Driving down Main Street in many communities is a different experience than it was a few years ago. Stores are shuttered. No families are out enjoying an unseasonably warm winter day. The shops that are open are more of the big box variety than the mom and pop shops we remember. The jobs that built our middle class have long ago been outsourced to countries like China by corporations that receive tax breaks to send jobs offshore.
Times of hardship bring out the best and worst in us. Corporate CEOs and the politicians they finance have done a remarkable job of first creating this mess, taking advantage of it to lock in low wages and bad benefits and then turning our anger at the unfair system into anger at each other.
Scapegoating and setting workers against each other has always been common practice for corporate CEOs and their politicians – telling white workers to be afraid black workers would take their jobs for lower wages, telling men to be afraid of women in the workplace and bringing in temporary workers to replace striking workers.
Now they’re at it again: Unscrupulous corporations hire recent immigrants without protection to increase profits, only to turn around and point a finger at their workforce as the new scapegoats for our middle-class economic crisis.
We can’t afford to just sit back and watch as our standards of living fall. We must recognize the truth of what’s going on and fix it rather than pointing fingers.
Politicians in states around the country are considering laws that will help ruthless corporations divide our communities by scapegoating new immigrants. Just this month, the Colorado legislature unveiled a bill similar to Arizona’s SB 1070, which enables police officers to detain individuals suspected of being undocumented. If passed, this bill would encourage racial profiling, undermine trust between police officers and immigrant communities, and detract local police agencies from protecting their communities.
Meanwhile, national politicians made children into scapegoats by voting against the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for students brought to this country at a young age. To qualify, students must attend college or serve in the military, improving our nation through their education and service. The DREAM Act would strengthen the U.S. economy, cut the deficit by $1.4 billion and likely improve the dropout rate in immigrant communities and ease strains on local services.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for passage of the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform. The president joins a majority of the public in understanding that a broken system of immigration hurts our economic competitiveness and distracts from the real issues of a misbalanced economy.
We need an economy that pays each of us a fair wage. Comprehensive and fair immigration reform is a key component to making that happen.
New American immigrants are not the only ones who would benefit from reform: It would also level the playing field for current citizens and honest employers by preventing dishonest employers from seeking out easily exploitable workers to drive down wages for everyone.
In order to build a middle-class economy, we need to invest in our crumbling infrastructure and modernize our roads, bridges and schools. It’s time to build things in America again and create good, family-supporting jobs. And we cannot allow unprincipled corporations and politicians to exploit working people by dividing us on the issue of immigration reform.
From generation to generation, the American Dream has been a binding tie across the fabric of our great nation. Our country was founded and supported by the determination and innovation of those who came to our shores in search of opportunity, and we must allow this legacy to continue and thrive today. Now is the time for President Obama and Congress to take action on meaningful immigration reform, to turn these dreams to reality and to move our country and our economy forward.
Richard L. Trumka is president of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations). EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an online-only column and has not been edited.
