Labor Rights Must Be At the Center of Immigration Reform: NDLON Reaction to Sanders Proposal

Los Angeles, CA – In response to the release of Bernie Sanders’ Immigrant Labor Rights platform, NDLON director Pablo Alvarado released the following statement:

“Any platform that fails to de-conflict US labor and immigration policy is insufficient; and by this measure, Sanders’ proposal clears the bar. However, it remains to be seen whether he will foreground this excellent aspect of his immigrant rights plan on the campaign trail.

What is clear is that Democrats risk losing the election unless and until they can articulate and advance a unifying agenda that raises wages and conditions for ALL workers across race, gender, class, and importantly, nationality.

The deep divisions caused by the exploitation of immigrant work was the dry timber on which Trump poured his racist kerosene, and the populist fire that is now raging as the result of this arson can only be extinguished when Democrats confront, head on, the centrality of work and worker rights within the debate about the future of US immigration policy.”

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