“We come to the US to work because we can’t get a price for our product at home. There’s no alternative.”Rufino Dominguez, Director of the Oaxacan Institute for Attention to Migrants
Lately we’ve been getting more and more questions about whether we support undocumented workers in labor disputes. The short answer is we will stand up to fight against human rights abuses no matter where they occur. These are two separate issues and there is no justification for abuse of human rights and dignity.
But there is a more complicated story too, which is that there are many reasons why people cross borders to look for work even if the law is not on their side. Many of these reasons have to do with policies regulating trade, agriculture, or immigration that are harmful to most workers and families. David Bacon explains these connections well in a recent article in our own publication For a Better World.
He also explains these ideas in this video interview he gave after he wrote his previous book Illegal People.
That is why alongside advocating for justice directly for workers and farmers we advocate for better policies under which all people may thrive.