Advancement Project Organizational Principles on Immigration and Immigrants' Rights

Immigrant Rights as Civil Rights

• The struggle for immigrants' rights should not – and cannot – be separate from the broader struggle for social justice by people of color and poor people. There is far more that unites than divides the oppressed people in this country, and recognizing this shared fate and coming together to build multi-racial and multi-ethnic alliances is the quickest and most sustainable way for us to achieve broader social, racial, and economic justice.
• Immigrants serve as a "miner's canary" for our society, because the injustice they experience is an early warning sign of much larger injustices that threaten all of us. If we pay attention, immigrants' struggles for a better quality of life can foretell the continued existence of racial, social, and economic problems that threaten the entire country's well-being.

• Immigration policy should be consistent with humanitarian values, and should never fail to recognize the dignity of all people.
• Immigration offenses have traditionally been civil offenses. Turning them into criminal offenses will further silence and oppress some of the country's most vulnerable residents, and solidify the existence of an underclass of undocumented persons for whom human rights and basic dignity are too often denied.
• Much like the so-called "War on Drugs," the hysteria over "securing the borders" through militarization is largely ineffective, demands huge amounts of resources, and demonizes people of color while diverting attention and money from the systemic issues that are much more serious threats to our national security and overall societal well-being.

• Many state and local government are supporting laws that target immigrant populations for harsh treatment, either explicitly or via selective enforcement. These modern-day equivalents to "Jim Crow" laws are, aside from being poorly devised and short-sighted, a product of – and an appeal to – our worst human impulses. They feed on the fear, hatred, and misperceptions that remain all too common, and ultimately serve only to divide communities.
• Several localities and states have taken the unprecedented step of attempting to enforce immigration laws, which has always been the responsibility of the federal government. Such measures lead to racial profiling by law enforcement officials, threaten the uniform enforcement of immigration laws, and endanger lives by driving an even bigger wedge between immigrant communities and law enforcement.

• There is an oft-repeated storyline that immigrant workers depress wages, but the reality is that immigrants are victimized by the same structural and institutional forces that all workers face: the push towards globalization and demand for cheap labor, government policies that weaken workers' bargaining power, inadequate labor protections, and the failure to provide living wages. Government and irresponsible employers have already pitted other low-income workers in a "race to the bottom" in terms of wages, living standards, and human rights, and they profit from immigrants joining the fray.
• While many claim that immigrants take "American jobs," the reality is that immigrant workers are much more likely to have the lowest-paying jobs in the worst conditions—which are unsuitable for any worker regardless of citizenship—or to work where there are labor shortages. The claim that immigrants "take" ignores the many benefits that immigrants bring to the U.S. economy, and how their efforts actually create jobs. Importantly, the real problem is not that immigrants take American jobs, but that because of decreases in wages and benefits across industries, there are fewer safe, fair-paying jobs for everyone.
• Immigration status should not have any bearing on workplace rights. When citizenship is a factor in employment, as it is in the current immigration system with employer sanctions and guest worker programs, immigrant workers become prey to unscrupulous employers who exploit their vulnerability. Those who commit to working in this country should be protected in the workplace, regardless of immigration status.
• To raise the living standards of families in this country and globally, economic globalization must be balanced with globalization of workers' and human rights, and economic and environmental justice.

• Claims that undocumented immigrants are a drain on social services are at best overblown and at worst counter-factual. More importantly, they distract us from the very real failings in our educational, healthcare, social security, and criminal justice systems that have nothing to do with the presence of undocumented immigrants.
• There have long been efforts to deny access to education for undocumented children. Aside from being immoral, such measures are extremely short-sighted. Limiting the opportunities available for the many talented young people in this country will only limit the country's capacity for prosperity in the future.