10,000 Expected at Forum Today on Immigrant Amnesty

Tapping into a cherished immigrant dream, labor unions and scores of community and religious groups expect to draw more than 10,000 workers and their families to the Los Angeles Sports Arena today to demonstrate support for a new general amnesty.

The gathering is the last in a series of immigration forums sponsored by the AFL-CIO in recent months, but will be far larger and more diverse than those held in Atlanta, New York and Chicago. More than 60 groups, representing immigrants from Korea to El Salvador, have signed on as co-sponsors, and keynote speakers include Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who this week called for the legalization of immigrant workers and their family members.

“After we put this out, it just began to snowball,” said Eliseo Medina, Western director for the Service Employees International Union, who was a driving force behind the labor federation’s surprising call for immigration reform earlier this year. “People are beginning to appreciate the fact that immigrants are making great contributions and they’re not receiving their fair share.”

The forums were designed to draw attention to a package of reforms embraced by the AFL-CIO in February, which include the repeal of employer sanctions and tougher enforcement of wage and hour laws. But it is amnesty alone that has kindled the passion of so many immigrant workers.

Some organizers view today’s event as a launch point for a serious national amnesty campaign. “People have not been shy about stepping up to participate,” said Mike Clements, senior organizer for LA Metro, a coalition of human rights, religious and educational groups that is sending 65 busloads to the Sports Arena. “I think decision-makers will look at this and be able to envision an alliance that wasn’t there before.”

If a case can be made for a new amnesty, it would probably be in Los Angeles, home to more illegal immigrants than anywhere else in the country. They range from recently arrived workers who paid thousands of dollars in smuggling fees to get here, to young adults who were raised in California but still find themselves in limbo because they were born elsewhere.

Some have family members who benefited from the 1986 amnesty program and have since become U.S. citizens, with full voting rights. With the economy strong and unemployment at record lows, there is growing support within the business community for immigration reform as well.

What would have been dismissed as a quixotic movement just a few years ago--when a recession helped spark an immigrant backlash exemplified by California’s Proposition 187--is now generating serious discussion.

Still, no major political backers have stepped forward, and even proponents note that outside of heavily immigrant areas such as California there is little momentum for a new general amnesty.

Critics point out that the 1986 amnesty, which granted legal status to about 3 million immigrant workers, was meant to be a one-time event. Future immigration was to be limited by laws prohibiting employers from hiring illegal immigrants.

But weak enforcement and the proliferation of fake documents undermined the employer sanctions portion of the reform law. Now there are an estimated 5 million to 6 million illegal immigrants in the United States, at least as many as were here in the mid-1980s.

Researchers are still divided on the lessons learned from the last amnesty. There is little doubt that the lives of individuals who gained legal status improved tremendously as they became more assertive on the job. “It’s been very, very clear that the effect of the last amnesty was a significant improvement in the economic welfare of the amnesty recipients,” said Raul Hinojosa, director of the Center for North American Integration and Development at UCLA.

“Research indicates that the average was a 15% increase in earnings within the first five years,” he said. “So it’s clear that if you’re really interested in poverty reduction and a ‘living wage’ approach, the most important thing you can do is eliminate this lack of rights.”

But some believe the program had unintended consequences that actually may have hurt immigrant workers. Philip Martin, a UC Davis researcher who has extensively studied immigrant workers in agriculture, said he believes the special amnesty program for farm workers set off a much larger wave of illegal immigration, as thousands joined newly legalized relatives and others hoped for a future amnesty.

Wages for farm workers dropped after the amnesty program as the labor market was flooded with new workers, Martin said.

“The conclusion was that legal status alone does not lead to improved conditions,” he said. “What I have never been quite clear on is, exactly what is the argument [for an amnesty] this time? What signal does that send for people thinking about coming across? Does it mean: ‘Come on in and eventually your status will get legalized’?”

Such questions may not dampen enthusiasm for a new amnesty today, but are likely to be raised by critics as the AFL-CIO crafts a legislative proposal based on its series of forums, including testimony to be heard today.

The event, which runs from 12:30 to 4 p.m., will be heavy with symbolism, opening with the Pledge of Allegiance by dozens of new citizens. Six immigrant workers, including janitors, hotel maids and garment workers, will speak about on-the-job abuses as a panel of union leaders and elected officials listens.

“We have a unique opportunity here,” said John Wilhelm, national president of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union, who chaired the AFL-CIO committee that first called for reform in February. “The whole country is waking up to the fact that immigrants are once again providing new vitality and energy, and really sparking our economy and our labor movement. We ought not be timid. If we are vigorous about it, I think we can in the next couple of years pass a new amnesty, repeal employer sanctions and create an immigration policy that makes sense.”