Green Party of Los Angeles County Statement on DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) - Nov 2017

The Green Party believes that no person is ‘illegal’, that all persons deserve social justice, and that U.S. immigration policies must treat undocumented immigrants and migrants humanely and with dignity.

Therefore, the Green Party of Los Angeles County (GPLAC)

• condemns in the strongest terms, President Trump's repeal of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and

• calls for Congress to immediately pass legislation to permanently protect young immigrants who came here as children without legal status - those covered under the DACA program.

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area is home to the highest percentage of DACA beneficiaries of any metro area in the U.S. (https://la.curbed.com/2017/9/6/16262398/daca-program-los-angeles-protest-city-hall). The GPLAC believes in unleashing their human potential by giving them long-term security in our society, of which they are already a part. Instead of this, Trump’s termination of DACA leads to an environment of fear and uncertainty that undermines our communities and divides our state and nation.

Compounding this are increased raids and deportations by U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) — especially in the greater Los Angeles area — leading to people being afraid to open their doors, and young children wondering if their parents will come home after work - a kind of reverse terrorism against our own communities. The GPLAC opposes such raids as inhumane, and sees them as part of an overall environment of scapegoating and racism - something already present in our society, but now being aggressively provoked and exploited for political gain.

Such exploitation would have been less effective had Congress long ago passed comprehensive immigration reform, that included giving undocumented immigrants already residing and working in the United States, and their families, a legal status which includes the chance to become U.S. citizens.

At the same time, public policies leading to living wages, affordable housing and universal healthcare for all would promote a more inclusive economy, and potentially minimize the incentive - however unfair - on the part of some who feel left out to scapegoat others.

Cur country also needs to look at interventionist, colonialist and corporatist U.S. policies abroad that lead to poverty and economic and political instability in other countries, which then drive migration. Too often policies that place U.S. military and economic interests above those of the local people and host nation are at the root of the need to migrate throughout the world.

Perhaps had Greens been members of Congress under a system of elections by proportional representation, these issues — domestic and abroad — would have been raised in our government earlier and more forcefully.

Moving forward, the GPLAC opposes the Trump administration’s attempt to end family-based immigration as inhumane, as a denial of the reality that the border between the United States and Mexico was changed by war and that life on the North American continent (Turtle Island) is deeply interconnected in ways that international borders alone can not incorporate (http://www.notesfromaztlan.com/2014/01/10/we-didnt-cross-the-border-the-border-crossed-us/). Greens believe our immigration policies must find a way to reflect this.

 The GPLAC also opposes the Trump administration attempt to renegotiate NAFTA, to make it even more pro-corporate. By contrast, a Green approach to international trade emphasizes sustainable economies based upon ecology, social justice, and a respect for political and economic self-determination.

When the Green Party originally opposed NAFTA before it’s passage in 1994, it was because at that time NAFTA already put the interest of capital and corporations above those of workers, human rights and the environment. (http://www.greens.org/s-r/06/06-22.html). The Trump administration’s efforts would only make this worse.

Finally the GPLAC unequivocally opposes the Trump administration’s ill-conceived border wall as a symbol of fear, division and hate. The proposed wall also makes no economic nor environmental sense, nor would it effectively increase national security. It is only there to divide us.

Amidst the increased intolerance unleashed and condoned by Trump’s rhetoric, the Green Party joins community groups, organizations and millions of Americans in calling for legislation to permanently protect DACA youth - it is the right thing to do in itself, and can be a first step towards an overall comprehensive and humane immigration policy.