By its very nature, immigration is an emotional issue, and especially so during tough economic times. When jobs are scarce, many unemployed or underemployed workers tend to look only so far. They point fingers at other workers who are competing for the scarce jobs, instead of directing their anger and frustration at the institutions and policies that caused jobs to be so scarce in the first place. Thus, citizen and documented workers come to resent the presence of undocumented workers. This is especially understandable in historically underserved African-American and poor white communities where people are desperate for jobs.

But that makes it all the more important to gain a clear understanding of the real problem, and not allow working people to fall prey to divisiveness and even more intense competition.

The problem is a real one. But the question is, why are there too few jobs, and what are we going to do about it? Are we going to go along with the strategy that divides working people against each other?  The strategy that the sweatshop owners, union busters and black market profiteers would love to see us follow? Or are we going to pursue a strategy that unites working people in a common fight for full employment opportunities at a living wage or better? To me the better answer is obvious.

The divisive strategy means moving in the direction of a police state, a repressive society in which everyone will have to ‘show their papers,’ or biometric markers, a society in which the state will be able to track people’s whereabouts, invade their privacy, spy on their activities and encourage people to regard others with suspicion. It means consuming more taxpayers’ money in turning state employees into an arm of the immigration authorities, and in militarizing the border. It means adopting measures that will encourage more racial profiling, like Arizona’s new draconian law. And it will only solidify the underground economy in which the most unscrupulous profiteers will still employ undocumented workers, thereby driving down the wages of all working people.

The unifying strategy emphasizes the need for working people to organize for real social progress. Instead of demonizing or scapegoating undocumented workers, we need to make the pathways to legalization much easier, so that they can openly organize and join the struggle for living wage jobs. We also need to address the real causes of the flow of undocumented workers to the United States: Our agribusiness policies that have ruined many of Mexico’s farmers, and so-called free trade policies like NAFTA that have harmed both nations’ economies. It is hypocritical for the Democratic and Republican leadership in our federal government to first adopt policies that drive up Mexican unemployment and then complain when the desperate victims look for work here. The Green Party is practically alone in standing up against such policies and calling for their repeal.

Undocumented  workers did not cause the real estate bubble and our economic collapse. They did not ask for NAFTA to be passed. All they are trying to do is find a way to feed their families. We need to take a humanitarian approach to the problem and focus on the real economic issues facing us today. We need to unite behind policies that can create a full employment economy, such as a Green capital bill, which will help stimulate a resurgence in manufacturing; restoration of the public sector and education; a state bank to help extend credit to new productive businesses; and using the power of eminent domain to repossess and retool abandoned factories and facilities, and create new community-owned and worker-owned enterprises.

We need to remember that excepting for the Native Americans, we are all descendants of immigrants. We need to recognize that elements of Big Business have used this strategy of divide and conquer against working people for over a century and working people never gain when they turn against one another. We need to recognize that, in the long run, immigrants have always generated more new business and net gains in jobs. We need to recognize that the corporate media spread a lot of disinformation about immigrants, and that the truth is that undocumented workers typically pay more in taxes than they ever receive in government benefits.

As Governor, my focus will be on creating the kind of healthy, productive economy that will provide quality jobs for all. I will not blame, criminalize or persecute the victims of a failed national policy but will support Green Party candidates for federal office, who are best equipped to address that failed national policy. I will fight to vigorously enforce our labor laws, to halt the extreme exploitation of immigrant workers and put an end to the practices that allow one group of workers to undermine another, to the detriment of all. I will not allow State workers to become arms of the federal immigration authorities or otherwise participate in police state tactics or racial profiling. I will work to build an efficient public sector, adequately and fairly funded, that can deliver quality services and educational opportunities to all – so that all have an equal opportunity to succeed by contributing to society.

Immigration may be an emotional and divisive issue now, but with an enlightened view of the situation and sound public policy it doesn’t have to be.