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WHAT IS THE PROGRESSIVE WORKING-CLASS POLICY ON IMMIGRATION?  
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Les Leopold
December 10, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ That we don't know the answer to this question is the first problem
that must be addressed. _

A migrant sleeps in Huixtla, Mexico while sitting up as he advances
in a caravan toward the United States, on December 3, 2024., Jose
Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images

 

So what is the progressive working-class policy when it comes to
immigration?

I don’t know the answer and neither does anyone else, because there
isn’t one. Why is that?

To date there has been no serious effort to bring together the leaders
of labor unions and immigrant workers centers to discuss common
approaches to immigration that speak to the needs of all working
people.

Further, and perhaps even more importantly, there has been no
sustained educational dialogue at the local level that brings together
immigrant and non-immigrant workers to discuss their hopes, fears, and
desires.

To be sure there are widely shared negative positions: Opposition to
separating immigrant families; opposition to creating mass detention
centers; and opposition to forcibly expelling undocumented workers who
are working hard and obeying the law. But there is no broad-based
discussion, let alone agreement, on what a progressive working-class
policy should include.

This is a disaster for progressive politics. For without addressing
what is perceived widely as an immigration crisis, the field is left
open to demagogues who want to divide and exploit workers for
political gain.

Elements of a Progressive Working-Class Policy

There are several proactive and positive avenues to developing new
progressive immigration policies. The first is the need to rebuild
Latin American economies so that residents of those countries can find
secure and sustainable employment near home. As one labor leader told
me last week, we need an immediate multibillion-dollar Marshall Plan
for these countries so that their people do not need to risk life and
limb to come to the U.S. for incredibly low-wage jobs.

Unless a working-class approach to immigration is developed,
progressive politics will become increasingly alienated from working
people, and the right will make greater and greater inroads into the
working class by promoting a politics of fear and resentment.

Making these changes is a tall order, but the root cause of the
migrant crisis needs to be identified and discussed again and again.
People are fleeing violence, dictatorships, and collapsing economies
that U.S. financial assistance can help to rectify, and one could
argue, that Wall Street’s wealth extraction and U.S. foreign policy
maneuvers helped to create.

There is also reason to believe that non-immigrant workers
increasingly support a path to citizenship for undocumented workers.
In researching my book, _Wall Street’s War on Workers_
[[link removed]], we uncovered a remarkable change in the
attitudes of white members of the working class.

The Cooperative Elections Study, which has over one-half million
respondents, asked the following highly charged question on
immigration in 2010 and again in 2020:

_“Do you favor or oppose granting legal status to all illegal
immigrants who have held jobs and paid taxes for at least three years,
and not been convicted of any felony crimes?”_

In 2010, only 32.1 percent supported granting such legal status. By
2020, those who favored a pathway to legal status jumped to a
remarkable 61.8 percent.

These working-class respondents, however, also want more enforcement
on the border. In 2020, 72.6 percent were in favor of “_increasing
the number of border patrols on the U.S.- Mexican border.”_ This is
a 5 percent increase compared to those who supported this statement in
2010.

Working people who are citizens want to see a fair and just path
forward for the millions of law-abiding undocumented immigrants who
are already here. But they don’t want open borders or mass
unauthorized immigration.

This is not just a white worker phenomenon. Hispanic voters also seem
to support a firmly policed border. That can be deduced from the
enormous change in voting patterns
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in South Texas. Among 14 mostly Hispanic counties, Trump won 12. In
2016 he won only five. And Trump, to be sure, in the last campaign
increased his focus on stopping the flow of immigrants even while
threatening to deport all undocumented workers.

An Educational Model

In the 1990s, the Labor Institute
[[link removed]]—which I direct—conducted
dozens of workshops that brought together environmentalists and oil
and chemical workers to discuss climate change and the regulatory
elimination of toxic substances. The workshops created an educational
base in both groups for the idea of Just Transition, a set of policies
to help workers and communities deal with the job dislocation that was
likely to result from efforts to reduce toxic chemical production and
the use of fossil fuels. It also led to new organizations that brought
together workers and community members, such as the Just Transition
Alliance
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and the BlueGreen Alliance. [[link removed]]

A similar model should be created today bringing together immigrant
and non-immigrant workers in joint workshops to share with each other
their concerns and hopes, and to discuss joint policies on immigrant
reform.

If ever there was a time to start an on-going dialogue, this is it.

There’s no guarantee that such an educational model will, on its
own, produce progressive working-class immigration policies. But it is
highly doubtful that a new common direction can be built without
listening to rank-and-file immigrant and non-immigrant workers.
Workshops can provide a safe and productive space to frankly consider
and evaluate alternatives.

One thing is certain. Unless a working-class approach to immigration
is developed, progressive politics will become increasingly alienated
from working people, and the right will make greater and greater
inroads into the working class by promoting a politics of fear and
resentment.

If ever there was a time to start an on-going dialogue, this is it.
Not doing so would be just another sign that progressives are writing
off the working class.

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Les Leopold is the executive director of the Labor Institute
[[link removed]] and author of the new book,
“_WALL STREET’S WAR ON WORKERS: HOW MASS LAYOFFS AND GREED ARE
DESTROYING THE WORKING CLASS AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.
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(2024). Read more of his work on his substack here
[[link removed]].

* US Immigration Policy; Working Class Policy on Immigration;
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