SB 1070

Arizona’s anti-immigrant law SB 1070 was to be implemented next week, but U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton has blocked the controversial racial profiling sections of the law from taking effect due to pressure from the United Front movement. While this is a small victory, the battle over the law will continue. The reactionary Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, said the battle was far from over. The right-wing in America has made an all-out assault on the immigrant and Latino community in the fallout of Arizona’s law passing. Since the advent of the bill, several states have introduced similar laws. Make no mistake – SB 1070 and its copycat bills will turn any state who holds it into a police state and immediately place Latino Americans as second class citizens. Despite the claim that SB 1070 “enforces” federal law, it in fact goes far beyond it. Being an undocumented worker in the US is a misdemeanor on the same level as a speeding ticket. With SB 1070, being undocumented is liable to place someone in jail for a month to 6 months.

DREAM Act

Undocumented youth in this nation are acknowledging their oppression and are taking a page from the Civil Rights Movement, engaging in sit-ins and hunger strikes to pave a path for legalization. These DREAMers are composed mostly of immigrant youth who have lived in this country since they were small children. Their struggle is a noble one. All across the nation they have demonstrated and fought for their right to be treated with the decency of human beings. On July 20th, undocumented youth from across the nation convened in Washington DC to pressure the Senate to support the DREAM Act. The American Party of Labor takes two sides on the DREAM Act. First, we support the students and youth who are engaging in the fight for legalization. We however do not support the proposal that calls for military service for the path to legalization, which would obviously be serving the imperialists in this nation who are never short of sending soldiers to their deaths for the extraction of profits from around the world.

The Challenging of the 14th Amendment

In late July, Republican senators such as John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnel have come out in their opposition to the 14th Amendment claiming it does not extend to children of the undocumented. Of course this has been proven false in two Supreme Court cases such as United States V. Wong Kim Ark and Plyer V. Doe, but the imperialists are playing their usual card of historical amnesia. With the attack on the 14th Amendment, the reactionaries are making it more clear that immigration and “obeying the law” was never on their agenda. They are in fear of the growing Latino population and the children of immigrants, who unlike their parents have the power to vote and organize, and wield political power. The politics are more than obvious for us.

The Hypocrisy of it All

The right-wing’s hypocrisy here knows no bounds. On the one hand they claim immigrants pay no taxes and are a “burden,” but the fact of the matter is that statistics do not lie. Immigrants plug more into the economy and social security than they could ever take out and benefit from. The bourgeoisie worries about oppressed working class people “dodging taxes” but could care less about the billionaires and corporations who last year paid less in taxes than some Americans. On the one hand, the Tea Party fascists claim they want less government, but support the federal government tearing families apart. They claim that government should not get involved in the economy, but are for keeping people in constant fear.

Categories: Government, Immigration, Imperialism, Labor, Racism, Racist Oppression, Statements, U.S. News