April 18, 2006 - Chinese Progressive Association statement on Immigrant Rights and Justice

* STAND UP AGAINST ANTI-IMMIGRANT LAWS!
* EQUAL RIGHTS AND DIGNITY FOR ALL IMMIGRANTS!

Globalization and Imperialism Fuel Global Migration
Following NAFTA in 1994, millions of Mexican communities were forced off their land and were
given no other option to provide for their family than to risk their lives to find work in the U.S. In China, similar free trade policies have impoverished and displaced over 120 million farmers and migrant workers. Faced with long waiting lists and barriers to legal immigration, over 11 million undocumented immigrants, including nearly 1 million from China, have come to the U.S. in recent decades seeking a better life. The U.S. government’s response to the consequences of their own neo-liberal trade pacts has been to militarize the U.S./Mexico border and criminalize the very people that they displaced: immigrant workers.

Today's Anti-Immigrant Laws Mirror the Anti-Chinese Laws of the 1800's
In 1882, the U.S. government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to ban immigration of Chinese
workers to the U.S. and prohibit Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalized citizens. This
discriminatory law was eventually expanded to exclude all Asian immigrants and was not fully
reversed until 1965. To pass these laws, racist politicians blamed Asian immigrants for "stealing" jobs from white Americans. Today, similar arguments are used by racist politicians to push new antiimmigrant laws such as HR 4437.

We Are All Immigrants
Right wing groups and politicians have focused their recent attacks on undocumented immigrants. Regardless of your immigration status, this is just a way for the Bush administration to divide us and undermine the rights of all immigrants. In 1994, Prop 187 excluded undocumented immigrants in California from social welfare benefits. Two years later, the U.S. government cut off most legal immigrants from public health care, food stamps and cash assistance programs for the needy.

We Demand COMPREHENSIVE Immigration Reform
The Chinese Progressive Association stands with communities across the entire nation, and
throughout the world demanding full equality and dignity for immigrant workers. We call on our
senators and representatives to say NO to enforcement-only legislation such as HR 4437 and to
support comprehensive immigration reform that will:
-Provide the opportunity for undocumented immigrants to legalize their status
-Expand avenues for legal immigration and support family reunification
-Strengthen labor protections and their enforcement for all workers, both native and foreign
born
-End neo-liberal trade policies that impoverish and displace farmers and workers in
developing countries and fuel global migration

From the Chinese Progressive Association