B. IMMIGRANT RIGHTS
The North Carolina Green Party stands firmly for social justice for all those living in the US regardless of their immigration status.
Immigrants and migrants strengthen our communities and should be celebrated.
We support full amnesty and a safe pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants, as well as full civil rights for all migrants.
1. End Workplace and Home Raids
Millions of people live and work in the US with no legal status, making them subject to extreme exploitation and abuse, including immigration raids that terrorize the immigrant community and break up families, as well as rampant employer abuses of undocumented workers.
Immigrants should feel safe in their communities and workplaces.
They should be able to live their lives free from institutionalized intimidation and violence, and should not be forced into hiding or subjected to constant fear and uncertainty while going to work, taking children to school, or simply being visible in their communities.
2. Abolish ICE
The creation of ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in 2003, and its placement under the Homeland Security umbrella, helped advance the narrative that immigrants are a threat to the United States.
The NC Green Party rejects this message and calls for ICE's abolishment and the implementation of a human rights approach to immigration.
We oppose the provision of current law that allows local police to become agents of the immigration agency.
Local policing functions should be completely separate from immigration enforcement.
3. No Border Walls
While both corporate parties focus on border security and enforcement, the Green Party calls for the dismantling of the US–Mexico border wall and for the cancellation of the wall's expansion.
Not only is the wall an environmental disaster affecting surrounding families, wildlife, and the Rio Grande ecosystem, but it's also a monument to racist, anti-immigrant attitudes toward people fleeing economic and other injustices.
We oppose the militarization of our borders, the misuse of the National Guard as border police, and the expansion of the wall between the US and Mexico.
These escalations of violence will further intensify the human rights disaster our immigration policy has become, as well as seriously harm border ecosystems.
We demand an immediate end to policies designed to force undocumented border-crossers into areas where conditions dramatically increase the risk of permanent injury or death.
We oppose the walling off of both traditional urban crossing areas and of wilderness areas.
We mourn the death of the thousands of men, women, and children who have died trying to cross this border.
4. No Family Separation
We strongly condemn separating families at the border.
The forcible removal of children from their parents at our borders and their detention in substandard conditions are acts of government-sanctioned child abuse and neglect.
We further demand that money used to support ICE be diverted to repairing the psychological damage to separated families, and that these families be financially compensated as victims of kidnapping and extortion.
5. Amnesty and Civil Rights
While Democrat and Republican lawmakers prioritize immigration enforcement, NC Greens support amnesty for undocumented immigrants and legal status that allows a path to residency and citizenship. The NC Green Party calls for racial and economic justice for documented and undocumented immigrants and migrants, as well as the right to obtain border passes, work permits and driver's licenses. Non-citizens should be extended the same civil and human rights and protections claimed by US citizens.
All persons fleeing political, racial, economic, religious, and other types of persecution must be welcomed to the US and given the opportunity for permanent resident status. The US's history of arbitrary denial of political asylum claims must end. Particular attention should be given to political exiles, refugees, and those whose lives would be at risk if asylum were not granted. Granting of asylum should be automatic if the asylum seekers are fleeing from a danger created by US interference and manipulation of the political process in the country of origin.
Family reunification must be a priority in accepting applications for permanent residency, and reunification must be swift.
The years of waiting that families currently endure must stop.
The US must cease placing for adoption immigrant children prior to making all possible attempts at reunification with the child's family.
Permanent residency should not be denied based on political views, racial or national origin, religious beliefs, sexual preference, disability, or any other arbitrary basis.
The US government must in particular stop demonizing applicants from countries where Islam is the primary religion.
6. Institutionalize Language Rights and Diversity
Greens oppose "English-only" legislation. Immigrants already have ample incentive to learn English.
But non-English-speaking people are put at risk of exploitation when interacting with English-only government agencies.
Greens call for the institutionalization of adequate and accessible English-language instruction and assistance, including federal funding for communities to provide ESL (English as a second language) training, as well as certified translators for courts, social service agencies, and all government agencies dealing with the public.
Additionally, the language rights of indigenous peoples who lived in this land before it became part of the US, must be recognized and respected.