Guest Column
SEIU on President Bush’s Immigration Proposal
- Statement by Eliseo Medina
- November 29, 2005
"While President Bush has acknowledged that our immigration system is badly broken and needs to be fixed, his short-sighted 'tough talk' on enforcement and unrealistic guest worker proposal fail to offer a comprehensive solution.
"Simply rehashing unenforceable, unworkable policies from the past will not fix our outdated laws.”
“Instead we need to enact realistic and comprehensive reform that allows hard-working, tax-paying immigrants a shot at the American dream while still securing our borders and making America safer.
"Without the opportunity to become full participants in our democracy, the 11 million immigrants currently living in the U.S. will continue to live in the shadows.
"A diverse group of leaders have come together representing labor, business, faith-based, Latino, Asian-American, and conservative groups to advocate for a comprehensive, bi-partisan approach to fix our broken immigration system.
"We continue to welcome legislation that works to secure our borders and strengthen our economy by allowing hard-working, tax-paying immigrants to become both a legitimate part of our economy and full participants in our democracy.
"All workers will benefit from legislation that provides common-sense rules and protections for immigrant workers and employers, protects workers' civil liberties and freedoms, allows immigrant families to stay together as they seek to legalize their status, clears backlogs, and creates a modernized border system.
"We stand ready to work with the President and Congress to accomplish the goal of fixing our broken immigration system in a manner that recognizes the hard work and valuable contributions that immigrants make to our economy and society."
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About SEIU: With 1.8 million members, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in North America. Focused on uniting workers in three sectors to improve their lives and the services they provide, SEIU is the largest health care union, including hospitals, nursing homes, and home care; the largest property services union, including building cleaning and security; and the second largest public employee union.
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