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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the debate over immigration reform, it is not unusual for the anti-immigrant lobby to distort the facts to suit its agenda.
In recent months, some of the most virulent anti-immigrant Members of Congress have been taking advantage of hard economic times to advance their same, old mass deportation agenda. They argue that blocking comprehensive immigration reform would somehow help the American worker and furthermore, that an unrealistic, multi-billion dollar mass deportation plan would provide instant relief to hardworking Americans in need of good jobs.
But a closer look at the voting records of these Members shows them to be some of the most consistent opponents of legislation to benefit American workers. And analysis of their immigration policy proposals reveals their main goal to be expelling millions of Latinos, Asians, Haitians, Africans, and other immigrants from the United States, not leveling the playing field for all workers and expanding the tax base. When it comes to protecting the American worker, the anti-immigrant lobby simply has no legs to stand on.
These Members of Congress are aided by a shadow coalition of groups with an anti-immigrant agenda, attempting to recast themselves as protectors of the American worker. The “Coalition for the Future American Worker” is a project of the extremist organization FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform) and its members are a list of primarily anti-immigrant organizations for whom unemployment is only the latest excuse to scapegoat immigrants. In the past, these groups have blamed immigrants for issues such as global warming, the housing crisis, a broken health care system, traffic congestion, and more.
The following analysis exposes the anti-worker voting records of the most strident anti-immigrant Members of Congress; the tight network of anti-immigrant groups behind the “Coalition for the Future American Worker”; and the mass deportation lobby’s long history of attempting to co-opt progressive issues to promote their extremist, single-issue agenda. This report also sets the record straight on several key issues in the discussion about immigration and the economy, and describes how comprehensive immigration reform will fix the broken immigration system and improve the welfare of all workers.