Repeal Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law

Repeal Arizona's Anti-Immigrant Law


The Socialist Party USA calls for the immediate repeal of the “Support Our
Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” (SB 1070) in Arizona. This law
sanctions racial profiling and gives cover to the repressive actions of
officials such as the racist Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Further, we call for an
immediate moratorium on all police raids of immigrant communities; we demand
the closure of the immigrant detention camps and an end to the militarization
of the US-Mexico border.

Arizona has become the epicenter of struggle for the rights of immigrants. The
state offers the clearest example of the abject failure of the current
immigration policies in the United States. These policies rely on the use of
force – ICE raids and the border police – backed up by an equally brutal
labor discipline that traps the undocumented in low-wage dead-end jobs. The
results are well known – the splitting up of families, the death and
criminalization of migrants and a race-to-the-bottom for work conditions and
wages. A 2009 mass march in Phoenix, Arizona led by young people who had been
separated from their undocumented parents and families highlighted the terrible
human costs of these systematic attacks on immigrants. SB 1070 seeks to take
this process a step further by transforming Arizona into the equivalent of a
police state where anyone with brown skin becomes a suspect. In response,
immigrant communities and their allies, all across the country, are mobilizing
to demand an end to the repression.

Such fervor has not, however, made it to Washington, where Democrats are
preparing reform legislation that amounts to more of the same. Much like the
recent healthcare reform, immigration reform has been watered down to suit the
needs of Republicans and employers. This is no surprise since, as a candidate,
now President Barack Obama never fully distanced himself from the Republican's
positions on immigration: the border wall, more military presence on the
border, and building more detention camps. Despite this, he still gained the
support of mainstream immigration reform groups who slowed down a vibrant May
1st Immigrant Rights movement. The now disarmed movement was left without any
commitments from Democratic candidates and with no plans to mobilize after the
elections.

The current legislation under consideration will do little to address the
problem. Bills such as “the Dream Act” of 2009, which would provide
conditional permanent residency to a few immigrants who entered the country as
minors or have “good moral character,” will not break the crisis in
Arizona. Instead, such reforms attempt to paper-over the demands from immigrant
communities in order to continue the cycle of militarization, repression and
wage slavery.
Socialists have something significant to offer to the immigration reform
discussion. We call for an unconditional amnesty program for all undocumented
people. This demand is based on our desire to create a world in which everyone
will be able to move freely across borders, to visit, to work and to live
wherever they choose. Amnesty will also allow workers, documented and
undocumented, to begin to advance serious demands for wages and benefits.
Amnesty will move us out of the current immigration crisis and towards a
society based on freedom.
Defeating SB 1070 is an urgent first step in this direction and the Socialist
Party USA encourages our members and allies to join in this struggle.

¡No somos criminales, somos trabajadores internacionales!
¡Que viva la justicia y la dignidad de los migrantes unidos sin fronteras!"


Passed by the Socialist Party USA People of Color Commission April 29, 2010