The North Carolina Justice and Community Development Center today joined national immigrant advocates in expressing concern about President Bush’s recent immigrant worker proposal, announced on January 7. “North Carolina’s immigrants come seeking employment, safety and security for their families, and the ability to pursue a better life than is available to them in their home countries,” said Carol Brooke, staff attorney for the Center’s Immigrants Legal Assistance Project. “Unfortunately, President Bush’s plan falls far short in providing these hardworking individuals the kind of real immigration reform that they deserve.”

Brooke noted that comprehensive immigration reform must include “a path to legalization for those people already living in the United States, and for those guestworkers who seek to make this country their permanent home.” She also called for a plan that “allows families to stay together and that provides strong and effective labor protections for anyone who travels to the United States to work.” “These elements are essential for the protection of immigrant workers and their families, and is the only way these workers can contribute to North Carolina’s economy in a sustainable fashion,” Brooke concluded.

According to Attracta Kelly, a Justice Center attorney and expert in immigration law, the President’s plan includes none of these essential provisions. “The President’s plan is nothing more than a temporary guestworker program with no promise of permanent residency or citizenship,” she stated. “It does little to benefit either immigrant or American workers and offers no solution to the serious problems with our current immigration system,” she continued.

The two experts conclude by touting two alternative immigration reform proposals pending in Congress. The AgJOBS bill, (S 1645, HR 3142), a bipartisan compromise supported by immigrant advocates and the agricultural industry alike, is “a strong first step toward the type of more comprehensive reform we need.” Brooke and Kelly also endorsed the bipartisan DREAM Act (S 1545, HR 1684), that would allow immigrant children who have lived in the United States for years and who want to attend college or enter the military to legalize their status. “We urge policymakers to pass these bills first, and then to support other legislation that truly benefits immigrants and North Carolina,” they concluded.

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