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 At American Apparel, we've always felt strongly about the subject of immigration. Even as early as 2003, we were running ads and putting up billboards calling for reform (see here). Today this issue is more contentious than ever and we feel the time is ripe for individuals, companies, and communities to speak out honestly about it.
Philadelphia Independent has an ambitious and intelligent plan on immigration for whatever party takes office this election. Comprehensive immigration reform might be a year or more away, but these are real, concrete and compassionate steps that any leader must take to fix a broken system. In its first 100 days, a new administration could take these simple steps to benefit immigrants and working families:
• Stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from seeking serious federal criminal charges, with incarceration in privately run prisons, for lacking papers or for bad Social Security numbers. • Stop raiding workplaces, especially where workers are trying to organize unions or enforce wage and hour laws. This would help all workers, not just immigrants, to raise low wages. • Double the paltry 742 federal inspectors responsible for all US wage and hour violations, and focus on industries where immigrants are concentrated. The National Labor Relations Board could target employers who use immigration threats to violate union rights. • Halt community sweeps, where agents use warrants for one or two people to detain and deport dozens of others. End the government's campaign to repeal local sanctuary ordinances, and to drag local law enforcement into immigration raids. • Allow all workers to apply for a Social Security number and pay legally into the system that benefits everyone. Social Security numbers should be used for their true purpose - paying retirement and disability benefits - not to fire immigrants from their jobs and send them to prison. • Reestablish worker protections ended under Bush on existing guest worker programs, force employers to hire domestically first, and decertify any contractor guilty of labor violations. • Restore human rights in border communities, stop construction of the border wall between the US and Mexico, and disband the Operation Streamline federal court, where scores of young border crossers are sent to prison in chains every day. Read the Whole Article
Another day, another raid. I.C.E. agents swept into Greenville, South Carolina, last Tuesday, raiding the House of Raeford chicken processing plant and arrested 330 suspected illegal immigrants. The Associated Press writes that the raid was "tearing apart the close-knit community". In the midst of a severe financial crisis and a heated presidential election, the federal government's immigration arm still feels that it is appropriate to torment families and turn a community trying to just stay afloat into one living in fear and economic uncertainty. For families trying to get by in these tense and difficult times, is it really necessary to create even more problems across the country?
Read the A.P. Article
Our Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited the American Apparel factory here in downtown L.A. this week to celebrate our ten thousandth new employee worldwide. He spoke to reporters on immigration and outsourcing, and keeping with the Legalize LA spirit, he gave his remarks in English and Spanish. Here's some photos of his visit.
       
Last month, Barack Obama said that communities are "terrorized by I.C.E. immigration raids". The Mississippi Immigration Rights Alliance is worried that one of their neighborhoods is next. While systematically preparing a nearby federal courthouse, I.C.E. is also booking hotel rooms along the Gulf Coast, and it's a pretty safe bet to say that they're not coming into town for a vacation.
With the presidential election just weeks away, a momentous event that will hopefully signal significant change in immigration law, why does the federal government insist on continuously tearing communities apart? Maybe they should let the American people decide what they want to do about immigration in the form of a new President, rather than having an appointed official throw darts at a map to decide his next target. Update The rumors were correct, I.C.E. has just conducted one of the largest raids in its history, in Laurel, Mississippi. Read about it in the New York Times below. Read more
In his latest book His Panic, At Large host and journalist Geraldo Rivera intelligently discusses our nation's immigration issue. One of the few reasoned voices about immigration on Fox News, Rivera writes two great passages from his book where he raises concerns about the nature of I.C.E. raids and the confusion about their relevance to terrorism:
I am reminded of another question. Why do I.C.E. agents wear
bulletproof vests and full combat gear when they go on these raids?
They are as heavily armed as any SWAT team. Ever since 9/11 they have
worn the aura and constumes of warriors battling terror, but most of
the time they are facing terrified civilian factory workers or illegal
tenement dwellers who know their lives are about to be uprooted and
are trembling in their pants, holding on to their babies or looking to
run away. Have there been any recorded instances at all of
undocumented workers standing and fighting these armored knights?
(pg.117)
Click here to buy Geraldo's book.As Chertoff's DHS continues to follow through and dramatically escalate the arrest of undocumented workers, Republican business owners are squealing about immigration employment violation enforcement. But that activity, however disruptive, is more in keeping with the department's real job anyways. Claims of terrorism represent a tiny proportion of charges filed in recent years in immigration courts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to a report issues in May 2007 by the Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse (TRAC), an independent research group affiliated with Syracuse University. The Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse said it analyzed millions of previously undisclosed records obtained from the immigration courts under the Freedom of Information Act. In the fiscal years 2004—06, of the 814,073 people charged by the DHS in immigration courts, just 12 faced charges of terrorism: 0.0015 percent—fifteen-ten-thousands of a percent. The department's status as warriors battling the terrorist bogeyman is the creation of bogus hype. "The DHS claims it is focused on terrorism. Well, that's not true," David Burnham, a TRAC spokesman, told CNN's Scott Bronstein. (pg. 122) Click here to see Rivera debate Bill O'Reilly on immigration.
The Washington Post and DailyKos have both shined their light on one of the most egregious part of I.C.E.'s enforcement tactics: the detainment of legal, US citizens. At a recent Van Nuys, CA, raid, more than 40% of the people arrested were legal citizens detained mistakenly. In an online political diary, DailyKos writer Daisy Cutter lists 9 other recent cases of people who were targeted or swept up by I.C.E.'s agents, one of whom was detained for 45 days because his identity had been stolen. Not only are these massive violations of civil liberties, but they often result in costly lawsuits that far outweigh the 'damage' done by hardworking illegal immigrants.
Read the story in the Washington Post Read the posting on Dailykos
New York attorney Raul Reyes wrote a scathing review in last Friday's USA Today. Asking the question "What are I.C.E. raids accomplishing?", Reyes described the aftermath of government action in Postville, Iowa, a city that has been effectively decimated by a harsh immigration crackdown and left with an increase in crime and loss of identity. He also calls the federal enforcement efforts "government-sanctioned racial profiling."
We know what I.C.E. raids are accomplishing: clogging the court system, intimidating hard working employees, filling our jails, driving away domestic employers, and crushing our culture of creativity and freedom. Wherever I.C.E. goes, communities suffer. We understand that the laws on the books demand deportations, but that is exactly why we need reform, now. Read the Editorial
Congressmen Joe Baca and Luis Guitierrez get it, and they are making a plea to President Bush to finally listen and follow through with his promise of fixing the immigration system. In a Chicago Tribune editorial published recently, the two Representatives blast the hypocrisy of immigration raids and highlight the May 12 Postville raid as a failure of the nation at the highest level. Imploring the President to cease the use of fear tactics, Baca and Guitierrez stand as models for their fellow Congressmen. It is this kind of dialogue that will prove vital in fighting the immigration debate. The federal government must start looking at real solutions instead of cosmetic and superficial enforcement actions, and Baca and Guitierrez recognize this. It is an encouraging sign to see action coming from Washington in the right direction, and let's hope it continues until comprehensive immigration reform finally happens.
Read the Editorial
A recent ABC News article revealed how an I.C.E. program that brings felony charges against undocumented immigrants is clogging the Federal courts. With an estimated 65,000 immigration felony cases expected to be filed this year, courthouses and judges along the border are overwhelmed. The program, dubbed Operation Streamline, has been hailed by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who declared that in regards to undocumented immigrants, the program "will brand them as having been violators of the law".
"Branding" immigrants as criminals shows the government's philosophical disconnect with the real issue at hand: immigration reform. It's another sign that the federal government would rather just treat the symptoms of the country's immigration crises, lashing out with intimidating language and scare tactics. Secretary Chertoff might be following the letter of the law, but that is why our immigration policies need to change. Read about it
According to the ACLU, the government distributed a manual to lawyers and judges to standardize the prosecution of large batches of immigrant detainees so they don't have to look at each case individually. It was the root cause of the massively controversial prosecutions of the 300+ people arrested in Postville, Iowa. Earlier this month, we voiced our opinion that these people had been railroaded and treated unfairly. It looks like that was correct. The credibility of our Justice System has always rested on that fact that each defendant was given an individual and fair trail. Even the worst criminals are treated as human beings, with rights and respect accorded to them. Immigrants deserve those same privileges and government manuals aimed at speeding up the prosecution undermine that.
Read about it in the L.A. Times Read the ACLU's copy of the immigration manual
Immigration foes love to point out that approximately 1.3 million undocumented immigrants have left or been removed from the United States in the past year. While they may herald this development as a step toward ending the immigration crises, it is essential to remember that it may just be a sign of the times; of America's increasing xenophobia and struggling economy. Most important, however, is the idea discussed in noted author and professor Richard Florida's report, America's Looming Creativity Crisis, in which he writes about the negative effects of closing the country off to immigrants. A decline in immigration, legal or otherwise, signals a loss of creativity and the flow of new ideas, which has long been the driving force of this country. Cracking down on immigration can lead to even tougher times for a nation already in economic turmoil.
Read a PDF of Richard Florida's Report Read about immigrants fleeing America
 The Unites States Conference of Mayors got together recently and came to many of the same conclusions that we have here at Legalize L.A.Mayors are uniquely positioned to know the sentiments of their communities, so when the leaders of 1,139 cities resolved to request the federal government to end raids and deportations, it sends a strong signal that towns across the country are feeling the ill effects of I.C.E.'s actions. Further endorsing comprehensive immigration reform, we can only hope that state and federal governments take a cue from city hall. At Legalize L.A. it's our opinion that these people were railroaded. They were unfairly punished by rules that were not fully explained or properly enforced, punished for the "crime" of fulfilling our nation's labor needs. This country has an estimated twelve million undocumented workers, many of them hardworking, innocent, and scared. They are human, and they need to be treated as such. Click here to read their resolution
 Check out this heartfelt account by Erik Camayd-Friexas, a translator who was at the biggest raid in I.C.E. history, in Postville Iowa, when agents raided a food processing plant. Of the 390 workers detained, over 200 have already been criminally prosecuted and sentenced to five months in prison for violations of immigration law. Another 360 warrants were issued for other employees. Unprompted, this interpreter told his version of the raid, full of sympathy for the detainees and an acknowledgement of the conflicting duties of the judges, police, and immigration officials involved. He details both sides of a story with no winners.
At Legalize L.A. it's our opinion that these people were railroaded. They were unfairly punished by rules that were not fully explained or properly enforced, punished for the "crime" of fulfilling our nation's labor needs. This country has an estimated twelve million undocumented workers, many of them hardworking, innocent, and scared. They are human, and they need to be treated as such. Click here to listen to this account Click here to read this account Click here to read what the New York Times has to say about this raid
 The New York Times Julia Preston July 6, 2008 Under pressure from the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration in two decades, employers across the country are fighting back in state legislatures, the federal courts and city halls. Business groups have resisted measures that would revoke the licenses of employers of illegal immigrants. They are proposing alternatives that would revise federal rules for verifying the identity documents of new hires and would expand programs to bring legal immigrant laborers. Read More
The National Republican Senatorial Committee ran this controversial ad in 2007 as part of the Cranston, Rhode Island, mayoral campaign. The graphic has been floated around anti-immigration websites. Equating Islamic extremists to immigrants that come to work and provide for their families is a thoughtless and irresponsible scare tactic.
 National Public Radio July 4, 2008 NPR interviews Dana Priest, who co-wrote a Washington Post investigative series revealing that many immigrants who are detained by I.C.E.receive poor or substandard medical care. They also speak to an attorney for Amina Mudey, a former detainee from Somalia, who was heavily drugged against her will and suffered side effects from the medication. Read More
The Washington Post May 13, 2008 The Washington Post reports rampant abuse inflicted on immigration detainees in America. Under I.C.E.'s watch, 83 prisoners have died since 2003, 15 of them from suicide. Geovanny Garcia-Mejia, a 27-year-old Honduran, wrote notes in his own blood before hanging himself from a ventilation grate in his cell despite supposedly mandatory 15 minute cell checks. Another woman was misdiagnosed and given a steady diet of anti-psychotic meds that seriously impacted her health. Hassiba Belbachir lay dead in her cell for a day before anyone noticed. The list goes on and on. Putting immigration policy aside, these are people. Our government has an obligation to treat its 'prisoners' humanely and justly. After all, their only crime was wanting to live here. Read More
An Ecuadorean college student named Gabby Pacheco believes that her family was placed under house arrest and targeted for deportation from Miami as a punishment for her activism. In 2006, activist Elvira Arellano took sanctuary from I.C.E. raids in a Chicago church but to no avail, she was eventually apprehended in downtown Los Angeles while making an appearance for La Familia Latina Unida (a group that aids immigrant families). She was deported within a few days. Jonah Larrama, a tenants, homeless and animal rights protester, currently sits in a Tacoma, WA detention facility after an I.C.E. raid on a Seattle jail (He had been arrested for trespassing onto a roof to watch the sunrise). Despite the 1st Amendment, we have a dirty history when it comes to using deportation to silencing vocal policy critics. In 1972, President Nixon even attempted to deport John Lennon for his anti-war activism.
Check out these links if you want to find out more about I.C.E.'s pattern of deporting activists: Read About Gabby Pacheco Read About Elvira Arellano Read About Jonah Larrama Read About John Lennon
Following in the steps of Sen. John McCain's recent proclamation that the immigrants in this country are "God's children", Cardinal Roger Mahony, the Archbishop of Los Angeles, recently stood in support of immigrants in front of a federal commission investigating abuses by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. The cardinal used the forum to let those immigrants and their advocates in attendance know that he was there to help them and that the situation needs to change immediately.
"It is really a sad commentary that in this great country we have found it necessary to build walls that separate us from people," he said. "This is just really almost a sin on our national heritage. So just count on my help in any way that I can, and count on the Catholic Church in this country walking with you every step of the way." Read More
VBS.TV
Our friends over at VBS.TV have put up a new series on immigration in Los Angeles, called Illegal L.A. They speak with Dov Charney, and dig into how immigration impacts the city we call home. Watch the first part below, and then check out the rest of the series.
John McCain and Barack Obama addressed comprehensive immigration reform in front of the many of the nation's Latino leaders last Saturday, June 28, in Washington D.C. But it was McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, that stood out when asked if he would make the issue into a top policy priority in his first 100 days of office as president.
"It will be my top priority yesterday, today and tomorrow," he confidently responded.
Read More
National Public Radio June 30, 2008 NPR recently highlighted the growing conflict between national immigration policy and the daily lives of American communities. Two mayors of towns just hit by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids chose to speak out. "I was shocked and disgusted" remarked Mayor Gail McLaughlin of Richmond, CA. "The overwhelming majority of their sweeps arrested hard-working men, mothers and school children." Greeley, CO. Mayor Tom Selders said a December raid on a Swift & Co. meat packing plant left about 200 families in his city with no income. "To this day, needs continue for many of these people but the money has run out." Read More
 The Miami Herald June 29, 2008 The Miami Herald weighed in yesterday with in an editorial entitled "Anti-immigrant fever grips the nation." The piece stated that the current administration had developed "a split personality" where "the president was on the right track with a reform plan that addressed both enforcement and a path to legalization for the 12 million undocumented immigrants already here...but after it was shot down in Congress, mainly by members of his own party, Mr. Bush has allowed a search-and-seize mentality to prevail, with unfortunate effects." They concluded that "the longer Americans wait for an effective policy, the longer chaos will prevail in our states and communities." Read More
USA Today June 24, 2008 A front page story in the USA Today details I.C.E.'s growing abuses, including racist policies, unnecessary detentions, and extravagant bulletproof vest and guns-drawn raids. Department head Julie Myers claims she's trying to create a "culture of compliance" but what has resulted instead is a culture of intimidation and fear. At one raid, the CFO of a company that employs 700 people was illegally detained as a potential alien simply because of his Indian accent. A pregnant receptionist was accosted by officials and separated from her children, who were visiting the factory, while white employees were neither questioned nor suspected. An anti-immigration activist quoted in the article simply responded "too bad." What isn't too bad is that many of the victims are fighting back in the form of lawsuits, going to court to freeze further I.C.E. raids until the racial profiling is addressed. Read More
 San Francisco Chronicle May 21, 2008  Representative Lynn Woolsey called a hearing in the House of Representatives to investigate the damage being done to young children, many U.S. citizens, as parents and family members are swept up in anti-immigration raids by I.C.E. "They left behind them a trail of fear" testified elementary school principal Kathryn Gibney.
Read More
USA Today June 20, 2008 At the annual meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week in Miami, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels will ask their colleagues to challenge how the government raids businesses in search of illegal workers. "We've never taken the position that you shouldn't enforce the law," Mayor Villaraigosa says. "What we've said is, in a time of limited resources, we should prioritize our enforcement. At a time when we don't have the resources to go after criminals, we're going after legitimate businesses and workers instead. That doesn't make sense." Read More
 The Fresno Bee June 10, 2008 UC Davis immigration law professor Bill O. Hing notes on his blog that the Senate has stepped in to temporarily block the deportation of a 4.0 high school valedictorian. I.C.E. demanded that teenage Armenian immigrant Arthur Mkoyan and his family leave the United States and abandon his plans to attend UC Davis, where he was accepted. According to the Fresno Bee, the bill introduced by Sen. Diane Feinstein is still an "uphill battle" despite the fact that the family has been seeking asylum in the United States since 1996. This is yet another example of how out of hand and "McCarthy-esque" the immigration environment has become. Read More
The New York Times June 3, 2008 The New York Times ran one of the strongest opinion pieces we have read concerning the disturbing unjustness immigrants face in America. "Someday, the country will recognize the true cost of its war on illegal immigration. We don't mean dollars, though those are being squandered by the billions. The true cost is to the national identity: the sense of who we are and what we value. It will hit us once the enforcement fever breaks, when we look at what has been done and no longer recognize the country that did it." Read More
 Los Angeles Times Anna Gorman June 8, 2008 
The L.A. Times looks at the effect that stepped-up raids are having on the children of detained immigrant workers. Teachers, mental health professionals, and immigrant rights advocates are raising concerns about the damage done to those young ones left behind in the wake of I.C.E. actions.
Read More
 Mercury News June 5, 2008 Demonstrating the dysfunction that is the hallmark of the U.S. Immigration system, a new study by the Public Policy Institute of California goes against the conventional notion that most legal immigrants wait in their home country for their permanent residency papers before coming to the United States. Read More
California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez announced new legislation condemning selective prosecution and immigration raids carried out by the Bush Administration, and the negative impact these actions have on Southern California's economy. Speaking from our LA headquarters, Nuñez commended American Apparel for its efforts to support comprehensive immigration reform.
See the Video Los Angeles Times Tiffany Hsu April 30, 2008 The Los Angeles Times reported on the remarks of California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez during a May Day rally at American Apparel headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. Read More
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently called on the federal government to revise its immigration enforcement priorities. "When Immigration and Custom Enforcement doesn't have the resources to go after criminal gang members, they shouldn't be targeting legitimate businesses," Villaraigosa said at a MacArthur Park news conference as demonstrators gathered for a May Day rally and march. Citing American Apparel as a company that is considered a "good employer", the mayor remarked that "what I.C.E. should do is go after those that mistreat their workers and take advantage of them."
See the Video  Daily News Rick Orlov and Kerry Cavanaugh May 1, 2008 Read the Daily News coverage of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's May Day remarks. Read More
American Apparel closed operations on May 1, gathering employees, family and friends at its downtown LA headquarters to participate in the Immigration March and Rally on behalf of Legalize LA.
See the Video
 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Robert Z. Nemeth April 6, 2008 Whereas many conservative Republicans have taken on an anti-immigrant political tone, Jason Riley, one of the editors of the Wall Street Journal, has written a book which makes a conservative, free market argument in favor of immigration. Writes Robert Z. Nemeth, who has reviewed the book, Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders, "Two general themes run through the book: One is that today's Latino immigrants aren't different from earlier immigrants, only newer; and the other is that an open immigration policy is not only compatible with free-market conservatism and homeland security, but it is also good for the economy." Observes Nemeth of Riley: "He blames the 'ratings-driven rhetoric' of radio talk show hosts, misguided neo-Malthusians (overpopulation alarmists) and assorted political opportunists for stoking the fire of anti-immigrant fervor that, he points out, goes all the way back to Benjamin Franklin. 'Scapegoating foreigners for domestic problems, real or imagined, is something of an American tradition,' he says." Read More
American Apparel will once again participate in the May 1st Immigration March and Rally in downtown Los Angeles. This year we've added a route from our factory that will eventually connect with other supporters near the city hall.
What: Employees, family and friends will assemble at the American Apparel factory and march, escorted by the LAPD, to the main rally point near Broadway and 1st Street. Why: To draw attention to the need for immigration reform in this country and support the diversity that makes Los Angeles amazing. When: Thursday, May 1, 2008 - Departure from American Apparel will begin at 3pm. Where: American Apparel Factory - 747 Warehouse Street Los Angeles, CA 90021. Major cross streets are 7th Street and Alameda. Route: Start northwest on 7th Street towards downtown. Right on Central then left on 5th Street and, finally, right on Broadway. Total distance, approximately 2 miles. We will begin to bus participants back to the factory starting at 5:30pm. Pick up site will be on 1st Street and Alameda. Join us at this pro-immigration march and rally, and receive a Free Legalize LA t-shirt from American Apparel. Don't forget to wear comfortable shoes! Employees: We ask that those of you who can carpool, please do so. Due to the time frame, there will be cars from the 1st and 2nd shift in the parking lot at the same time. Parking will be very limited and your cooperation is appreciated.
Watch this devastating video of a Van Nuys company being raided. Micro Solutions Enterprises is a family-run manufacturer and distributor of toner cartridges and other printing equipment. CHIRLA is an LA-based immigrant rights group.
See the Video
Worcester Telegram & Gazette Robert Z. Nemeth April 6, 2008 Whereas many conservative Republicans have taken on an anti-immigrant political tone, Jason Riley, one of the editors of the Wall Street Journal, has written a book which makes a conservative, free market argument in favor of immigration. Writes Robert Z. Nemeth, who has reviewed the book, Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders, "Two general themes run through the book: One is that today's Latino immigrants aren't different from earlier immigrants, only newer; and the other is that an open immigration policy is not only compatible with free-market conservatism and homeland security, but it is also good for the economy." Observes Nemeth of Riley: "He blames the 'ratings-driven rhetoric' of radio talk show hosts, misguided neo-Malthusians (overpopulation alarmists) and assorted political opportunists for stoking the fire of anti-immigrant fervor that, he points out, goes all the way back to Benjamin Franklin. 'Scapegoating foreigners for domestic problems, real or imagined, is something of an American tradition,' he says." Read More
 The Wall Street Journal Jason Riley April 24, 2008 Blaming immigrants during times of economic downturn is nothing new. Editorialist Jason Riley tackles the incorrect assumption that "a job filed by an immigrant is one less job for a native." Riley asserts that immigrants create a more "flexible" environment in which immigrants often fill jobs that "complement U.S. workers, not elbow them aside." Read More
Los Angeles Times Henry Weinstein March 13, 2008 The ruling says a detainee who later died of penile cancer was denied a biopsy of a lesion though several doctors said the procedure was urgently needed. His family will be allowed to seek damages. Read More
Los Angeles Times Nicole Gaouette August 11, 2007 
On August 8th, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, explained at a Conference of State Legislatures in Boston, that Congress's failure to pass immigration reform will hurt the American economy. Although this article was written last year, it details the government's awareness of how an immigration crackdown, and how measures like the 'No Match' law, will negatively impact the economy. It is well known that LA is the city that is most deeply dependent on unauthorized workers, and is therefore the most economically vulnerable. He characterizes the effect enforcement measures will have on businesses as a "thunderstorm" to "tsunami". "There will be some unhappy consequences for the economy out of doing this," he said in an interview with The Times.
Read More
Chertoff: Failure of Immigration Reform Led to
Extreme Measures  Newsday John Christoffersen April 7, 2008 In a recent speech by Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security, calls for a "comprehensive" solution while speaking at Yale, April 7th. Read More
Bill Gates supports immigration reform too. At American Apparel we believe a more open immigration policy is good for business. Motivated industrial workers, professionals, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs are always needed to keep America exciting and competitive. It seems like Bill Gates agrees to this line of thinking.
Scrap the Visa Cap
The Wall Street Journal Shikha Dalmia April 5, 2008 Shikha Dalmia, analyst and US immigrant, explains in her article, entitled Scrap the Visa Cap, "America's political leaders are so fixated on illegal immigration they've barely noticed that the U.S. is losing the race for the [most crucial resource in the knowledge economy: intellectual capital]. The cap on skilled worker (H1-B) visas is currently so low (65,000) that in April last year it got used up within a day of these visas becoming available, leaving thousands of left over engineers to be scooped up by America's competitors." Read More
 International Relations Center Tom Barry December 13, 2007 "'Attrition through enforcement' as a restrictionist framework for immigration reform has been percolating within the anti-immigration institutes in Washington, DC for the last couple of years. But it wasn't until the restrictionist movement beat back proposals for legalization that the strategy has taken hold as a unifying framework for restrictionism in America," reads this article entitled, "Planning The War on Immigrants." Whereas the Bush administration had previously argued in favor of immigration reform, following their failure to convince Congress to bring it about comprehensively, the government seems to have done a 180; they've adopted an enforcement-only approach purely for political reasons. According to the article: "Politics can be an ugly affair, and it doesn't get any uglier than when politicians try to best one another in the politics of hate and scapegoating." On one hand the government can blame their enforcement approach on Congress, for not having enacted immigration reform; on the other hand they can appease anti-immigrant forces, to help it win political points. "That's what is happening in America, as politicians and political candidates at all levels of government join the anti-immigration bandwagon. Meanwhile, immigrants who do the dirtiest work in America are living in fear as they face a generalized immigration crackdown and stepped-up immigration raids," explains the author. Read More
 89.3 KPCC (Southern California Public Radio) Air Talk with Larry Mantle April 16, 2008 Special Order-40 is a 35-year-old law that prevents LAPD officers from initiating an investigation for the sole purpose of determining an individual's legal status. It was implemented to allow undocumented residents who are victims of crimes or have valuable information regarding a crime, to come forward without fear of being deported. SO-40 does not prevent the LAPD from inquiring an individual's legal status, and reporting the findings to ICE, if an undocumented worker was arrested for a crime. Larry Mantel of 89.3 KPCC speaks with stakeholders on the issue. Listen to Audio (29m19s, MP3, 12MB)
Miami Herald Andres Viglucci March 4, 2008 The Pachecos and their attorneys are making a touchy allegation: They contend Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents targeted the family to silence Gaby, a leader in efforts to legalize immigrant students who, like herself, were brought to the United States by their parents without permanent legal status. Read More
Los Angeles Times April 11, 2008 
Los Angeles Times editorial applauds the mayor for his stance on business and immigration. "Villaraigosa's willingness to brave such vitriol on behalf of good policy is genuine leadership," explains the article.
Read More On March 27, 2008, Mayor Villariaigosa sent a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff. The letter states: "Together with the region's business leadership, I am gravely concerned that ICE's current apparent focus on non-exploitive employers in and around the City of Los Angeles could have severe and lasting effects on our local economy." He goes on to say, "Enforcement actions have targeted established, responsible employers with deep and enduring roots in and contributions to Los Angeles community and economic development." Read the Letter (PDF, 195 KB)
 CNN.com Terry Frieden January 31, 2003 How did we get to a point of crises with regard to the US immigration system? One issue has been how bureaucratic the system has been, and how it has been prone to delay as illustrated in this article from back in 2003. Read More
 Reuters Jon Hurdle April 3, 2008 There are those that claim that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency's "Operation Return to Sender" campaign is unconstitutional. Lawsuits have been filed by 10 plaintiffs. Read the details here. Read More
The New York Times April 2, 2008 Undocumented workers add tens of billions of dollars to the Social Security pot each year. They pay taxes, but don't collect benefits. Would the people who want to "send them all back home" be willing to make up the difference and pay the taxes that the undocumented are currently paying? Read More
 Ventura County Star Justin Akers Chacon March 27, 2008 This article carefully describes how the "anti-immigrant movement has crafted in the public mind the archetype of the undocumented immigrant as Latino, criminal, and a threat to the 'American way of life.'" With this archetype carefully placed into the American consciousness, the article describes how the implementation of a variety of carefully designed anti-immigration maneuvers ultimately perpetuates an environment of fear and violence within the day to day life of Latinos. Read More
The first thing you see, getting off the plane in Stockholm, Sweden, is this CNN ad for the US election. What's even more interesting is that it's strictly addressed from the perspective of US immigration politics. Even though CNN is giving the topic a Swedish angle to target the local audience, facts remain, that America's largest news channel has acknowledged an overseas engagement in the US immigration issue.
See the Ad Translation: USA, the country where more than 14 million people have Swedish heritage. Who wins the election, affects you. The presidential election in USA, is closer to us than you think. Republicans, even if the opinions of the president candidates are divided, the majority is for a tougher immigration politics. Democrats, in general positive to an immigration reform and towards making ways for citizenship for undocumented workers.
The New York Times March 27, 2008 Leave it to the Bush administration to throw thousands of law-abiding American workers and companies off a cliff in perilous economic times. Read More
 Public Policy Institute of California Giovanni Peri February 27, 2007 Study by the Public Policy Institute of California, concludes that wages have increased as a result of immigration. Read More
There is a staggering amount of misinformation about immigrants in this country, sometimes supported, occasionally even perpetuated by the media. The National Immigration Forum separates fact from fiction with their Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts.
Read Top 10 Immigration Myths and Facts
American Apparel applauds the position of the US Chamber of Commerce's efforts to bring about immigration reform in the United Sates. Here is a radio address by Angelo Amador, on the subject.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region. Listen to Radio Address and Read Transcript
Los Angeles Times Dowell Myers and Manuel Pastor March 22, 2008 Immigrants should not be viewed as a problem to be solved but an asset to our regional future. New research must be developed, then shared and debated, if we are to build a broader understanding of our interwoven destinies" writes Dowell Myers and Manuel Pastor, in this fantastic opinion piece which appeared in the LA Times. Amongst other things the article references a Public Policy Institute of California that "found that immigrants often complement local labor and actually prop up real wages for most native-born Californians. Read More
 Forbes Angelo A. Paparelli March 20, 2008 Commentary in FORBES supporting immigration reform, which will bloster job creation, and stimulate the economy. With respect to the anti-immigration position, the author writes, "Why must this folly continue? No reason--except for a pusillanimous Congress, cowed by cable TV pundits and bloviating bloggers who fuel the flames of xenophobia, all of whom have apparently forgotten the public's emphatic rejection of every anti-immigration candidate running for election this primary season." Read More
Mercury News March 17, 2008 San Jose Mercury News has it right, in an editorial entitled GOP should quit playing games with immigration. There was a time when there was some leadership within the Republican party on the immigration issue. McCain spoke to the issue well, and even George Bush got it. But now McCain has changed his focus to emphasizing the border wall, even though it is estimated that half the illegal immigrants enter the country legally as visitors. We hope that pro-immigration Republican voices will soon surface. It is well known that immigrants create jobs, wealth, and prosperity for all Americans. Read More
 The Harvard Law Record Andrea Saenz March 13, 2008 
At American Apparel, we are not alone calling for immigration reform. Even the head of I.C.E. wants immigration reform. Speaking at Harvard, Julie Myers, the Immigration and Enforcement Chief, expressed her hope that a new president will press for comprehensive immigration reform, which failed in Congress last year. Asked why I.C.E. continued to prioritize large-scale workplace raids if Myers hoped those workers would soon be able to legalize their status, she replied that in the absence of immigration reform, she could not ignore the law, and that I.C.E. raids on companies were "righteous" because they resulted in the arrest of immigrants engaged in identity theft. What she failed to mention is that companies are subject to raids even if they are fully in compliance with federal laws that require all employers to check workers documents showing authorization to work in the US. She also failed to mention that following I.C.E. raids employers immediately hire new employees, again fully comply with federal laws requiring that new employees documents be checked, and the new employees are just as likely to be using unauthorized documents as those who were arrested. In short, these I.C.E. workplace enforcement actions cost the tax-payers a bundle, separate families, seriously harm employers who are fully complying with all laws, and accomplish little other than the arrest of less than 1% of the undocumented work force living in the U.S. At American Apparel we believe the only real solution is to promptly legalize those workers who have not engaged in criminal conduct and are hard-working and productive members of their communities. Click here to see an an article written about Myers speech published in The Record, the independent newspaper of the Harvard Law School.
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The New York Times Adam Nossiter March 12, 2008 The New York Times reports that Adriana Torres-Flores, a 38-year-old mother of three and an illegal immigrant, was left forgotten in an Arkansas courthouse cell for 4 days over the weekend without any food or water after a hearing. Read More
Associated PressDavid Crary March 9, 2008 The anti-immigration sentiment has resulted in more white supremacist hate groups in America. Read More
The Los Angeles Times Teresa Watanabe March 8, 2008 A investigator for the U.N. finds that America does not adequately protect the human rights of noncitizens and they are subjected to increased prolonged detentions in substandard facilities. Read More
The New York Times March 4, 2008 The NY Times takes a look at the government's botched plans for a border fence and their general ineptitude when it comes to immigration. Read More
 Time Kathleen Kingsbury December 13, 2006 This article examines new research revealing that immigrants are far less likely than American-born citizens to commit crimes. Read More
 The Evening Sun Steve Marroni March 30, 2008 This article explores the myth that migrant workers are "taking away the jobs of Americans" and how the lack of immigration reform could effect the American food supply. Read More
Obama and Clinton talked sense on the issue of immigration at the Texas debates.
Read the summary on The Border Line blog.
"I applaud American Apparel's commitment to its employees and to keeping its production facilities in downtown Los Angles, while so many businesses are moving their operations overseas. It's encouraging to know that American Apparel is defying this trend, while preserving hundreds of local jobs and at the same time increasing its bottom line. If other companies followed American Apparel's business practices, our American economy would be stronger today."
See the Letter
 Anti-Defamation League December 13, 2006 Last December 2006, a coalition of 18 human rights, defense and religious organizations signed the "Declaration of Los Angeles." Read More
The New York Times Louise Story January 18, 2008 The New York Times takes a look at American Apparel's stance on immigration reform, along with its new ad campaign. Read More
 Women's Wear Daily Marcy Medina December 28, 2007 Dov Charney is interviewed by WWD about his views on immigration reform and the effect it has on American Apparel. Read More
National Public Radio Mandalit del Barco April 28, 2006 Back in 2006 NPR got Dov Charney's thoughts on the importance of immigrants to the U.S. economy. Listen to NPR Morning Edition Quicktime | Mp3 Read the Transcript
The Los Angeles Times Michael Hiltzik April 20, 2006 Dov Charney speaks candidly to The Los Angeles Times about his progressive views on immigration policy. Read More
Dov Charney, back in July 2003, spoke at an intellectual conference in Toronto, Canada on the issue of immigration.
See the Video See More Lectures
The County of Los Angeles honors Dov Charney for his achievements in the fashion industry. (2004)
See the Award
Congressman Henry Waxman acknowledges Dov Charney and his commitment to the apparel industry. (2004)
See the Award
Mayer James Hahn extends his congratulations to Dov Charney for his annual Fashion Industry Guilds annual "Honoree of the Year" ceremony. (2004)
See the Award What Does
Legalize LA Mean?  This document explains in brief what we mean by "Legalize LA", and what you can do to join the fight for immigrant rights. Download the PDF (5.1MB) Watch
Illegal L.A.  VBS.TV's eight part series on immigration in Los Angeles features an interview with American Apparel founder Dov Charney. Watch Immigration
Fact Sheet 05/2008  The Immigration Fact Sheet identifies the extremist anti-immigration agenda, and reveals the truth about the ongoing value of immigrants in the United States. See the Fact Sheet Download the PDF (5.1MB) Legalize LA T-Shirt
  Unisex Legalize LA T-Shirt 100% of net proceeds will go to Los Angeles-based immigrant rights groups. The Ad
 Pro Immigration Ad run in The New York Times, The LA Times and other publications. See the Ad See the Spanish Version 10 Facts About Immigrants
Get the straight facts on some common misconceptions about immigrants.
It's a Fact
 FACT: Over 3,100 people have died trying to enter the US through the desert over the past ten years. By comparison, only 239 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall during its 28 years of existence. FACT: It is estimated that 10% of L.A.'s population is falsely documented. Quotes
 John F. Kennedy President of the United States "This was the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dared to explore new frontiers, people eager to build lives for themselves in a spacious society that did not restrict their freedom of choice and action." "Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible. With such a policy we can turn to the world, and to our own past, with clean hands and a clear conscience." "Every ethnic minority, in seeking in its own freedom, helped strengthen the fabric of liberty in American life. Similarly, every aspect of the American economy has profited from the contributions of immigrants." "The contribution of immigrants can be seen in every aspect of our national life. We see it in religion, in politics, in business, in the arts, in education, even in athletics and in entertainment. There is no part of our nation that has not been touched by our immigrant background." From John F. Kennedy's 1958 book A Nation of Immigrants  Michael R. Bloomberg Mayor, New York City "It would destroy the economy if you deported them. They are here, yes, against the law, but they're here |
Marriott President supports immigration reform.
Parts 1 and 2
Launch Slideshow
In 2002, American Apparel participated in the May Day March for Dignity.
Downtown Los Angeles - May 1, 2006
American Apparel on Lou Dobbs, praised as a "Made in America" success story.