A coalition of progressive immigrant rights groups is warning that immigration reform is code for “brutal enforcement policies” along our nation’s borders.
The Dignity Campaign is a coalition of 40 immigrant rights groups who say there is an alternative to the trade offs proposed by President Obama. They describe immigration reform as “primarily a vague promise used to attract immigrant and Latino voters, [while] border communities have suffered the costs of irresponsible and brutal enforcement-only policies, resulting in death and violence.”
Instead the Dignity Campaign would like to see a proposal based on “human, labor and civil rights for all.” Their proposal is outlined in a article published in The Nation
“The idea of the three-part tradeoff, that is, that we get some legalization in trade for guest worker programs and increased immigration enforcement, has been around for a long time,” says Lillian Galedo, executive director of Filipino Advocates for Justice in the San Francisco Bay Area. “We need a new alternative.”
