Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act

In many cities across the country, ACORN is growing quickly in neighborhoods with many new immigrants from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and to a lesser extent from Asia and Africa.  Tens of millions of immigrants live and work in our communities. Many of the issues that ACORN has traditionally worked on – the need for affordable housing, living wages, better schools, and the scourge of predatory lending – are of obvious interest in these communities, and immigrants are flocking to these ACORN campaigns and becoming members.  As immigrants have become active in our campaigns and helped build organizational and political power, ACORN has been able to win changes that benefit all low- and moderate-income families, regardless of whether they are recent immigrants or not.  In addition, there is a set of issues directly affecting new immigrants that tie in well with the social and economic justice principles that underlie all ACORN campaigns, and we have already started winning important victories on these issues for our members.  Victories on these issues are not only important for immigrants, but for all our members.  We cannot allow the rich and powerful to create a class of people they can exploit with impunity because of their immigration status.

Local Campaigns

ACORN’s immigration campaigns are at the frontlines of the fight for immigrant rights – for workers, students, and potential citizens.  ACORN members around the country continue to organize around key issues, such as Los Angeles’ campaign to make sure people do not get kicked out of their homes because they are undocumented, New Mexico’s fight alongside the new sheriff they helped elect against the anti-immigrant CLEAR act, Connecticut’s battle to make sure immigrants are eligible for social service benefits, and members in Arizona winning interpretation services in schools, so that immigrant parents can become more involved in their children’s education.  Finally, ACORN members led a huge Get-Out-the-Vote drive in minority communities, many of them immigrant areas, as in Arizona, where the vast majority of the more than 100,000 people we registered were immigrants.

Guest Worker Proposals Versus Real Immigration Reform Through Legalization

There is a great deal of talk about immigration reform this year.  President Bush has made it a priority issue much to the displeasure of anti-immigrant conservatives.  The problem is that the “immigration reform” the President talked about last year is actually a guest worker program.  Guest worker programs would mean that undocumented workers already in America would be given temporary legal status to work here if they have a job and their employer is willing to vouch for them.  This plan would leave workers at the mercy of employers without offering them any path to permanent legalization.  It lets people work here for a while, then ships them back overseas.  Not only is this morally wrong, it won’t work: most undocumented people have started families here and will not go back home.  This is their home now.  This mistaken path is the one pursued by Senators John Cornyn (D-TX) and John Kyl (D-AZ) in legislation they are preparing to introduce.  Under this plan, many employers would continue to use immigration status as a tool to intimidate workers who seek living wages, affordable health care, and dignity at work.  This plan allows employers to play groups of workers off each other, hurting both immigrant and non-immigrant workers

In contrast, earned legalization—real immigration reform--offers undocumented immigrants a path to permanent legal residency and an opportunity to become citizens.  Every day, immigrants living and working in the United States make vital contributions to our society, but our nation’s outdated immigration laws force many immigrants and their families to live in fear.  We support real immigration reform and strongly oppose guest worker programs.

Fortunately, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have introduced a good immigration reform bill, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S. 1033).  There is also a House companion (H.R. 2030) introduced by Representatives Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Jim Kolbe (R-AZ.) This bill would allow undocumented immigrants who do not have a criminal record and can show they’ve worked full-time in the United States to pay a fine and become legal residents.  Eventually they could apply for citizenship.  The bill would also eliminate the huge backlog of immigrants waiting to bring family members into the U.S. and dramatically increase the numbers of workers who could come here legally in the future.

ACORN strongly supports this bill and will work hard to make it become law.  We have already led kick-off rallies in more than half a dozen states and will be holding meetings with our members of Congress all over the country to demand that they co-sponsor the bill.   The time is now for an immigration system that is fair and works for all Americans.