Frequently Asked Questions

Black Perspective on Immigration

Q: Why should African Americans support immigrants who are undocumented?
U.S. foreign policy and immigration laws are unjust. During the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans were
forced to violate unjust laws in order to win a measure of equality. Current U.S. foreign policy and immigration
laws are designed to enrich U.S. corporations and corporate stockholders at the expense of other countries and
undocumented immigrants in the U.S.
African Americans, other citizen of color and immigrants of colordocumented and undocumentedshould join
forces for their mutual benet. Together they can form the backbone of a movement that demands full equality,
full citizenship and full employment for all.
Q: Why would undocumented immigrants risk their lives to enter the U.S.?
Immigration to the United States is driven by an unjust global economic system that deprives people of the ability
to earn a living and raise their families in their home countries. For example, Mexicos economy has been
stagnant for more the two decades. Nearly half of Mexicos 106 million people live in poverty. The U.S.
government and corporations play a large role in distorting Mexicos economy and impoverishing its workers and
farmers.
Q: How does the United States promote an unjust global economic system?
Through international trade, lending, aid, investment and military policies, the U.S. government and corporations
are the main promoters and beneciaries of an unjust global economic system. A clear example is the North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), ratied by Congress in 1996. Under NAFTA, Mexico opened up its
markets to subsidized food crops from the United States. The result is that 2.8 million farmers could not compete
and lost their land and their livelihood. Many of them and many of their dependents have migrated to the U.S. to
seek jobs.
U.S. past support for repressive regimes in Haiti, Sudan, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua forced a ood of
refugees eeing repression and poverty to migrate to the U.S. Those countries are still recovering from the
devastation of war and natural disasters. Through multilateral lending institutions like the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the U.S. has forced countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America to open up their
economies to multinational corporations that have excluded people from participating in their own economies.
Q: Dont undocumented immigrants take jobs away from African Americans?
African Americans are faced with widespread employment discrimination in many job categories. Many studies
over the past few years have conrmed that major employers hire white workers and others over black workers
with similar experience and qualications.
In addition, a large number of the job losses for African Americans have occurred in runaway shop industries,
i.e., manufacturing concerns (automobile, steel, textile, etc.) that have moved to Latin America, the Caribbean and
Asia to exploit workers that do not have the same protections and wage levels that workers in the U.S. have.
Immigrants have moved into some jobs that were held by a largely African American workforce, especially in the
service and construction industries. Many employers take advantage of the fact that undocumented immigrants
do not have many of the same rights as other workers. They may be unaware of the rights they do have or are
afraid to exercise them for fear that an employer will retaliate by turning them over to immigration authorities.
Many African Americans know their rights and are not afraid to voice their opinions. Blacks are also likely to join
unions. As a result, many employers discriminate against African Americans and deny qualied workers jobs.
If immigrants were not a second-class workforce and had a right to full protection under law, without fear of
retaliation based on immigration status, there would be much less of an incentive for employers to replace black
workers with immigrant workers.
Blacks are in competition for jobs with citizens and immigrants. An alliance between African Americans, other
citizens of color and immigrants of color could be a powerful force for the strengthening and enforcement of labor
protections for all workers.
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