[D66] Trump administration moves to impose class-based restrictions on immigration

[A.O.]

"Starvation, homelessness and disease will become more widespread.
Immigrant neighborhoods in major US cities will increasingly resemble
the slum areas of megacities in Latin America, Africa and Asia."

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/09/26/pers-s26.html

“Keep out your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…”
Trump administration moves to impose class-based restrictions on immigration
26 September 2018

On Saturday night, the Trump administration quietly announced a change
to immigration regulations that will effectively bar immigrants from
acquiring legal status if their families have used social programs.

The change, which will go into effect after a pro-forma 60-day public
comment period, is a monumental attack on the international working
class. The explicit formalization of a class-based immigration system
marks a turning point that will substantially alter the state of social
relations in favor of the rich.

The new policy labels all undocumented immigrants who have ever used
cash- or non-cash benefits as “public charges.” Working class immigrants
whose families have used programs like food stamps, Section 8 housing
assistance, subsidized housing under the Housing Act of 1937, Medicaid
and healthcare subsidies under Medicare Part D will now be relegated to
permanent illegality.

According to the new rule, an income below 125 percent of the federal
poverty level ($31,400 for a family of four) will be a “negative factor”
in considering a green card or a visa application. On the contrary, an
income over 250 percent of the federal poverty line will count as a
“strong positive factor.” In other words, wealthy immigrants will be
approved to travel and immigrate while the working class will be forced
to live in the shadows.

Tens of millions of workers will be affected by the change. Just under
10 million undocumented workers, most of whom have escaped brutal
poverty and violence in countries devastated by US imperialism, have
already used the benefits outlined in the rule.

Beyond this 10 million, almost all non-citizen immigrants, including
those who already have legal permanent residency, will likely forego
future use of social services, with disastrous implications for health
and nutrition. In addition, 18 million US citizen children with at least
one immigrant parent will now go without access to necessary public
programs, since immigrants will be penalized for allowing even citizen
children to use social programs.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) callously states in its
proposed rule that the policy will lead to “worse health outcomes…
especially for pregnant or breastfeeding women, infants, or children,”
“increased use of emergency rooms,” “increased prevalence of
communicable diseases,” “increased rates of poverty and housing
instability, and reduced productivity and educational attainment.”

These are not undesired consequences, but deliberate goals.

The rule change is a maneuver to establish a permanent underclass of
deeply impoverished workers, largely in the service and agricultural
industry, too fearful of deportation to demand higher wages or better
conditions.

Both parties will cite the inevitable drop in overall reliance on social
programs to justify further cuts aimed at all workers. In announcing the
policy change, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen echoed the corporate-speak
used by politicians to demand cuts to social programs: The rule change
would “promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect finite resources
by ensuring that they are not likely to become burdens on American
taxpayers,” she said.

Starvation, homelessness and disease will become more widespread.
Immigrant neighborhoods in major US cities will increasingly resemble
the slum areas of megacities in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Immediately after the policy change was announced, a wide array of
national medical associations, including the American Academy of Family
Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, the
American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association
denounced the plan, warning it will cause a public health crisis.

The Democratic Party is itself responsible for passing the statute that
Trump and DHS are using to justify their expansion of the “public
charge” rule.

In 1996, Congress passed the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA), which required that immigrants prove their
sponsors have income above 125 percent of the poverty line to immigrate.
Without the 88 “yes” votes from Congressional Democrats, the measure
would not have passed. Democratic President Bill Clinton signed the
measure into law. Three years later, Clinton published a guidance
establishing that immigrants could be considered public charges if they
were “primarily dependent” on government cash assistance.

Today, Democrats have been silent on the rule change and have instead
focused all their political capital on portraying Trump’s reactionary
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a sexual criminal based on
unproven allegations from the early 1980s. The aim is to divert public
attention from the pressing class issues, including the attack on
immigrant workers, on which both parties are fundamentally agreed.

Workers of all nationalities, regardless of immigration status, must
recognize the attack on immigrant workers as an attack against the
working class as a whole.

No worker stands to gain by allowing the government to strip millions of
social programs without even the formality of a vote or public debate.
No worker will benefit by giving the government the power to conduct
military raids on workplaces to drag undocumented workers away to
internment camps. No worker will gain from the ruling class’s efforts to
expand the reserve army of undocumented labor that will work any job at
any wage and be too fearful to speak up.

The clearest 20th century parallel to the present rule change provides
an important historical lesson for the working class.

The 1924 passage of the Johnson-Reed Act, which established quotas for
immigration from Southern and Eastern Europe, was enacted following one
of the largest strike waves in US history.

Passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Johnson-Reed Act was
aimed at blocking the growth of the class struggle and halting
immigration by European workers influenced by the Russian Revolution of
1917, where the working class overthrew the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty
and established the world’s first workers’ state. Fearful of the growing
popularity of socialism, the ruling class attempted to divert social
opposition in a right-wing direction by fanning the flames of racial and
national hatred in order to divide and weaken the working class.

Workers today must not fall into the same trap! The first half of 2018
saw the highest level of strike activity in years, but to build momentum
in the struggle for social equality, workers must recognize that their
strength lies in their international unity. It is urgent that US citizen
workers come to the defense of their immigrant brothers and sisters and
link up in a common fight against their common enemy: the American
ruling class.

Eric London