By Prof. Gonzalo Santos ~ October 13, 2019
The ongoing ratification fight in the U.S. Congress for the new pro-corporate U.S.-Mexico-Canada Accord (USMCA) is a spectacle that, if not immediately corrected, will live in infamy.
Entirely absent, you will notice, is any reference to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, or a single Latino/a congressperson, or the national grass-roots Immigrant Rights Movement - or for that matter the Government of Mexico (which already rushed to sign and ratify the deal) - enunciating any immigrant relief conditions or putting any pressure for supporting Congress's ratification of USMCA, in contrast to what U.S. Big Labor is doing (see article below). The urgent need to protect resident legal and undocumented immigrants, as well as incoming asylum seekers, is absent from the politics to ratify the USMCA (T-MEC in Spanish).
Why is that? Why not even a single Latino/a or progressive congressperson has declared that their "yes" ratification vote will be conditional on the adoption of one or more of the many urgent relief measures for immigrants and asylum-seekers, not necessarily in the text of the trade accord but in Congress and in the Trump administration actions: the passing of the Dream Act for Dreamers, the permanent legalization of long-resident immigrants with TPS, the abolishment of the egregious and illegal "Wait in Mexico" ejection program of asylum-seekers to wait on the Mexican side if they manage to even apply on the U.S. side, the urgent need to vastly expand asylum processing at the border (now bogged down to a few dozens a day in every port of entry), the ending of infamous caging of families, the tearing of families, etc?
The present deafening silence on raising these issues in the fight over ratification of the new trade deal with Mexico and Canada is sadly the most vivid demonstration of the present loss of courage, strength, unity, and resolve on the part of the immigrant rights organizations in the U.S. and their supposed allies, namely, the Latino & progressive elected representatives in Congress. And, on the Big Labor side, another supposed allied that has previously gone to bat for pro-immigrant reforms, we are watching the deplorable and cynical abandonment of its previous strong commitment (from 2006 to 2013) to immigrant rights, now fast receding, and retrenching to its past protectionist demands, exclusively centered on U.S.-born workers.
You do not need to go to the side of the Trumpists to witness the callous indifference to immigrant rights, the wanton neglect of their human rights, and the criminal assault to their well-being; you only to witness today how the labor movement and the politicians in the Democratic Party have utterly abandoned the immigrants and asylum seekers, terrified by the Trumpist wave of nativism, racism, and xenophobia. And the Immigrant Rights Movement is paralyzed vis-a-vis Congress, even though, thankfully, not it’s litigation branch in the courts vis-à-vis Trump. But this court activism cannot help in this case, it’s a political – not legal – challenge.
A sad day for immigrants and asylum-seekers. ALL their supposed "allies" are betraying them at a key moment when they (the allies) could stand in steadfast solidarity with the immigrants' cause and try to get some relief for them (the immigrants) using their (the allies') political leverage to impose at least some conditions to the business classes of all three nation-states (the Mexican government already caved ignominiously to them) eager to get the NAFTA ratified by the U.S. Congress.
There is still time, but an extremely narrow window of opportunity, to cobble and launch a CLEAR LIST OF PRO-IMMIGRANT DEMANDS to be added to the AFL-CIO's list of protectionist labor demands as the minimal conditions for supporting the ratification of the USMCA trade deal. The U.S. labor movement should embrace them; the Duck & Hide Congressional Latino/as, both as a supposed progressive caucus and individually, should champion them; finally, the supposed progressive Democratic presidential candidates should come out strongly in support of these pro-immigrant conditions, if they wish and expect to get any Latino votes in the fast-approaching primaries and general election.
ENOUGH throwing the immigrants and asylum-seekers under the bus! And certainly, ENOUGH betraying the working classes of *all three countries of North America*!! These two stands are not only NOT in conflict with each other, but if the past half-century of struggle for social and labor rights has taught us anything, immigrant rights ARE labor rights, and labor rights ARE immigrant rights! If the Democrats wish to count on our votes in these coming elections, they better support BOTH!
WE ARE ALL WATCHING and WE WILL REMEMBER!!
#YaBasta #Enough #ImmigrantLivesMatter #RefugeeLivesMatter #InternationalLaborSolidarity
#AnotherWorldIsPossible #AnotherNorthAmericaIsNecessary #AnotherMovementIsRequired #Resist
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ARTICLE in The Washington Post:
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said a vote on a new North American trade deal before Thanksgiving would be destined to fail
Source: Prof. Gonzalo Santos ~ October 13, 2019
