The U.S is predominantly a nation of immigrants and the UAW union would not exist if immigrants and non-immigrants alike had not fought in solidarity for the rights we cherish today. The UAW’s fight to gain a seat at the table to bargain fair wages and work conditions at Chrysler, General Motors and Ford Motor Company included immigrants, who led and participated in the sit-down strikes and other worker actions that have distinguished our union as a fearless fighter for workplace democracy. When addressing immigration policy, we must protect national security while remaining true to the very values that have made us a great nation. Standing up for fellow workers, regardless of national origin, religion or legal status, is part of who we are as a union.
IMMIGRATION
“The struggle between freedom and tyranny is not an old-fashioned struggle for geography. This is a struggle for the hearts and minds of the people.”
– Walter Reuther
KEY POINTS
The UAW represents 80,000 workers in higher education including academic student employees, post-doctoral scholars, and academic researchers at public and private universities across the United States. Recent administration anti-immigrant policies target workers and students who come to the United States to live, study and work, adversely affecting tens of thousands of UAW members in higher education. These members teach hundreds of thousands of students a year, conduct critical research that is a vital driver of U.S. industry and technology, and bring billions of dollars in research funding into their universities and local economies. Our members are also on the front lines of research, pursuing vaccines and therapies for COVID-19.
The screening conducted for the refugee resettlement program is extremely rigorous. For decades, candidates have waited nearly two years for approval of their applications to enter through humanitarian programs. It would be a clear violation of U.S. and international law to deny people safe harbor based on the religion they practice or the country of their birth.
The U.S. immigration system has been broken for a long time. Millions of undocumented workers have been forced into an underground economy, where they are marginalized on the job and in their communities. This has allowed employers to skirt wage-and-hour laws and use the threat of deportation to keep workers from organizing. When employers can cheat certain workers on wages and benefits and intimidate them out of exercising their rights, all workers are injured. By removing the fear of deportation, immigration reform with a path to citizenship will strengthen our bargaining power with employers and bring millions of hard-working people out of the shadows.
All undocumented immigrants pay sales taxes that stimulate our state and local budgets, and many pay federal taxes as well. However, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for most public welfare benefits, so they contribute more to our public budgets than they receive, creating a positive net fiscal impact. Studies consistently show that immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than our general population.
The UAW has long called for comprehensive immigration reform to bring workers out of the shadows.
The Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6), passed by the House, takes a necessary step toward ensuring that people can live and work without fear and are afforded critical labor protections, in every industry. Senate should pass H.R.6
WHAT'S AT STAKE IN THIS ELECTION
Our democracy.
A pathway to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA also known as DREAMERs) as well as immigrants eligible for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforcement Departure (DED)
Ending misguided policies that separate families seeking asylum.
The jobs and residency status of thousands of UAW higher education workers who have come to teach and conduct critical research at some of the world’s top universities here in the U.S.
DEMOCRAT – Joseph Biden and IMMIGRATION
The Obama-Biden Administration created DACA in 2012 to protect “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, who obeyed the law once here, and stayed in school or enlisted in the military. DACA provided young people who passed a background check and application process with temporary work permits and protection from deportation.
As President, Biden will:
Immediately reverse policies that separate parents from their children at our border.
Forcefully pursue policies that safeguard our security, provide a fair and just system that helps to grow and enhance our economy, and secure our cherished values.
Modernize America’s immigration system.
Reassert America’s commitment to asylum-seekers and refugees.
Protect recent doctoral graduates from green card caps to boost US economic competitiveness by welcoming these highly trained workers.
Protect the DACA program
Implement effective border screening.
Biden will end the federal government’s use of private prisons and he will make clear that the federal government should not use private facilities for any detention, including detention of undocumented immigrants.
TAKE ACTION
Get out the vote!
Support policies to protect millions of workers in our country today who lack status and rights on the job.
Oppose the criminalization of asylum seekers.