"We're here to show they can't get rid of us that easily," said a protester against "Operation SouthPAW," a coordinated raiding operation by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in the Southeast. The immigration cops have dubbed their raids "Protect America's Workers" to sucker native-born working people into supporting them. But that ruse is part of the bosses' attacks on workers as a whole.
Resistance to attacks on immigrants' rights is growing too. Thousands marched against the anti-immigrant Proposition 187 in California last year. On May 29, 40 people picketed outside the INS offices in Chicago after the 11th raid in the Chicago area since February. Hundreds of immigrants jailed at the privately-run Esmor detention center in New Jersey rebelled June 18 against the inhuman conditions imposed on them by the INS and prison officials.
Immigrant workers in growing numbers will refuse to accept subhuman treatment and rightless status. This is a blow to the aims of the employing class. They view working people as animals, beasts of burden, who deserve no rights, especially those of us born abroad. By branding a section of the working class "illegal aliens," the employers and government seek to dehumanize millions of people and convince the working class that it is acceptable to treat fellow workers worse than dogs.
The boss class exploits divisions among working people to drive down the value of our labor power as a whole. They and their political servants have absolutely no intention of deporting all "illegals."
As economic and social conditions deteriorate worldwide, big-business politicians from Europe to North America scapegoat immigrant workers as the source of society's ills.
In France, where unemployment rates top 12 percent, 3.3 million workers are registered as unemployed, with 2.2 million driven off the payrolls of large companies striving for higher productivity. In the context of this social crisis, politicians of the fascist National Front party won several mayoral seats June 18. These rightists ran campaigns blaming immigrants for crime and joblessness.
Anti-immigrant demagogy will remain a central political question for the labor movement. As capitalism's world disorder grows, millions more will be driven from their homes, as refugees of poverty, persecution, and war. The working class is an international class - and will become more so.
Defense of equal rights for immigrants must become the watchword of the labor movement. Our class is stronger today because of its growing international composition in every country.
The labor movement should stand behind the protests against immigration raids and defend those who rebel against intolerable conditions. Solidarity and internationalism are the way forward for the working class. Ultimately workers and farmers will have to replace this dog-eat-dog system with a socialist society.
For a world without borders!
Equal rights for immigrants!