Don't make Elgin hostile to immigrants

To the Elgin City Council:

We were distressed to read in recent exchanges of letters in the Elgin Daily Herald that the city of Elgin was conducting screenings of the employees of their subcontractors to determine if any of them were undocumented immigrants.

Our organization, Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice, opposes any actions on the part of the city or of any government bodies that smack of racial profiling. We also oppose any actions that could constitute harassment or could create a climate of hostility toward immigrants, legal or not.

The massive flows of immigration from the global South into the global North over the past several decades are the direct result of policies of economic globalization that our government, in conjunction with other governments, have legislated and implemented. We are referring to the formation of the WTO, and trade agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA.

To scapegoat immigrants is to punish those who have already suffered tremendously because of those policies. Immigration is a worldwide phenomenon. We cannot solve immigration problems at the local level. When we attempt to do so, we encourage mean spiritedness toward the most vulnerable.

At the federal level we need comprehensive immigration reform. We also need new trade policies that help poor people, workers, consumers and the environment in every country. There is a new bill in the federal House of Representatives called the Trade Act or, more formally the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment Act of 2009. Let us call upon our representatives in Congress to sign onto this bill.

Liz Parker Siebeck

Elgin

On behalf of Elgin residents and

members of Fox Valley Citizens for Peace and Justice