Many working-class white Americans blame immigrants for keeping wages down, but the real culprits are corporate managers who like the current immigration chaos precisely because a ready supply of undocumented immigrants who will work hard for low wages reduce the pressure to increase wages and benefits.
There is a progressive populist case to be made for preserving jobs for Americans.
First, Democrats must not approve any appropriations to build Trump’s wall along the border with Mexico. It’s a stupid idea, which not only would waste billions of dollars, but also interferes with property rights, commerce and environmental concerns along the border.
If Trump claims a mandate to build the wall because he campaigned on it, Democrats should remind him that he also promised Mexico would pay for the wall. Democrats certainly should not allow construction to proceed until the check from Mexico clears the US Treasury — and that should end the matter, since we don’t expect new Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to approve spending more than $20 billion on a 1,000-mile wall to help Trump keep his unwise promises.
Instead, Democrats should support a bill calling for enforcement of sanctions on businesses that employ undocumented immigrants, including criminal penalties for employers who fail to withhold taxes for wages paid to immigrants. We have tried deporting undocumented immigrants when they are found, and that clearly does not stem the flow. Stiff fines and jail, when necessary, for bosses is the most effective way to reduce the numbers of undocumented immigrants in the US. If they can’t find work here, they won’t stay.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret: The US Chamber of Commerce and other industrial groups won’t stand for it. They like the current chaos because undocumented workers not only work hard for low pay, but also can be turned in for deportation if they cause any “trouble,” such as talking about joining a union.
So business lobbyists would put the kibosh on any effective immigration control. But it would be interesting to get Republicans on the record on employer sanctions. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 made it illegal to hire or recruit undocumented immigrants, but successful prosecutions are rare because the law included an “affirmative defense” that released employers from any obligation to check the authenticity of workers’ documents.
In 1996 the federal government established the E-Verify program, which allows employers to compare information provided by the prospective employee with government records to confirm identity and employment eligibility. But the program remains largely voluntary.
Reviving employer sanctions should be part of a “Fair and Humane Immigration Policy” Sen. Bernie Sanders is advocating that includes enacting and expanding President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA) to allow the parents of DREAMers, who were brought here as children, the parents of children who were born here as citizens, the parents of legal permanent residents, and other immigrants who would have been given legal protections by the 2013 immigration bill reform that passed the Senate but died in the House. This would allow all undocumented people who have been peaceably in the US for at least five years to stay in the country without fear of being deported. Under this plan, Sanders has said, close to nine million of an estimated 11 million undocumented aliens would be able to apply for deferred action.
Sanders also has proposed establishing a whistleblower visa for workers reporting labor violations. An affirmative process would be available for these individuals to request deferred action. And any immigration proposal should include support for all workers’ rights to organize their workplaces.
We must reject fear of immigrants. If Trump seriously believed that the “caravan” of refugees from Central America, who are trying to lawfully apply for asylum in the US, really contained Islamic terrorists, as he claimed when he was stoking fear before the midterm elections, he should have sent Homeland Security agents to meet them with a pocketful of “green cards” to hand out to Central American refugees who could point out Muslim imposters. We don’t mean to be racist, but an Arab jihadist would stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd of Central Americans. Of course, Trump was lying when he made the claim, but again, Democrats should call his bluff.
Unfortunately, the right wingers will remain in control of the Senate next year. But Democrats in the House can show what pro-worker progressive immigration reform would look like if Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump would get out of the way.
Don’t Rush Impeachment
Many Democrats are urging the House to move on impeachment of the Great Misleader when the new Congress meets in January, but Democratic leaders need to consider the effect of passing an impeachment resolution in the House, when they would need 20 Republican votes in the Senate to reach 67 to convict Trump and remove him from office.The report of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller III might move the needle, but there is an awful lot of denial in the Grand Oligarch Party. House Dems should start probing but hold off on judgment.
It’s not as if there aren’t enough judgmental Republicans in the Senate. Remember President Bill Clinton was acquitted Feb. 12, 1999, of both articles of impeachment for lying about a sex act with a consenting adult, with 55 “not guilty” votes for perjury and a 50-50 vote on obstruction of justice. That’s when Republicans controlled the Senate, 55-45. Clinton left office with 66% approval.
Current Republican senators who voted to remove President Clinton from office include Mike Crapo of Idaho, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jon Kyl of Arizona and Pat Roberts of Kansas. Who among them do you think would support the removal of Trump, even on much more serious charges Mueller is sorting through? (Hatch will be replaced in January by Mitt Romney, who has shown little inclination to criticize the Great Misleader, and Kyl is keeping the late Sen. John McCain’s seat warm, but is expected to quit the Senate early next year to let Arizona’s governor appoint an interim senator who Republicans think they can elect in 2020.
Mitch McConnell will be working with a 53-47 GOP majority in January, so only if Republicans in “safe red” states start feeling the heat will they consider making Trump expendable.
In the meantime, Trump has never reached 50% job approval as president in the Pollster.com average of 40 national polls. The Gallup Poll in December found 48% approval and 50% disapproval, while the Pollster average was 43.1% approval, 50.9% disapproval, as of Dec. 4. Sure, Trump could still get re-elected, but a competent Democratic candidate who is willing to campaign in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin ought to be able to beat him handily. — JMC
From The Progressive Populist, January 1-15, 2019
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