Attacking Immigrants and Refugees Hurts All Working People

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka made the following statement about last week’s immigration executive orders:

President Donald Trump has announced three executive orders addressing immigration that are an affront to core union and American values. Building a wall on our border, scapegoating immigrants and refugees, and shutting out people of Muslim faith will do nothing to uplift working people in our country. To the contrary, these orders sow fear of raids among workers, promote racial profiling and erode core constitutional protections. As such, they are a clear attack on our members, and elevated fear is a direct obstacle to workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively. We call on President Trump to revoke these orders.

We are better than this. Our nation must never turn its back on people fleeing violence and oppression based simply upon where they are from or the religion they practice. We call for our nation’s leaders to stay true to our long and proud tradition of providing safe harbor to those seeking to build a better life. We offer our solidarity and support to the working families harmed by this discriminatory ban.

As the groundswell of actions by union members and leaders around the country has made clear, the labor movement will adhere to our core principles of solidarity, dignity, and respect for working people of all races, faith traditions and immigration status. The labor movement will continue to defend all the members of our unions and communities whose livelihoods and rights are threatened by these punitive policies.