Both Parties Exclude Illegal Immigrants
From Benefits of Health Insurance Bill

Democrats and Republicans in Congress, while agreeing to deny illegal immigrants any benefits under the proposed health insurance bill, differ significantly on how legal immigrants should be treated.

Some Republicans are proposing that legal immigrants should also be excluded from subsidized health coverage under the new legislation if they have been legal residents for fewer than five years. Democrats are strongly opposed to this proposal.

The intent of Congress is to show undocumented immigrants that they are in violation of U.S. law, and that criminals have to be punished. But it is a short-sighted, self-defeating view, especially in dealing with a universal need like health care.

There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, employed in construction, agriculture, health care, hotels and restaurants, and a variety of other occupations. Millions of them are in low-paying jobs and, like millions of U.S. citizens, can’t afford the cost of private health insurance.

What happens if streams of uninsured immigrants deluge the emergency rooms of hospitals and clinics? Will they and their children be denied medical assistance? And who picks up the bill?

Immigrants Still Wait for Law to Offer ‘Path to Citizenship’

President Obama had been expected, in his first year in office, to introduce comprehensive Immigration legislation that would provide illegal immigrants with a plan to attain U.S. citizenship. But action on the measure was postponed because the Obama administration was faced with international and domestic crises that required immediate and sustained attention. No date has been set for focusing on immigration during 2010.

Meanwhile, the federal government has initiated a campaign that compels employers to fire undocumented workers or face fines and other penalties. The Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, known as “ICE,” is said to be auditing the employment records of 654 companies around the country in the hunt for “illegals.”

The goal is to create a “truly national deterrent” to hiring unauthorized labor that would “change the practices of American employers as a class,” says John T. Morton, assistant secretary of Homeland Security. This is a clear declaration of war against the millions of undocumented immigrants who are living and working in the United States.

The story of how and why 1,800 immigrant workers were fired at the American Apparel factory in Los Angeles in compliance with the government’s latest policies has not appeared on the AFL-CIO’s web site or most labor publications until now.

The government’s determination to deprive undocumented workers of their jobs by action of the employers is not only inhumane to millions of working families, Even if it is partly successful, it would disrupt the American economy. It would also damage AFL-CIO’s plan to organize these workers into unions.

The AFL-CIO should protest to the Obama administration on the mandatory use of employers to deprive immigrant workers of their livelihood.

LaborTalk (12) will be posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2009.