If the U.S. Senate passes the current immigration reform bill, would undocumented workers comply? Jesse Russell takes a look at a new study.

A new poll finds that 83 percent of undocumented workers would comply with an immigration bill currently in the Senate. The New America Media poll of 1600 undocumented workers found that an "overwhelming majority" of those workers would do what they needed to do in order to become legalized workers. Some of the items in the bill include background checks, registering with the government, returning home to pick up temporary visas, and fines up to $3000 for undocumented family members. 27 percent of respondents said they would not go home for temporary visas while 10 percent were undecided. One major concern of the bill is the Z Visa for workers who entered the U.S. illegally - it would be limited to the 60 percent of undocumented workers who have been here longer than five years. The study also measured anti-immigrant sentiments with 64 percent of respondents saying that it has impacted their families. These measures will be debated throughout the coming days.

By Doug Cunningham

A massive new database created by the immigration bill in Congress would be created through employers submitting identifying information on 150 million workers to the Department of Homeland Security. Expansion of the Employee Eligibility Verification System is raising civil liberties red flags. The data includes photos of workers and workers failing a database check could be denied jobs.

By Doug Cunningham

With a guest worker program still in the immigration bill, the U.S. Senate has pushed back a vote on immigration reform to June. Organized labor for the most part is against a guest worker program, arguing that it exploits workers while denying them the path to full citizenship that would give them full labor rights. Democrats say the immigration reform provides a tough but fair path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrant workers living in the U.S. The AFL-CIO says a guest worker program will guarantee a steady flow of cheap labor from workers who would essentially be indentured workers too afraid of being deported to protest substandard wages, benefits and unsafe working conditions.

By Doug Cunningham

Immigrant rights activists and some labor unions coast to coast are rallying on this May Day for immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for undocumented workers. Norman Eng is with the New York Immigrant Rights Coalition.

[Eng]: “Immigrant families are just like other Americans. They’re here working hard. And we need a law that recognizes that and that gives these human beings a chance to become Americans.”

By Doug Cunningham

The AFL-CIO says the H-1B and L-1 Visa Fraud and Abuse Prevention Act of 2007 introduced Thursday in the U.S. Senate will elevate the issue of worker’s rights in the immigration reform debate. It's designed to fight visa fraud and abuse in guest worker programs. Employers are abusing the guest worker programs now to exploit workers and drive down labor standards, according to the AFL-CIO. The bill would improve wage standards and give the Department of Labor stronger abilities to fight employer fraud in the guest worker programs.

Sen. Edward Kennedy fired a hardball on Tuesday, comparing a recent raid of alleged illegal immigrants with the suffering following Hurricane Katrina. Jesse Russell has more:

The raid last week at a military vest factory in New Bedford, Massachusetts swept up 361 workers and tore apart families as many of the alleged illegal immigrants were quickly spirited to Texas before it was known who had left children behind. Senator Kennedy fired strong words at the Department of Homeland Security via an editorial in the New Bedford Standard Times. Kennedy said the raid reminded him of “the tragedy and human suffering that we all witnessed after the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina.

Congress is preparing to get involved in last week's case where nearly 200 children were left abandoned after an immigration raid in Massachusetts. Jesse Russell has more:

By Jesse Russell

During a Sunday meeting with family members of some of the 361 alleged illegal immigrants who were rounded up last week in New Bedford, Representative William Delahunt called the policies of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “total chaos.” He was joined by Senators Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and Representative Barney Frank. During the meeting Frank said “There was no excuse for their not being absolutely 100 percent certain that children would not be victims.” Delahunt said there will be a congressional investigation into the raids. Last week Governor Deval Patrick criticized the way the ICE conducted the raid saying that the organization took to long providing information to the state. Last Tuesday the raid was conducted on Michael Bianco, Inc. A company that has received a government contract to make equipment and apparel for the U.S. military.

The Governor of Massachusetts is hitting back at tactics used by federal officials when arresting illegal immigrants on Wednesday. Jesse Russell files this report:

Gov. Deval Patrick called tactics used by federal officials to round up and detain illegal immigrants “hard-handed.” The Massachusetts Governor said the state wasn’t allowed quick access to the detainees before many of them were already flown to Texas and on their way to deportation. The result was a number of children being abandoned. The raid in New Bedford, Mass. Went down at the Michael Bianco factory, which produces equipment for the United States military. Federal reports say that 327 workers were detained in the raid. As of Thursday 150 detainees had been flown to Texas. Meanwhile, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department has said no children have been left behind, but the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern Massachusetts reports that at least 100 children have been located. The company had received $91 million in U.S. military contracts.

By Doug Cunningham

ACORN – the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now – says planned increases in immigration application fees should not be approved. ACORN says the fees are already prohibitive for low-income working immigrants. Raising the fees even higher, ACORN says, will prevent many working immigrants from playing by the rules to become U.S. citizens. The current proposal would hike application fees for a permanent residency or “green card” from $325 to $905.

By Doug Cunningham

As labor unions nationwide step up their organizing efforts immigrant workers – both documented and undocumented – are becoming a more important element in labor organizing. But Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborers Organizing Network says much has to change in labor’s approach to organizing immigrants before immigrants

[Alvarado]: “A lot of things need to change for that to happen, including making changes within unions to ensure that immigrant workers are qualified to become members. The culture of organizing also needs to change. It has to be more intune to the organizing experiences and the organizing maturity of immigrant workers and their experiences with organizing efforts in the country.”

A sweep of meat packing plants to arrest undocumented workers may have resulted in the accidental arrest of legal workers. Jesse Russell reports:

A massive sweep at plants in six states resulted in the arrest of undocumented workers, shut down the world's second largest meat processing company for most of the day and may have netted a number legal workers. The United Food and Commercial Workers spent much of Wednesday trying to help families of documented workers locate missing family members. Nearly 1,000 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the plants owned by Swift and Company carrying machine guns, separating citizens from noncitizens, taking away green cards, and putting them on buses. The enforcers were sent to arrest as many as 170 identified suspects of alleged identity fraud. ICE chief Julie L. Myers told reporters Wednesday morning that the identities and Social Security numbers of hundreds of legal citizens had been stolen and used to obtain jobs with Swift and Company. She said an unknown number of immigrants were arrested on Tuesday, the UFCW said the numbers could be as high as 5,000.

By Doug Cunningham

[John Sweeney1]: “When standards are dragged down for some workers they are dragged down for all workers.”

[Pablo Alvarado]: “When we improve wages and working conditions for the most vulnerable we are automatically improving the lives and working conditions of all workers in this country.”

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network announcing a partnership to improve working conditions for day laborers. Sweeney says the more than 140 day labor centers in 31 states work to provide support for low-wage workers. Sweeney says the goal of this partnership with day laborers is to create lasting improvements in their working conditions. He and Alvarado say this is also a political alliance to pass comprehensive immigration reform and to oppose punitive measures against immigrant workers,

By Jesse Russell

The House GOP is currently hosting forums across the United States to address the issue of immigration. The forums are intended to help find common ground on the debate, but as shown at one heated forum in San Diego - common ground is scarce. Newly elected San Diego Congressman Brian Bilbray expressed a need for the border patrol to work harder at cracking down on illegal immigrants. Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said rounding up illegal immigrants might prove to be more costly then what Americans would be willing to pay:

[Baca]: We don't have enough prisons in America or enough local jails in America to incarcerate employers and their workers.

By Doug Cunningham

As the House and Senate try to reconcile their versions of undocumented immigrant worker reform, Beatriz Maya of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee says labor should enjoy the same freedom of movement across international borders as capital.

[Beatriz Maya]: “We have worked for amnesty or legalization – the name that is used now – for a number of years. And what we have advocated over the years is really for the freedom to move across borders as capital is free to move. The right of mobility should be a right of every human being. That’s what we think. That’s

By Jesse Russell

The immigration debate continues to be a hot one for both President George W. Bush and Wisconsin Representative F. James Sensenbrenner. The republican congressman, who has come under fire from immigration rights group for drafting a bill that would classify illegal immigrants as "felons," criticized the President on Wednesday. He said it was the White House that requested the two controversial felony provisions in the immigration bill - a bill that passed in the House, but Sensenbrenner says appears that the President is "turning his back on." Sensenbrenner said Bush's call for allowing many of the 12 million illegal immigrants’ in this country eventually become citizen is really just amnesty for individuals who have broken the law.

By Jesse Russell

Fifteen immigrant women who left work to joining in immigration reform rallies have been fired. The meat cutters at Wolverine Packing Company in Detroit, all Mexican natives, said they were never warned that if they skipped work on the day of the rally they would be let go. The company claims they received both written and verbal warnings that if they didn't attend work in order to attend the rally they would be fired. Some of the workers were undocumented immigrants.

By Doug Cunningham

The United Farm Workers union says a new national agreement represents a breakthrough for foreign workers imported to the U.S. for agriculture work. UFW spokesman Marc Grossman says this agreement will protect these workers.

[Marc Grossman 1]: “This contract between Global Horizons and the United Farm Workers represents an historic breakthrough for farm workers. It means that farm workers who are imported from other countries to work in this nation will be assured that state and federal laws will be enforced because we’ll do it through collective bargaining.”

WIN's Doug Cunningham guests on the Thom Hartmann radio show to talk about immigrant workers and labor's support for undocumented workers.

The AFL-CIO is rallying with immigrants today in the streets of Washington, D.C. as part of the National Day of Action.

(Click on Raw Audio page in upper left corner of WIN's home page to listen.)

By Doug Cunningham

The U.S. Senate has reached a bipartisan compromise agreement on immigration reform that creates a path to citizenship for many millions of undocumented immigrant workers. But the reform is far from becoming law, since it must first be reconciled with the U.S. House before going on to the president to become law.

The Senate plan creates a guest worker program that organized labor opposes. The AFL-CIO says this proposed reform creates a big group of second-class citizens who might not ever become U.S. citizens. The AFL-CIO has said that such a guest worker program
will put downward pressure on wages while taking jobs from citizens.

By Jesse Russell

As the national debate surrounding immigrant workers heats up, the Economic Policy Institute has released a report highlighting the importance of worker centers. The report by Janice Fine, titled Worker Centers: Organizing Communities on the Edge of the Dream, was the subject of a conference call on Tuesday. During the call Fine called the response of Washington disappointing. She said the President’s proposal doesn’t reflect reality:

[Fine]: What I’m pleased about is the President’s talking about immigrant workers with greater humanity, at least rhetorically. But his proposals don’t reflect that humanity and don’t reflect the reality of immigrant workers as their working around the country.