AFL-CIO: ICE Actions Are Putting Working People in Danger

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement:

The Trump administration's reckless Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations are trampling on working people's fundamental rights and freedoms: to work with dignity and raise our families without the threat of violence from our government, and to safely return home to our loved ones at the end of the day.

The horrifying acts of this administration's militarized immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago, and cities across this country are not about safety. They are about power, and they are putting innocent working people in danger.

One in five workers in our country wasn't born here. One in four kids has an immigrant parent. Immigrants are America's workers, vital to the fabric of our communities, our economy and our labor movement. When the Trump administration deports immigrants to inhumane prisons abroad, tries to strip people of their citizenship or other work permits, conducts raids at our worksites, and shoots innocent people who are exercising their constitutionally protected right to peacefully protest, they are targeting workers—many of whom are union members. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.

These harmful, violent federal government actions must end. We demand that ICE immediately stop these dangerous operations and leave our communities and workplaces before even more innocent people are hurt or killed.

The labor movement’s guiding principle is solidarity. We'll never be divided by this administration's strategy of fear.

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