San Jose, CA — Today over a hundred janitors and their community supporters rallied in front of the Federal Building in San Jose to call for comprehensive immigration reform. Carrying signs that read, “Where is the Hope?” in Spanish, janitors and other workers expressed frustration with enforcement-only policies that separate families and that spread fear and disillusionment in the Latino community.
The janitors and community supporters at the rally are part of United Service Workers West, a union committed to highlighting the connection between immigration reform and good jobs. Over the years janitors have made great progress with good jobs, and now that progress is being jeopardized by the increased attacks on immigrant communities.
At today’s rally, the janitors and their community supporters took a stand against a broken immigration system and recently proposed federal legislation that would mandate E-verify to businesses of every size. The bill, introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) in Congress last week, would further threaten our economic recovery by mandating that all employers rely on an error-ridden government database that does not accurately verify worker eligibility.
“One thing about immigrants like me is that we’re full of hope. We’ve all come to this country with hope for a better life for our families,” said Braulia Delgado, a janitor in Silicon Valley. “We’re here today because we have hope that the President and our elected leaders can fix our broken immigration system.”
“We need the political will and leadership to fix our broken immigration system, not policies and practices that spread fear in our communities.” said Denise Solis, Vice-President of SEIU United Service Workers West. “Only by fixing our broken immigration system through comprehensive immigration reform can we reign in the underground economy that drives wages down and holds back economic recovery.”
An enforcement-only approach in the absence of reform will not fix the broken immigration system—it will merely push more workers into the underground economy. That is why SEIU supports a comprehensive immigration solution that includes an earned path to legal status for the millions of hard working immigrants in the country, enhanced enforcement of labor laws, family unification, future flow of immigrant workers, secure borders, interior enforcement, immigrant integration, and bilateral partnerships with immigrant producing countries.