SEIU: "Enforcement without comprehensive reform is like redecorating when the house is on fire"

Today, SEIU issued the following statement in response to the 'quiet immigration raid' that took place last month at a contract company in the downtown area of the Twin Cities, Minnesota.

"Enforcement without comprehensive reform is like redecorating when the house is on fire. Instead of solving problems, it only succeeds in pushing undocumented workers away from responsible employers and deeper into the shadows--benefitting the most unscrupulous off-the-books employers and degrading the quality of life for the rest of us. In the end, we are no where closer to solving the broken immigration system: communities lose; responsible businesses lose; families lose."

The "quiet raid" that left 1200 undocumented janitors jobless and unable to provide for their families is being called "one of the largest immigration crackdowns under the Obama administration" by Minnesota Public Radio .

Read the full statement from SEIU by linking here.

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No Match Rule Would Damage Oregon’s Economy, Study Shows

A new study released yesterday from The Coalition for a Working Oregon (CWO) predicts a significant reductions in economic output and job loss in the state if the federal “No Match” rule is implemented.

According to the study, the threat to Oregon’s economy is significant if the federal law takes effect and could cause a loss of 173,500 jobs in the short-term, or 7.7% of Oregon’s workforce along with a reduction in statewide annual production of up to $17.7 billion.

The long term effects could be a loss of 147,000 jobs, an annual reduction in state output of up to 14.7 billion, a tax loss of $656 million and an overall economic loss of $7.2 billion.”

The Coalition for a Working Oregon further said in their press release yesterday that an enforcement-only approach such as the “No Match” rule is particularly damaging to Oregon’s labor-dependent industries because it provides no mechanism to replace workers removed from the system. And that the only way to fix our broken immigration system is for the federal government to pass comprehensive reform.

Other points included in the report shows that departure of Oregon’s undocumented workers due to the no match rule would not likely to have a significant effect on Oregon’s unemployment rate. Mismatch in skills, education and location between undocumented workers and Oregon’s unemployed would make it extremely difficult for jobs being done by undocumented immigrants to be filled.

As for tax revenues, the study also showed that the departure of undocumented immigrants from Oregon would lower state and local tax revenues by an estimated $400 million to $656 million per year.

The Coalition for a Working Oregon is comprised of 20 Oregon employer groups who represent over 300,000 Oregon workers. The complete copy of the report can be downloaded at http://www.oregoncanwork.org/.

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