Mar 31, 2006 11:54 America/Los_Angeles Call for Responsible Immigration Legislation After a longer than expected dilay, some unions have started to come out and express their possitions in the two week long debat regarding immigration legislation. The Teamsters came out with the following press release: While our current immigration system is clearly broken, the Senate is heading down a course that will only make the situation worse. Most egregious is Majority Leader Bill Frist's proposal to criminalize millions of immigrants and anyone who assists them -- from priests to doctors to union organizers. The Teamsters Union supports measures passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee that include smart border security measures, as well as earned legalization for the 12 million undocumented workers in the country who are essential to our economy and communities. The Committee's inclusion of the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security (AgJOBS) Act of 2005 and the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act in its package also marked a step in the right direction. However, Teamsters Union remains deeply concerned about continued discussions -- both in Cancun and Washington -- of an expanded new guest worker program which would allow millions of new guest workers to enter the country a year. This proposal is tantamount to government sanctioned indentured servitude for workers, whose rights and livelihoods would be left in the hands of their employers. Historically, guest worker programs have only led to the abuse of workers and the conversion of good fulltime jobs to temporary positions with low pay and poor working conditions. Earlier this year, with the disastrous implementation of the Medicare prescription program, we saw what happens when profits trump people in the creation of public policy. Congress and the President should make sure that they do not repeat this mistake as they overhaul our nation's immigration laws. And thatâ