For Immediate Release
June 26, 2012
Contact:Caroline O’Connor Cell: (213) 400-8401
Maria Elena Durazo Issues a Statement on the Supreme Court’s SB 1070 Decision
(Los Angeles, CA) – Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo issued the following statement today on decision by the United States Supreme Court on SB 1070:
Almost two years ago over 500 L.A. union members, Homecare workers, Hotel workers, Laborers, Teachers, joined by students, faith and community leaders, rode buses from Los Angeles to Arizona to denounce it’s anti- immigrant legislation- SB 1070. The L.A. County Federation of Labor took an official position condemning SB 1070 as an affront to American values of fairness and respect, but also an impractical and wasteful approach to fixing our nation’s broken immigration system. Yesterday, in a strongly worded 5-3 decision, the Supreme Court rejected three of the four provisions, but upheld the law’s most dangerous provision, which gave the go-ahead to potential discrimination and racial profiling.
Though the people of Arizona and across the country are rightfully frustrated by the lack of federal action on the issue of immigration reform, the solution for Arizona and the entire country is to solve the immigration problem through comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level that reflects our nation’s values and works for everyone, not through a state-by-state piecemeal approach.
The Federation stands by all working men and women in ensuring that the American values of fairness and justice are held.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO is the chartered Central Labor Council (CLC) of the AFL-CIO in Los Angeles County and is the second largest in the country, representing over 800,000 workers through over 350 unions. Its mission is to promote a voice for workers so they can remain in the middle class, move themselves out of poverty by joining a union, encourage active participation in the political process by electing pro-union and pro-worker officials and to advance public policies that support workers and their families. As the coordinating center for labor’s political activity, the Federation believes that in educating and mobilizing workers to be politically active they can create and sustain healthy communities, and FIGHT FOR GOOD JOBS that REBUILD THE LOS ANGELES MIDDLE CLASS. Visit the Federation at www.launionaflcio.org.
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