the dismantlement of affirmative action, the
wasteful military budget, and weak labor laws.
DO IMMIGRANTS PULL DOWN
*There is no doubt that some employers and industries use
the vulnerability of undocumented immigrant workers to cut
wages, benefits and working conditions. But they can only
do this because the immigrants don’t have legal rights.
*This is demonstrated by the way construction contractors
used the exploitation of immigrant workers to pull down
wages of African-American and other workers in
after Hurricane Katrina.
*Whether this brings down US wages overall is less clear.
Outsourcing and weak, poorly enforced labor laws are the
real culprits.
*If immigrant workers had rights on the job, they would not
tolerate being exploited in this way, and would join with
US born workers to fight for better conditions for all.
DO IMMIGRANTS JOIN LABOR UNIONS?
*8.5 percent of foreign born workers were members of labor
unions in 2006, similar to the national average of
unionization.
*Immigrants are joining labor unions in increasing numbers.
In 1996 8.9 percent of union members were foreign born,
while in 2006 this number jumped to 12.3 percent.
*Immigrant workers have been at the forefront of many recent
labor actions including organizing drives and strikes in
all areas where they are concentrated, including
agricultural labor, food processing, construction, retail
trade, hospitality and services.
*Employers regularly use fear of arrest and deportation as a
way of breaking up union organizing efforts and labor
actions where immigrant workers are involved.
DO IMMIGRANTS PAY TAXES?
*All immigrants, undocumented and documented, pay sales
taxes every time they buy something.
*They also pay all property taxes either on property they
own, or through their rent, plus all local government fees.
*The majority of undocumented and documented immigrant
workers pay their federal and state income taxes; most of
the rest would do so if they could find a way.
*Undocumented workers subsidize the Social Security Trust
Fund to the tune of $7 billion dollars per year: They pay
into it, but can not get anything out of it for fear of
being detected.
WHAT IS THE CRIME RATE AMONG IMMIGRANTS?
*Numerous studies show that the rate of violent and property
crime among immigrants, with or without documents, is lower
than that of comparable sectors of the US born population.
*As more immigrants have come into this country, the rate of
serious crimes has been declining, including in cities of
greatest immigrant settlement. Anti-immigrant agitators try
to give the opposite impression by highlighting a few cases
of shocking crimes committed by immigrants, but statistics
show the opposite.
*The rate of incarceration of immigrants is higher in
federal prisons, but the number of prisoners in state,
county and local prisons is nearly 8 times that of the
federal prison population, and shows a far lower presence
of immigrants.
WHAT IS THE HEALTH SITUATIONS OF IMMIGRANTS?
*Even though many new immigrants, especially undocumented
ones, come from conditions of poverty, they are healthier
than the overall
services less.
*However, as immigrants stay in the
health situation deteriorates, because they are often stuck
in dangerous, dirty and underpaid occupations and in poor
neighborhoods without adequate health facilities.
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP OF IMMIGRANTS TO TERRORISM?
*The vast majority of undocumented and documented immigrants
have nothing whatever to do with terrorism, and come here
only to work and to be with family.
*All of the 9-11 terrorists came here on legal visas issued
by the
*Born
committed terrorist acts.
*If economically motivated immigrants could have a legal way
of coming here, the danger of terrorists coming in secretly
would be lessened.
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRANTS ON SOCIAL, HEALTH CARE AND
EDUCATIONAL SERVICES?
*As mentioned above, all immigrants pay local taxes and most
pay federal and state income taxes, which finance our
schools, health clinics and other services. They are not
getting a “free ride”.
*Immigrant workers generate fortunes for their employers.
However, Republican administrations since Reagan have given
the wealthy huge tax cuts. If these tax cuts were rolled
back, there would be enough money to finance needed
services for everybody, immigrant and US born.
*New immigrants are younger and healthier than the overall
population, and thus use fewer of the health and social
services needed by the aging population.
*Because they are younger on the average, new immigrants
have proportionally more children in school. However, they
pay property and sales taxes that in most areas support
school budgets.
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION ON OUR ENVIRONMENT, AND ON
OVERPOPULATION?
*
countries of the world in population density.
*The real threat to the environment is the vast waste of
energy and natural resources by the rich and super rich in
this country, and the failure of the government to address
issues of renewable energy, environmental pollution and
global warming.
DO IMMIGRANTS THREATEN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND AMERICAN
CULTURE?
*There have always been other languages spoken alongside
English in the
(Indian)languages, Spanish in the Southwest and
French in
has never represented a “threat” to the English language.
*While new immigrants may struggle a bit with the language,
the second generation always speaks English fluently, and
this is just as true of Latino immigrants today as it was
of other immigrants in the past.
*All over the country, classes to teach English to
non-English speakers are jammed full.
*The vast majority of new immigrants believe fervently in
democracy, freedom and social justice, and thus are a boon
to our values instead of a menace.
*The real threat to our culture and values comes from the
ultra-right which tries to undermine democracy, freedom and
social justice.
IF ALL THIS IS TRUE, WHY ALL THIS FUSS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS?
*Right wing politicians and their media supporters want to
distract the public’s attention from the failures of the
Bush administration and the Republicans in Congress, and
are using the “illegal immigrant” scare to do this.
*In local communities, right wing politicians are afraid of
losing power due to demographic changes, and try to stave
this off by using anti-immigrant campaigns to push Latinos
and others out of town.
*Big business interests want cheap labor but do not want
low-paid workers to have rights. So they connive in terror
campaigns against immigrant workers which have the effect
of keeping them quiet and underpaid, and the workers
divided.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION?
The solution is NOT to hang a “keep out” sign on the Statue
of
money on a useless and environmentally destructive border
fence. It is, rather, to carry out a comprehensive,
worker-friendly immigration reform with the following
components:
*Legalization of the current undocumented immigrants, as
quickly and cheaply as possible, with full labor and civil
rights and a clear path to citizenship.
*Changes in US visa policies so that ordinary people who
want to come here and live and work can do so without
violating laws or risking their lives.
*Avoid guest worker schemes that keep foreign workers in
conditions of serfdom without the right to defend
themselves or integrate themselves into our society.
*Give immigrant workers the same rights on the job and in
the community that other workers have, so that they can
fight together with their US born
*Fight for changes in US trade and foreign policy so that
poorer countries are allowed to develop their economies
without subordination to multinational corporate interests
or US government interference.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, HERE ARE SOME SOURCES:
Aviva Chomsky, 2007 “’They Take our Jobs!’, and 20 Other
Myths About Immigration”. Beacon Press, www.beacon.org.
Jane Guskin and David L. Wilson, 2007 “The Politics of
immigration: Questions and Answers” Monthly Review Press,
www.monthleyreview.org
Political Research Associates: “Defending Immigrant Rights:
An Activist Resource Kit” www.publiceye.org
And here are the places to start for researching this issue
on the Internet.
The
the impact of immigration on the
www.pewhispanic.org
A major resource for studies of immigration and its
implications is the Migration Policy Institute, at
www.immigrationinformation.org
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The pamphlet looks really good, and i think it will be very effective in changing the hearts and minds of people who harbor racist notions about immigrants that they were fed by the ultra-right. My only suggestion is under the Do Immigrants Cause Unemployment? section to add that workers cannot take jobs from each other, only bosses take jobs. In some cases bosses may fire white workers so they can hire immigrants (documented or not), and pay them way less to maximize profits through racism. The notion that a worker can take a job from another worker is just another ploy that the ultra right uses to help divide the working class along race lines.
-PWK
