Wisconsin "peace and justice" advocate ignores economic justice for U.S. workers

In Ben Bromley’s Dec. 15 story “Immigration: American dream or nightmare? Diane Farsetta, executive director of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ), says protecting American jobs from the impact of mass immigration is “problematic” because it threatens our “proud immigrant heritage and diversity.” What do either have to do with economic justice for millions of our own citizens who go to bed at night wondering how they are going to provide for their families?

Farsetta’s callous disregard for her fellow citizens is clearly reflected in the WNPJ mission statement that includes collaboration“with immigrant rights organizations and allies working to change the unjust laws of the United States’ broken immigration system and working to address the root causes of forced migration.”

When did enforcement of immigration laws that were created primarily to protect American workers become “unjust?” Was the late Barbara Jordan, who chaired President Clinton’s immigration reform commission, being “unjust” when she said a credible immigration policy is one that protects the most vulnerable members of our society, namely our native-born working poor? Does the WNPJ care at all that since 2009, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, two-thirds of all new jobs have gone to immigrants and illegal aliens?

Farsetta’s argument is one-dimensional, which is a polite term for shallow. She says our position is one of “us versus them.” If we don’t have an “us,” how can we have a community and a nation? And what can be said of someone like Farsetta who argues that the entire world has as much right to our jobs as our citizens?

Shame on the WNPJ and their ilk who preach “peace and justice” while embracing an immigration policy that throws their fellow citizens under the economic and political bus.