Although many of them are conservatives, the members of the alliance span the political spectrum. The Rubio-Schumer bill will hurt all Americans. It not only gives legal status and work permits to 9 million illegal aliens, it also almost doubles the guest worker program, which will hurt skilled and unskilled workers.
We should be supporting this march because it is in our self-interest to do so. Demeaning or demonizing those marching should not be the focus, but rather, the emphasis should be on what the objective of the march is, i.e., to defeat the Rubio-Schumer bill.
And the 11 million or more illegal aliens who are legalized can sponsor up to 20 million of their family members who will join them thru chain migration, i.e., family reunification.
The 2007 bill was defeated in part due to widespread concerns over the increase in the number of guest workers. While the sponsors of S.744 have suggested that this bill more responsibly manages the number of guest workers than the rejected 2007 proposal, it allows for dramatically more guest workers than the 2007 plan did. Such a large number by definition will displace American workers and the chronically unemployed. It will also reduce job opportunities for legal immigrants. By any measure, S.744 is worse for workers, at a worse time, than previous attempts at comprehensive reform. As Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) recently put it in an interview, "This is a massive effort to attract cheap labor, a great disservice to American workers."
In addition to expanding the controversial H-1B program, known for its association with overseas-based body shops and also a 20 percent fraud and non-compliance rate, the Schumer-Rubio bill adds several new guest worker programs. For instance, it creates a new H-1B-style visa for workers from countries that have a free trade agreement with the United States, offering 5,000 visas to each of more than 30 countries. This provision could add 155,000 new guest workers each year, which is greater than the current H-1B program. Farm worker visas would more than double under the plan, and a new visa for unskilled workers would bring in at least 20,000 per year.
