SP-CVA Statement on Anti-Immigrant Legislation

By Aaron Smith-Walter

The Socialist Party of Central Virginia recognizes the fundamental worth and dignity of each and every human being, and the basic human right associated with the ability to travel unencumbered.

The Socialist Party of Central Virginia also recognizes that each and every person is entitled to the means to earn a decent living through meaningful work, and that this right is contingent upon nothing other than membership in the human community and does not respect limitations based on narrow divisions associated with national citizenship.

The Socialist Party of Central Virginia supports the vision of a United States which opens its arms and its borders to the very individuals whose labor is the fundamental ingredient in the material benefits that we enjoy.

In light of these values that place the value of people over profits, the Socialist Party of Central Virginia calls upon our fellow Virginians and our elected representatives to oppose the following legislation, which, when taken in its totality, amounts to a full frontal assault on some of the valued members of our communities for crass political gain.  Instead of focusing on the incredibly low level of corporate income tax in our commonwealth, or the fact that corporations intent on hyper-exploiting overseas laborers have shipped millions of jobs overseas to the detriment of workers in our country, as reasons that our educational system and social services are under-funded, our legislatures have chosen to try to balance the budget on the backs of some of the least powerful persons in our Commonwealth.

In light of these facts, the Socialist Party of Central Virginia opposes the following bills now working their way through the Virginia Assembly:

• Senate Bill 789 (Senator Watkins): Would require the Virginia Employment Commission to utilize the federal E-Verify program.
• House Bill 1468 (Delegate Albo): Would require individuals to prove citizenship or legal presence in order to receive public assistance; it would also require that any proof provided by an individual is subject to verification.
• House Bill 1420 (Delegate Albo): Would allow the Virginia State Police to enter into agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  This would have the effect of allowing Virginia State Police to enforce federal immigration laws.
• House Bill 1421 (Delegate Albo): Would require that localities follow Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement rules.
• House Bill 1482 (Delegate Cleaveland): Would require use of birth certificate in order to receive a driver’s license.
• House Bill 1574 (Delegate Garrett): Would require mandatory self-identification; failure to identify oneself to a law-enforcement officer would result in the individual being guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
• House Bill 1465 (Delegate Peace): Would require legal presence for admission to institutions of higher education.
• House Bill 1775 (Del. Gilbert): Would require parents enrolling students in public school to verify citizenship.

Taken together, these bills, if passed, amount to a wholesale assault on many individuals in our communities.  The politicians will, no doubt, attempt to frame the issue as one in which “illegal immigrants” have broken the laws of this country and are therefore not entitled to access to higher education, driver’s licenses, or public services.  We must ask ourselves if we seriously believe that this will solve any problems at all?  Will these actions, instead, not make everyone in our Commonwealth more at risk, more divided, and less free?

Consider, if police can now require anyone to identify themselves or be guilty of committing a crime, doesn’t this make us less free to resist arbitrary state authority?  If individuals are prevented from getting access to the medicine they need, doesn’t that open the door for epidemics to explode in our communities because basic medical services aren’t available?  If individuals are prevented from attending higher education, perhaps because their parents may have brought them from another country when they were mere infants, what possible gain can we reap from denying an individual an opportunity to better themselves and give back to the community?  If we make state and local law enforcement proxies for the Federal ICE agents, aren’t we just creating a situation whereby communities will become more dangerous since people will fear contact with law enforcement because they might be undocumented?  How many crimes will go unsolved because witnesses will refuse to contact the police with information?  How many public servants and teachers will become informants?  Families will be hard hit by this legislation.  Requiring parents to verify citizenship when they enroll their children in school means less children in school; more parents being verified means more broken families.  Imagine for a moment what it must be like to be a child who is a citizen having their parents arrested and detained.  The basic necessities for life should be met for all people, not just citizens of the US.  Our communities remain safe when everyone has access to food, housing, employment, and education.

In sum, the Socialist Party of Central Virginia opposes this proposed legislation and calls upon all Virginians to contact their State Senators and Delegates and encourage them to vote against these bills, which threaten to weaken our communities.

Furthermore (from the Socialist Party of Central Virginia Minimum Legislative Agenda):

• Immediate repeal of Chapter 829 of the Code of Virginia that establishes English as the official language of Virginia.
• Allow undocumented people to apply for and be issued driver’s licenses.
• Allow immigrants expanded and greater access to work visas.
• End imprisonment for immigrants awaiting deportation.
• Allow habeas corpus rights for all immigrants, including the undocumented.

(from the Socialist Party USA Platform)

• The Socialist Party works to build a world in which everyone will be able to freely move across borders, to visit and to live wherever they choose.
• We recognize the central role global capitalism plays in forcing the immigration of people from the less developed to the more industrialized countries, often leading to further economic and social injustice.
• We support secular democratic states, assuring equal rights to every citizen and resident in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• We oppose the militarization of the United States/Mexican border, and an increase in the service budget instead of the "military" budget of the INS.
• We defend the rights of all immigrants to education, health care, and full civil and legal rights and call for an unconditional amnesty program for all undocumented people.  We oppose the imposition of any fees on those receiving amnesty.
• We call for an end to the use of "secret evidence" in deportation hearings, a ban on all immigration detentions and military tribunals, and full due process and habeus corpus rights in US courts for all non-citizens on US territory or in US custody.
• We demand an end to police raids in areas where immigrants congregate.
• We oppose "guest worker" programs.  We call for full citizenship rights upon demonstrating residency for six months.

And we insist that human beings can only perform illegal actions, hence, no human being can rightly be deemed illegal simply for existing.