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   Vol.65/No.28            July 23, 2001 
 
 
Changing face of working class
(editorial)
 
Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings rolling back some of the most hated aspects of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, along with proposals by President George Bush to ease the process of applications for "green cards," reflect the current debate among the U.S. rulers on immigration policy. The court ruled against provisions denying the right to due process. One clause had authorized the summary deportation of immigrants without recourse to a lawyer and a court hearing simply because they had a prior conviction on their record, even a minor infraction from decades ago. Another unconstitutional provision allowed Washington to detain some "deportable" immigrants indefinitely.

The U.S. rulers have felt compelled to make adjustments in their legislation in face of the changes that the massive wave of immigration is bringing about in the United States. Workers born abroad are feeling increasingly confident to fight for their rights as part of the working class. In many cases the rights and political space they are gaining is more de facto than de jure.

The goal of the bipartisan immigration policy is not to keep immigrants out, but to keep them in second-class status, giving bosses a permanent source of superexploitable labor and allowing them to divide working people and push down the wages and living standards of all toilers.

More than 10 million people have immigrated to the United States over the past decade. This historic surge in immigration has changed the face of the working class, making it younger, broadening its experience, and breaking down divisions among working people. As millions of workers from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Europe become integrated into the U.S. working class, they are also joining in the growing resistance by working people to the attacks by the employers and the government--from union-organizing drives in the Midwest packing plants to demonstrations demanding political rights.

The growing combativity and solidarity among immigrant workers is part of a broader development among working people. This was noticeable in the recent outpouring of 2,000 workers--Mexican- and U.S.-born alike--in the small town of Rifle, Colorado, who marched in outrage to demand justice after four Mexican workers were fatally shot by a gunman.

More and more workers are demanding that the union movement champion equal rights for all workers--regardless of their legal status--and, instead of viewing workers born abroad as competitors for jobs, actively organize them. That is the only way forward for labor.
 
 
Related articles:
Immigrants gain ground in securing their rights
 Youth resist attacks by cops and rightists against Asians in UK
  
 
 
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