Progressive Immigration Reform Site #1
Okay, so I sent out the call for other blogs or sites who came down on the side of progressive immigration reform and got no response, and I was just about to declare myself THE ONLY PROGRESSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM SITE on the web, and then someone reminded me of Lucas Doolin. Who I actually knew about but I forgot him when I was writing my post. Lucas says he has trouble identifying himself as a "progressive," but I guess I ought to give my definition of "progressive."Someone who wants "progressive" immigration reform wants it because our current policy exploits illegal aliens. Does someone want to argue that letting people work in sub-standard conditions for poverty wages is okay just because it was worse before they came to the US? If so I'd love to hear it.
A "progressive" immigration reform policy is formed for the protection of labor and labor unions, not out of hatred of foreigners or notions of "racial purity". It sees the inherent unfairness of big business exploiting the destitute in order to increase its profit margins, and the steady upflow of wealth from the bottom to the top that it facilitates. It acknowledges the damage to the environment caused by spiraling population growth and urban sprawl due to unchecked immigration levels. And it recognizes that most of the "immigration reform" policy put forward these days is just window dressing to assuage public discontent while perpetuating the status quo.
I use the word "progressive" to distinguish it from people who want immigration reform for "regressive" reasons, i.e., they long to return the US to an All White Nation Under God it never really was but like to pretend.
So Lucas goes on my list of progressive immigration reform websites, and if anyone wants to put forward a better name for it that would make everyone happy let me know. He also has consistently excellent coverage of the rift going on in the Sierra Club over this very issue, so check him out.
posted by Jane Hamsher @ 2/02/2005 09:07:00 AM
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