Pittsburgh–(ENEWSPF)–April 27, 2010. The United Steelworkers (USW) union is proud of its long history of fighting to preserve American jobs while at the same time supporting common sense immigration reform that protects the rights of individuals in accordance with the U.S. Constitution.
“The recent law passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed by Gov. Brewer is nothing more that a pitiful attempt to pander to those in the political spectrum who would have us believe that our nation’s economic troubles lie solely at the hands of undocumented workers,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard.
“Our country is in desperate need of immigration reform and the only way it can be done is to have it debated and passed in the U.S. Congress, not by 50 state legislatures,” he said.
“The Arizona law has the potential of subjecting our Latino population to racial profiling,” Gerard said. “This is unacceptable to us and to every American who respects human dignity.
“The image of police confronting people on the street, asking to see identification is akin to things that have not been witnessed since the fall of totalitarian dictatorships in the last century,” he said. “We can’t let our great nation go down that road. This law must be repealed.”
USW International Vice President and Director of Civil Rights Fred Redmond said the legislation threatens to roll back a half century of gains by the civil rights movement.
“We believe the law is unconstitutional,” Redmond said. “We commend President Obama for turning this over to the Justice Department for the investigation of civil rights violations.
“This can set back years of struggle for civil rights,” he said. “We have to stop this legislation in its tracks. It must be repealed.”
Source: usw.org
