Binational Conference: David Bacon: PROPOSAL FOR ALTERNATIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM

PROPOSAL FOR ALTERNATIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM BASED ON HUMAN, CIVIL AND LABOR RIGHTS FOR ALL

DRAFT – NOT FINAL, INPUT WELCOME

San Francisco, CA 10/25/10

INTRODUCTION

People are displaced by social and political forces and policies over which they have no control. Over 200 million people live outside their country of birth, as they search for stable sustainable employment to support their families. That number grows every year.

We need an immigration policy and law that is based on human, labor and civil rights for all people. This is only possible if we view migration, immigration and the movement of people as a global phenomenon.

Displaced people have no control over the social and political forces of the economy, international relations, and trade. U.S. corporations relocate jobs from the U.S. to other countries, taking advantage of, and aggravating, low wages and unemployment. Regional wars, unequal trade agreements and continued environmental degradation all displace people at a high rate. These are all permanent features of globalization.

Immigration enforcement does not keep people from crossing borders, or prevent them from working. So long as trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA create economic refugees, nothing will stop the movement of people.

None of the immigration reform proposals currently before Congress address these root causes of migration.. Migration is not an accidental byproduct of this free trade system. The economies of the U.S. and other wealthy countries depend on it, on the labor provided by a constant flow of people. Congress and the administration aren't trying to stop migration, but to use it as a source of vulnerable, low wage labor.

More accurately, immigration policy determines the status of people once they're here. It enforces inequality among workers in rights and in economic and social status. That inequality then produces lower wages and higher profits.

Immigration policy has a history of treating people differently based on their race, and the part of the world from which they came. For decades no visas were required for people from Europe, while Chinese immigration was prohibited and migrants languished on Angel Island. The roots of this difference in status go back to slavery itself, with its forced migration and inquality imposed by law.

U.S. immigration policy has historically been designed to supply labor to employers at a cost determined by employers. And at its most overt, that labor supply policy has made workers vulnerable to employers, who can withdraw their right to stay in the country by firing them.

Recently the Council on Foreign Relations proposed two goals for U.S. immigration policy. "We should reform the legal immigration system," it advocated, "so that it operates more efficiently, responds more accurately to labor market needs, and enhances U.S. competitiveness." This essentially calls for using migration to supply labor at competitive, or low, wages. “We should restore the integrity of immigration laws,” the Council went on to say, “through an enforcement regime that strongly discourages employers and employees from operating outside that legal system.” This couples an enforcement regime like the one at present, with its raids and firings, to that labor supply system.

Immigration policy based on producing a labor supply for employers always has two consequences. The displacement of communities abroad becomes an unspoken policy, because it is needed to produce workers. And inequality in the countries where those workers go becomes an official policy.

All the immigration reform bills in Congress share the assumption that immigrants, even those with visas, shouldn't have the same rights as the people in the community around them. For those without visas, the exclusion and inequality is even fiercer. And this is not a defacto exclusion or denial of rights. It is dejure denial, written into law, that justifies immigration raids in Massachusetts and Mississippi, racial profiling in Arizona, the firings of sewing machine operators in Los Angeles and janitors in San Francisco, and ankle bracelets, detention and kangaroo courts for meatpacking workers in Iowa.

The U.S. faces a choice in the direction for our immigration policy. A corporate agenda on migration is promoted by powerful voices in Washington DC, like the Council on Foreign Relations and the employers' lobby, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (think Wal-Mart, Marriott, Tyson Foods...). They propose managing the flow of migration with new guest worker programs, and increased penalties against those who try to migrate and work outside this system. Some of their proposals also contain a truncated legalization for the undocumented, but one that would disqualify most people or have them wait for years for visas, while removing employer liability for the undocumented workers they've already hired.

Our own history tells us that a better direction is not only possible, but was partially achieved by the civil rights movement. In 1964, heroes of the Chicano movement like Bert Corona, Ernesto Galarza, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta forced Congress to end the bracero program. The next year, Mexicans and Filipinos went out on strike in the fields of Coachella and Delano, and the United Farm Workers was born.

That year, 1965, those leaders together with many others, went back to Congress. Give us a law, they said, that doesn't make workers into braceros or criminals behind barbed wire, into slaves for growers. Give us a law that affirms that family unity and the rights of our communities are essential. That was how we won the family preference system. The civil rights movement won that law.

That fight is not over.

The Obama Administration won office on its promise of Change We Can Believe In. This is the time we need to assert the changes we want in immigration reform from the vantage point of the immigrant/migrant community. We may not have this opportunity for another 15 to 20 years.

We have to stretch our imagination for reform beyond the limits of beltway lobbyists and employers to achieve true and just immigration reform. We have to fight for what we believe is in the best interest of immigrants themselves, and of all working people, immigrant and non-immigrant alike.

Instead we are getting the same immigration reform proposals put forward in the Bush Administration, driven primarily by corporate employers reliant on an exploitable workforce. Those proposals continue to criminalize the immigrant population with heavy enforcement provisions, denying them the same human rights as the rest of the U.S. population.

So What Do We Want?

First, we want legalization. We want the 12 million people without legal status to quickly gain residence rights and green cards, without a waiting period, so they can live like normal human beings. We do not want immigration used as a cheap labor supply system, with workers paying off recruiters to get here and, once here, frightened that they'll be deported if they lose their jobs.

We need to get rid of the laws that make working a crime -- no more detention centers, no more ankle bracelets, no more firings and no-match letters, and no more raids. Immigrants need equality and rights. All people in our communities should be equal.

We have to make sure that the decision-makers of Washington DC won't plunge families in Mexico, El Salvador or Colombia into poverty, and force a new generation of workers to leave home to find jobs in furniture factories and laundries, office buildings and packing plants, on construction sites, or just in the gardens and nurseries of the rich.

Families in countries where people are displaced by free trade and neoliberal policies deserve a decent life. They have a right to survive, a right to not migrate. To make that right a reality, they need jobs and productive farms, good schools and healthcare at home. Our government must stop negotiating trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA, and instead prohibit trade and economic policies that cause poverty and displacement.

Those people who do choose to come here to work deserve the same things that every other worker does. We all have the same rights, and the same needs - jobs, schools, medical care, a decent place to live, and the right to walk the streets or drive our cars without fear.

Our borders with Mexico and Canada divide communities and even families, especially indigenous communities who have lived in those regions long before those borders or countries existed. Current policy treats the border as a war zone, in which civil rights are suspended. Instead, we need peace and demilitarization on the border, so that communities can live in friendship and cooperation, and where people enjoy expanded rights and equality. The kangaroo courts, private detention centers, and walls must be eliminated.

Is this possible?

“If there is going to be change, real change, it will have to work its way from the bottom up, from the people themselves. That’s how change happens.” -- Howard Zinn (NYT 1/30/10,). We forget that women once could not vote, that Blacks were slaves, and that even after they were ‘freed’ there was still segregation; that it was illegal for Blacks, Filipinos, and other people of color to marry whites, and on and on. There was a time that people believed these things could never be changed. It took peoples movements based on equal rights and a belief in justice for all, to make change.

We can have an immigration system that respects human rights. We can stop deportations.

We can win security for working families on both sides of our borders. It’s up to us to fight for the changes we want. At the same time, changes in immigration policy are not possible if we don't fight for basic needs like jobs, education, housing, healthcare and justice for all. If we fight together, we can create a more just society for everyone, immigrant and non-immigrant alike.

It is possible. Si se puede.

______

We have compiled here immigration reform proposals based on the basic premise of dignity, human rights and equality for all. We believe that immigrants and migrants are entitled to basic human rights, legal status, equal protection under the law, and the same right to work as the rest of the population. Most of the proposals have been borrowed from previous legislation and from the ideas of immigrant rights groups and unions. Some of tje proposals are new, most are not. We provide the sources to illustrate that we are not alone in envisioning better, more just and humane solutions.

DRAFT - LEGALIZATION

RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCE

Residents without legal status regardless of age may adjust their status to that of legal permanent resident if the resident was physically present in the U.S. immediately preceding the passage of this Act.

Alternative Legislation Group

Graduates of any U.S. high school will receive expedited processing of their applications for permanent residence status. They will be considered in-state residents for the purposes of calculating fees or tuition for education. Financial aid will not be denied to students because of immigration status.

DREAM Act

• Applicants for adjustment to permanent legal resident status shall not become ineligible to apply because of brief, casual and innocent absences from the U.S.

• The number of legal permanent resident visas authorized under this Act, shall not reduce the numerical limitations available under current immigration law.

• Deportation proceedings shall be terminated for anyone who applies for legal permanent resident status under this Act.

• Information furnished by an applicant for adjustment to legal permanent resident status shall not be used for any purpose other than to make a determination on the application.

• The Department of Homeland Security and any related agencies shall have appropriate funding to broadly disseminate information about the legalization program with the goal of achieving maximum participation.

HR 265 - Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, January 7, 2009

Application fees will not be a barrier for adjustment to legal permanent resident status, particularly for low-income applicants.

Alternative Legislation Group

Newly legalized residents shall be eligible to apply for public benefit programs one year after having received legal permanent resident status.

Alternative Legislation Group

Applicants for adjustment to legal permanent resident status will receive authorization to work at the time of application.

Unity Blueprint

Funds will be made available to community-based, non-profit organizations to assist applicants for adjustment to legal permanent resident status.

Unity Blueprint

Applicants for adjustment to legal permanent resident status will not be restricted by the Legal Services Corporation Act from receiving legal assistance. Immigration status or lack of it shall not be used to deny services by legal aid groups funded by the Legal Services Corporation or other government services.

Unity Blueprint

Persons granted legal permanent resident status under this act will be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship within 5 years of receipt of legal permanent resident status.

Unity Blueprint

Bring the registry date up to January 1, 2005, and advance the date one year every year (rolling registry date) so that, in the future, any person residing in the U.S. before the date can immediately apply for permanent residence.

SIREN – Uplifting our Nation’s Values

DRAFT – FAMILY REUNIFICATION

RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCE

• Raise the worldwide level of family sponsored immigrant to: 480,000 plus the unused numbers from the previous year, plus the unused numbers from fiscal years 1992 to 2007

• Reclassify spouses and minor children of permanent residents as immediate relatives

• Raise the per-country immigration limit from 7% to 10%

• Increase from age 18 to 21 years of age for purposes of eligibility to be petitioned by immigrant parents.

• Increase government discretion and flexibility in resolving barriers to family unity, or if reunification is in the public’s interest.

• Death shall not invalidate the petition of a citizen or lPR to reunite with a wife, husband or child(ren).

• Immediate family members of naturalized Filipino WWII veterans are not subject to numerical limitations.

H.R.2709 - Reuniting Families Act. Congressman Michael Honda, June 4, 2009

All immigration rights will be equally available to same sex permanent partners. (Incorporate the ‘Uniting American Families Act’ into this family reunification bill)

H.R.2709

Repeal the 3 and 10-year and permanent bars that prevent immigrants from legalizing their status.

Unity Blueprint

Allocate a visa outside the per-country limits and worldwide ceiling to any individual waiting for a family-based preference visa for more than one year, or permit such applicants temporary admission pending the processing of their visas.

Unity Blueprint

Reduce the affidavit of support income test required of family-based immigrant sponsors from 125% to 100% of the federal poverty level.

Unity Blueprint

Lower fee structures to accommodate low-income, and larger families.

United Front for Immigrants (Chicago)

Eliminate the cap on the total number of family-based visas available.

AFSC: A New Path

Increase funding to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service to expedite the processing of visa applications and to expedite adjustment of status procedures.

AFSC: A New Path

Applicants for admission who can substantiate that they have been displaced by NAFTA policies should be given priority for entry into the U.S

United Front for Immigrants (Chicago)

DRAFT – REPEAL EMPLOYER SANCTIONS, ENFORCE LABOR AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCE

Repeal employer sanctions, ensure that hiring an undocumented worker is not “harboring”

Draft Bill to Repeal Employer Sanctions – 2005

Judith P. Miller & David Tannenbaum

Michael Wishnie, Workers Rights Project of Yale Law School and the Break the Chains Alliance, AFSC – A New Path, Unity Blueprint, Casa de Maryland, Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, AFL-CIO (until recently)

The budgets for the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be substantially increased, including funding special programs for labor law enforcement in industries in which immigrants are concentrated.

HR 265 - Jackson Lee, Unity Blueprint, AFL-CIO, Casa de Maryland, AFSC – A New Path and many others

Overturn the Hoffman and Sure-Tan Supreme Court decisions, ensuring that workers fired for union activity can be reinstated and awarded back pay regardless of immigration status.

Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance

Make threats or action related to immigration status to discourage a worker from exercising rights under the National Labor Relations Act an unfair labor practice. Neither back pay nor any other monetary damages shall be denied as a result of a complainant or plaintiff's immigration status.

HR 265 - Jackson Lee, Unity Blueprint

Congress will establish and fund a commission to make a survey of the labor and employment conditions of immigrant workers.

HR 265 - Jackson Lee

Proposals for future immigration policy must augment economic stimulus programs that ensure that all workers have jobs at a decent and livable wage.

AFSC – A New Path

Ensure that undocumented workers are covered by Federal worker protection laws.

AFL-CIO

Ensure that undocumented workers are covered by anti-discrimination laws and increase anti-discrimination protection for all immigrants:

1. Prohibit discrimination in the terms and conditions of employment.

2. Allow all workers to file a citizenship or national origin discrimination claim, and remove the requirement that lawful permanent residents (LPRs) must prove they intend to become citizens to be protected from discrimination.

3. Extend the time to file a complaint to 2 years.

4. Make back pay is available as a remedy for an unfair immigration-related employment practice and allow punitive damages.

5. Do not require workers to prove that the employer “intended” to discriminate against them.

6. Increase fines.

Unity Blueprint

Fees paid by undocumented workers regularizing their status will be used to establish job creation and training programs in communities with high unemployment.

HR 265 - Jackson Lee

Specific money should be set aside for job growth programs targeted at communities with high unemployment. This would include many immigrant and African American communities.

Casa de Maryland

End electronic worker verification systems and other means of enforcing “work authorization” and employer sanctions.

AFSC – A New Path and many others

Allow all workers to apply for and receive Social Security numbers and to receive benefits from the system to which they contribute, regardless of immigration status.

AFSC – A New Path

Prohibit ICE agents from masquerading as personnel from an agency or organization that provides domestic violence services, enforces health and safety law or other labor laws, provides health care services, or any other services intended to protect life and safety.

Unity Blueprint

Grant temporary visas to immigrant workers who are detained in the course of a labor dispute because their employer has retaliated against them.

Unity Blueprint, AFL-CIO

Prohibit immigration enforcement activity during a labor dispute or during organizing or collective workplace activity.

AFL-CIO

Keep confidential any information about workers’ immigration status discovered in the course of thei investigation of illegal conditions or the violation of labor rights

Unity Blueprint, AFL-CIO

Prohibit states from enacting local employer sanctions laws or considering immigration status in determining workers compensation, disability and unemployment benefits. In all other respects, states will continue to regulate in this area.

Unity Blueprint, AFL-CIO

Extend free legal services available through Legal Services Corporation funding to all low income workers, regardless of immigration status.

Unity Blueprint

Unemployment benefits should be extended, and all workers should be eligible to receive them, regardless of immigration status.

Casa de Maryland

No stringent language requirements will be imposed to obtain legal status or citizenship, and prohibitions of discrimination based on language will be strengthened

Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales

Indigenous communities have the right to materials in their native languages about immigration law and legal proceedings generally.

Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales

Indigenous communities will have the right to use their languages and their cultural practices.

Frente Indigena de Organizaciones Binacionales

DRAFT - GUEST WORKERS AND FUTURE FLOWS

RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCE

SUNSET EXISTING GUEST WORKER PROGRAMS

At the end of five years after enactment, all H1-B, H2-A and H2-B guest worker programs will end. From that point onward, no employer may recruit immigrants for work in the U.S., and no visas may be issued that requires an immigrant to work in order to remain in the U.S.

AFSC – A New Path

REFORM EXISTING GUEST WORKER PROGRAMS

During the five years after enactment, no H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visas will be issued unless the Secretary of Labor has determined that there are no workers living in the U.S. able to perform the work that workers holding those visas would perform, and that their employment would not undermine existing wages or conditions. During that time, no guest worker visas may be issued for workers in any industry in which the unemployment rate is greater than 6%.

HR 4381 – Congressman George Miller, 12/09 – here and below this bill is used as a model for provisions which apply more broadly

Any employer applying for H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visas must be registered by the Department of Labor, and the Secretary of Labor must verify that the employer has made extensive efforts to attract workers for the jobs to be performed by H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visa holders. The Secretary of Labor will set the number of visa holders each employer may employ.

HR 4381 - Miller

The employer must provide employment to any worker already in the U.S. who applies for the position for which the employer is recruiting H1-B, H2-A and H2-B workers.

HR 4381 - Miller

The employer must provide notice to the local employment development office of available jobs, post the jobs on the internet, advertise in appropriate newspapers or professional journals, and inform the state labor federation of available jobs before applying for H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visas.

HR 4381 - Miller

Any worker holding an H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visa shall be free to change employers, or to quit one job in order to look for another.

Unity Blueprint

All costs of visa application and of transport to and from the place of employment in the U.S., including meals and lodging, must be paid by the employer in advance of the departure of the worker to the U.S.

HR 4381 - Miller

All existing requirements on employers and protections on visa holders under existing H1-B, H2-A and H2-B programs, such as for housing and wages, shall remain in force unless superseded by the provisions of this bill.

HR 4381 - Miller

No employer may apply for visas if they have violated the terms of employment of for any previous visa holders, or any other Federal, State or local employment law.

HR 4381 - Miller

No labor contractors may apply for H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visas, only the direct employers of the visa holders.

HR 4381 - Miller

There shall be a limit of 65,000 visas issued annually in each of the H1-B, H2-A and H2-B categories.

HR 4381 - Miller

Each employer must pay fees for each H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visa, which will be used to finance job training and creation programs in communities of high unemployment.

HR 265 - Jackson Lee

Employers must offer H1-B, H2-A and H2-B holders wages that correspond to collective bargaining agreements at that employer or in that industry, or the prevailing wage level in that industry, whichever is higher.

HR 4381 - Miller

No H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visas will be issued to an employer if any of its employees are currently on strike.

HR 4381 - Miller

All H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visa holders shall have the right to organize under the National Labor Relations Act or other applicable laws, and shall have the right to strike. No striking H1-B, H2-A and H2-B worker may be deported.

AFL-CIO

No employer may hire an H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visa holder for a job currently being performed by another employee.

HR 4381 - Miller

H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visa holders will be entitled to Workers Compensation, Unemployment Insurance, Social Security and all other benefits and entitlements available to other workers.

AFSC – A New Path

No employer may maintain a list of “eligible employess,” “ineligible employees,” or any other list used to blacklist or prevent the rehiring of workers from one year or season to another.

Alternative Legislation Group

All H1-B, H2-A and H2-B holders must be given a document prior to their employment specifying the terms and conditions of employment. That document must also include the name, address and telephone number of the nearest legal aid office.

HR 4381 - Miller

Any H1-B, H2-A and H2-B visa holder may receive legal services from any legal aid or publicly funded legal services program, and is entitled to bring any legal action that would be available to any other person in the U.S.

Alternative Legislation Group

FUTURE FLOWS

400,000 permanent residence (Future Flow - FF) visas shall be set aside each year for applicants who are not eligible for visas under family preferences. Those visas shall allow the holder to cross the border at will, and to reside either in the U.S. or their country of origin. These visas shall not be included in the number of visas available under family preferences, or for refugees or political asylum applicants.

HR 265 - Jackson Lee

Holders of all permanent resident visas, incluidng FF visas, will be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship one year after receiving their visas.

Alternative Legislation Group

If the unemployment rate in the U.S. exceeds 8%, the number of FF visas issued that year will be reduced to 200,000, If the unemployment rate exceeds 10%, the number of FF visas issued that year will be reduced to zero.

Alternative Legislation Group

FF visa applicants may apply for these visas at any U.S. consulate, and their applications must be approved within six months, if eligible and visas are available.

AFSC – A New Path

FF visa applicants will be given written material on receiving their visas that explains the labor and legal rights of workers and immigrants in the U.S. Such information will include the names, addresses and telephone numbers of labor unions, immigrant rights organizations, legal aid programs, and other sources of aid and support.

Jennifer Gordon - modeled after her proposal

FF visa applicants will be required to sign a pledge that they will not work for illegal wages or under illegal conditions.

Jennifer Gordon - modeled after her proposal

FF visa holders will be prohibited from working for any employer during a strike. Employment as a strikebreaker will be grounds for immediate revocation of the visa.

Alternative Legislation Group

DRAFT – TRADE POLICY AND DISPLACEMENT

RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCE

• Review existing trade agreements, like NAFTA and CAFTA, to determine how they have contributed to the displacement of communities by increasing poverty and the economic pressure to migrate, in the United States, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and in the other countries with which those agreements have been negotiated.

• That review should include public Congressional hearings, and be open to public testimony by community organizations, unions, immigrant and human rights organizations, churches, environmental organizations, and other popular organizations from all the countries involved.

• That review should include the impact of agreements on wages, employment and unemployment, housing, the privatization of public service, the reduction of rural credit, the prices of agricultural products, the elimination of agricultural subsidies and other subsidies on prices of food and basic services for workers and farmers, the loss of education, healthcare and other services, the loss of labor and social rights, environmental degradation, and other impacts affecting workers and farmers.

• That review should include the displacement effects of structural adjustment, “economic reform” and similar policies promoted by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the role of U.S. representatives in those institutions in promoting those policies.

TRADE Act, HR 6180 and S 3083, Sen. Sherrod Brown, Rep. Mike Michaud - here and below this bill is used as a model for provisions that apply the methodology used by the bill for labor rights to the causes of displacement, AFSC - A New Path

All existing trade agreements should be renegotiated to eliminate any provision that causes the displacement of communities and the increase in the economic pressure on people to migrate, including the decline in the standard of living of workers and farmers, the loss of jobs, the decline in wages and farm prices, the loss of housing, the loss of labor and social rights, the privatization of public enterprises or social services, the elimination of social services and benefits, environmental degradation, or the reduction in rural credit.

TRADE Act, HR 6180, AFSC - A New Path

• Prohibit the negotiation of any new trade agreement that causes the displacement of communities and increases economic pressure on people to migrate, including the decline in the standard of living of workers and farmers, the loss of jobs, the decline in wages and farm prices, the loss of housing, the loss of labor and social rights, the privatization of public enterprises or social services, the elimination of social services and benefits, environmental degradation, or the reduction in rural credit.

• Prohibit U.S. representatives in the World Bank, International Monetary Fund or other similar international financial institutions from pursuing policies with the same impact.

TRADE Act, HR 6180, AFSC - A New Path

Establish a commission to evaluate existing and future trade agreements and policies pursued by the U.S. in international financial institutions. That commission should report to Congress, and include representatives of community organizations, unions, immigrant and human rights organizations, environmental organizations, churches and other popular organizations.

TRADE Act, HR 6180, AFSC - A New Path

Ensure that all existing and future trade agreements require adequate farm prices and living standards for agricultural communities, and the fair treatment of agricultural workers. They must require prohibitions on dumping, allow any country to maintain agricultural subsidies and subsidies on prices for basic foods, and to maintain tariffs if needed to protect agricultural communities.

TRADE Act, HR 6180, AFSC - A New Path

Ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and their Families.

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, AFSC - A New Path

Include the rights of migrants, as defined by the Convention, as a fifth “core labor standard,” used as a criteria for evaluating trade agreements and other international labor policies.

AFSC - A New Path

Ban the inclusion of guest-worker programs in any trade agreement or treaty. This includes defining migrants as the “providers of services” under WTO and other efforts to regulate the provision of services.

TRADE Act, HR 6180, NNIRR

Prohibit any state from enacting laws that conflict with the UN Declaration on Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrants, or any U.S. treaty obligation guaranteeing the rights of migrants and non-English-speaking communities, including the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Enforce the rights of migrant and non-migrant workers as defined in conventions of the International Labor Organization.

AFSC - A New Path

Provide economic compensation to communities in developing countries that have withstood social and economic damages due to trade agreements and policies promoted by the U.S. that have led to displacement. This compensation should respond to the needs of local communities, including providing rural credit and outright grants, infrastructure projects to improve community health, education standard of living and cultural development.

AFSC - A New Path, United Front for Immigrants (Chicago)

Prohibit the use of U.S. military aid or any military intervention to pressure other countries into accepting trade agreements, structural adjustment programs or other economic mandates by corporations or international financial institutions

Alternative Legislation Group

Prohibit the use of U.S. bailout funds or other subsidies to corporations, governments or financial institutions that require the closure of workplaces or mass layoffs of workers, in the U.S. or in other countries

Alternative Legislation Group

DRAFT – DUE PROCESS AND DETENTION

RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCE

Require that migrants apprehended entering the country be informed of their rights before they are deported, including rights available to victims of trafficking and violent crimes, and abused and abandoned unaccompanied juveniles.

Unity Blueprint

Repeal federal law that bars states from issuing drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants.

Unity Blueprint

Make removal proceedings open to the public.

Unity Blueprint

Terminate the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, and provide remedies for immigrants with technical violations of NSEERS that did no harm.

Unity Blueprint

Repeal Special Registration and any future programs that single out immigrants/migrants from select countries for punitive treatment.

Alternative Legislation Group

Make technical violations of registration requirements punishable by civil penalties.

Unity Blueprint

Prohibit the retroactive application of immigration laws.

Unity Blueprint

Guarantee immigrants, regardless of status, the same civil

and human rights as all U.S. residents by:

• Halting the use of community sweeps, checkpoints, and roadblocks for immigration enforcement.

• Requiring ICE agents to exercise discretion in arresting people for immigration violations, especially in cases that involve children or other vulnerable populations.

• Ensuring the due process rights of immigrants in detention, deportation, or removal proceedings, including access to legal representation, fair trials, meaningful and expedient judicial review, and an end to racial, ethnic, and religious profiling and other forms of illegal searches and seizures.

• Creating mechanisms to review and monitor conditions and standards in all jails and detention centers to protect basic rights such as medical and mental health care, and access to legal counsel.

• Codifying specific and enforceable compliance standards.

• Repealing immigration laws that mandate deportation and lead to double punishments for individuals who have served time on criminal offenses.

• Ensuring judicial procedures that take into account the impact of deportation on family and community members as well as on the individual.

AFSC – A New Path

Unity Blueprint

Provide temporary visas and work authorization for detained workers when they have been retaliated against by their employer for asserting their labor rights and they agree to pursue labor claims against their employer. Expand U visas to provide for whistleblower protections with regard to worker exploitation, civil rights violations and retaliation for exercising labor rights.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity

(CIR ASAP) Act of 2009 – Congressman Luis Gutierrez

Eliminate the arbitrary 1-year bar to applying for asylum.

CIR ASAP

Restore the jurisdiction of federal courts to review decisions and practices of DHS, thereby also restoring the historic role that the courts play in reviewing agency actions

CIR ASAP

Preempt any state or local law that discriminates against an individual based on immigration status or imposes sanctions on any individual or entity based on the immigration status of its clients, employees or tenants

CIR ASAP

Eliminate all agreements between the Department of Homeland Security and local/county/state law enforcement agencies, repealing 287g.and clarify that the authority to enforce federal immigration law lies solely with the federal government

AFSC – A New Path, NNIRR, Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, CIR ASAP

Establish an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Ombudsman

CIR ASAP

Eliminate detention and incarceration based on immigration status by allowing people detained for immigration violations to post bail or be released on their own recognizance.

South Asian Network & Allies Immigration Statement 2007

Repeal laws that prevent release on bond or their own recognizance for apprehended migrants who are not a flight risk or risk to the community.

Unity Blueprint

Limit the amount of time an immigrant is detained after being ordered released on bond.

Unity Blueprint

Grant suspension of deportation and registry to immigrants of good moral character with five years continuous residence

Unity Blueprint

Prohibit mass non-individualized detentions of immigrants; restrict federal agents to only questioning persons reasonably suspected based upon articulable facts of being immigrants without visas.

Unity Blueprint

Eliminate arbitrary, indefinite, or mandatory detention or other forms of abusive treatment and detention practices that separate family members, and implement humane alternatives to detention that allow release on bond or their own recognizance after an individualized hearing.

AFSC – A New Path

End the privatization of the detention system by tearing down existing immigration detention centers, canceling the contracts to private contractors for operating them, and requiring the federal government to exercise responsibility for respecting the human rights of those charged with immigration violations.

AFSC – A New Path

Ensure that anyone detained for immigration violations receives adequate medical and mental health screenings, evaluations, medically necessary treatment, and continuing care, a review process for medical treatment requests and complete and confidential medical records, reasonable access to telephones, affordable rates, and privacy protections for calls, protection from sexual abuse, care for victims, and reports and investigations of abuse, and protection from transfers that fail to consider health and access to counsel. Establish an independent commission to investigate and report on compliance. DHS must report the death of a detainee within 48 hours, and report annually to Congress on the circumstances of all deaths in detention.

CIR ASAP

Prohibit apprehensions at community, educational, and religious locations, provide access to legal orientation programs and to counsel for any detained person.

CIR ASAP

Allow refugees to apply for immediate asylum, without detention.

AFSC – A New Path

Families with children may not be separated, and parents or childdren of citizens may not be deported. Minors may not be detained.

AFSC – A New Path

DRAFT - REPEAL BORDER MILITARIZATION AND ENFORCE HUMAN RIGHTS

RECOMMENDATIONS

SOURCE

Dismantle the “virtual wall” and all surveillance apparatus in our communities, including aerial drones, video cameras and radar towers (in urban, suburban and rural regions).

Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Remove National Guard troops and all military personnel from border communities, and prohibit their use in immigration enforcement.

National Network for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (NNIRR), Coalición de Derechos Humanos

Prohibit private security personnel from taking any action in relation to immigration enforcement.