They are now out of the closet. Throughout the USA, in every major city, mass rallies have occurred �Illegal� workers have stood up and demanded their rights. They want the same rights as citizens.. There are ten million �illegals� in the USA. They point out their significance, doing unpleasant jobs that local labour refuses to do. They point out what this means to the US economy and that the consequence of them not being in the USA would mean a massive labour shortage. The authorities and the politicians are forced to agree. The ruling class faces a major dilemma.
There is a major division in that country over what to do about this embarrassing situation. The solution offered by the liberals such as Teddy Kennedy is to allow them to earn their citizenship. They reject any idea that citizenship should be handed to them on a platter. Basically after being in the country, earning a living and handing over the government the appropriate money, citizenship would be theirs.
Of course if you are laid off for some reason, not the fault of your own and can�t find work it will simply be your bad lack You be removed back to your own country. Tough lack if it means your family starves. This �liberal � option is not as progressive as some try to tell us. Migrants work for capital without any rights and are then forced to pay to get the same basic rights as everyone else. All immigrants should have full citizenship rights. Guaranteed, without payment.
The extreme right oppose any rights at all. They argue that any concessions to �illegals� is a threat to the rule of law and the right of America to determine who should live in their country. They also argue that �illegal� workers undermine the wages and conditions of American workers.
Well on this issue, the liberals are more in tune with the interests of US capital than the conservatives. There is no way that the US state can effectively organise the deportation of more than ten million workers. The US bosses will suffer from the loss of labour. Being �illegal� the workers are forced to work with lower wages and conditions and are easier to super-exploit than local workers. Sensible bourgeois analysts know how essential these workers are. Of course, the US state must not lose face. They must not give the impression that getting into the country and becoming a citizen is easy. The liberal compromise seems to be sensible pragmatic politics.
For revolutionary communists, there is only one policy:
Smash all immigration controls!
Citizenship rights for all irrespective of nationality!
This policy applies to all nations and not just the USA. It is the message that the labour movement must be making in Australia, loud and clear. Australian workers must defend the rights of immigrants in this country � illegal or otherwise.
Capitalism wants immigrants when there is profit to be made. But when the crisis hits they demand immigrants go home. Immigrants should be welcome in any country which they choose to live irrespective of capitalist profitability.