Green Party Platform:
Immigration
Immigration policies should be based strongly on human rights. Properly devised immigrant work policies can be of economic benefit to the worker and the host nation.
In California, discussions of immigration mostly center around the Latino population that moves across the U.S - Mexican border. Xenophobic responses are typified by Proposition 187 which claimed we "are suffering economic hardship by the presence of illegal aliens..." To the contrary, numerous studies show a positive net effect from the taxes paid, wages spent and jobs created by immigrant workers. However, reactionary allegations are popularized to divert discussions away from underlying causes of U.S. economic erosion, such as the permanent decline of labor-intensive jobs and the widening gap between rich and poor. Likewise, global issues such as deterioration of natural resources and predatory foreign policies by the northern countries are ignored as contributors to human migration.
Many immigrants come to the U.S in response to cyclical demands in the labor market. Since demand drives the migration, most immigrants, legal or not, do not displace native workers. Keeping workers illegal just makes them more vulnerable to exploitations and illegal actions by employers. This makes them an attractive labor source which, in turn, increases the demand. This cycle of oppression and exploitation is the equivalent of a modern-day slave trade.
Many people also migrate due to political persecution and poverty--conditions for which the U.S. should admit complicity. As long as labor demands exist, and poverty and oppression in the southern Americas continues, legal and illegal immigration will be a reality in California. We can deal with this reality by militaristic fortification of the border, or we can admit that labor, like capital, will cross borders, and that fortifications do not deter desperate people.
The Green Party supports these policies (as advocated by Cesar Chavez) which seek to integrate, rather than alienate, migrant labor:
- The U.S.- Mexican border should be recognized as an area of bi-national interdependence. This would be an authentic free-trade zone where people are free to travel for work, shopping or recreation. Similar arrangements already exist between the U.S. and Canada (the Cascadia co-operative zone) and among the nations of Europe.
- Seasonal labor demands country-wide should be allowed to be filled by foreign workers using work visas, with these workers subject to U.S. wage, tax and labor laws. The Employer Sanctions provision of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act should be repealed as ineffective. Bi-national unions and hiring halls should replace the illegal activities of labor contractors.
- We call for the repeal of Proposition 187, and we oppose the continuing legislative trend of reducing and/or denying services that are available to all other workers. We advocate voting rights for permanent residents, as was the law prior to World War I.
- We should acknowledge and celebrate the influence of diverse cultures in the mosaic that is the unique California culture.