Socialist Action & the Immigrant Rights Movement

Introduction: Welcome to our Immigrant Rights website. We’ve set up this page to post news, movement reports, debates and other materials on this very important issue. Socialist Action believes in a world without borders. We fight for complete immigrant rights, and oppose all restrictions and efforts to deport immigrants. We also support the right to self-determination for Chicanos, and independence for Puerto Rico.

Below is a list of articles and other links with information about the immigrant rights struggle, Chicano nationalism, the Puerto Rican independence movement, and the struggles of Latinos in the U.S. general. We also encourage you to check out our Latin America page and our Spanish language page. We welcome your feedback on the materials on this page.

Immigrant Rights News & Views:

Democrats Play ‘Soft Cop’ on Immigration Reforms: When Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano recently called off a raid on 100 immigrant workers in a Chicago factory, her move was hailed as a significant shift away from the anti-immigrant repression of the Bush years. Less attention, however, was given to her directive that immigration agents take greater care in selecting the "targets" and the timing of their raids. continued

Ammunition for Immigration Activists: Under the North American Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization policies, more than 1.5 million Mexican farmers have lost their sources of income and have been forced to sell or abandon their farms. Under these U.S.-supported neo-liberal (so-called free trade) policies, the real purchasing power of the Mexican minimum wage fell by more than two-thirds from 1980 to 1996. continued

Crisis of Leadership in Immigrant Rights Mov’t: A month ago, a crowd of 8000 people—almost all immigrant workers from Danbury—surrounded City Hall here to oppose a motion to deputize police as local proxies for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It is believed to have been the largest protest in Danbury since a famous hatters' strike in 1915. continued

Farm Worker March Hits Burger King’s Greed: A November 30th demonstration of more than 1500 farm workers and supporters marched in Miami to the national headquarters of the giant Burger King corporation to demand that it pay farm workers in Immokalee, Florida one more penny a pound to pick tomatoes and improve working conditions. Observers have called conditions in this Central Florida town, "modern day slavery." Many of the Miami marchers wore T-shirts with "Exploitation King" imposed over Burger King logos. continued

NY Governor Betrays Immigrants: In a reversal of his campaign promises, Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) announced on Oct. 27 a new driver’s license just for “illegal” immigrants. Spitzer earlier had promised a single license for allNew York drivers. continued

Senate Kills Immigration Bill: A fracture in the ruling-class alliance that had propelled the Senate immigration bill forward resulted in the collapse on June 28 of a sweeping attempt to reshape U.S. policy to suit the long-term desires of the largest employers of immigrant labor. continued

Immigrants March Despite Gov’t. Persecution: One benchmark of the disaster the U.S. rulers have inflicted on Iraq is the number of Iraqis that have fled the country since the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. According to the UN High Commission on Refugees, the number already stands at nearly 2 million, close to 10 percent of the prewar population of the country. continued

Which Way for the Immigrant Rights Movement: The U.S. capitalist class is committed, in principle, to a dramatic restructuring of its labor force to guarantee itself an increased rate of profit across basic industries. By means of "comprehensive immigration reform," it seeks to regiment millions of undocumented immigrant workers into a reserve army of super-exploited labor and import them into labor-intensive industries like construction, meatpacking, agriculture, hotels, textiles, and manufacturing. continued

Victory at Smithfield Packing: In mid-November workers brought the world’s largest pork-processing plant, that of Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, North Carolina, to a halt for two days in a winning fight against mass firings of immigrants. The same two-thirds-Latino workforce that shut down the plant during last spring’s immigrant worker general strike turned their power against their own boss. Their battle took place at the crossroads of several key struggles—for immigrant worker rights, to organize the South and reorganize meatpacking nationally, to rebuild a weakened labor movement—and even the fight against denial of civil liberties in the “war on terror.” continued

Immigrant Workers & the Split in the AFL-CIO: On July 18, the week before the AFL-CIO split convention, John Wilhelm resigned as head of the federation’s Immigration Committee. Wilhelm, president of the hospitality industry division of UNITE HERE, led the committee at a time when the federation had changed its long-standing opposition to the rights of the undocumented. continued

In Memory of Corky Gonzalez: Urban civil rights and Chicano cultural movement leader Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez died from complications of congestive heart failure at the age of 76 on April 12, 2005, at his home in Denver. continued

Transitional Program for Chicano Liberation: Since the Chicano people are oppressed as a nationality, they have the right to fully and unconditionally determine their own destiny, including the right to establish a separate state if they so decide collectively. It is a democratic right of Chicanos to control all institutions in the Chicano community. These should be administered by democratically elected councils representing the masses of La Raza. These local councils representing the masses of La Raza. These local councils should join with others on the state and national level on the basis of elected delegates subject to immediate recall. continued