April, 29 2010, 03:18pm EDT
SEIU: With Eyes of the Word Focused on Arizona, We Need Balanced, Practical Immigration Solutions More Than Ever
Senate Immigration Bill Starts Process but Needs Serious Fixes to Provide the Immigration Solutions America Needs
WASHINGTON
Today,
Senators Charles Schumer, Robert Menendez and Harry Reid will introduce
an immigration reform outline. In anticipation, SEIU Executive Vice
President Eliseo Medina issued the following statement:
"As the eyes of the world focus on Arizona, it
is clear that we need balanced, practical immigration solutions more
than ever. While SEIU appreciates the leadership of Senators Schumer,
Menendez and Reid, we are deeply concerned with elements of their reform
outline that appear to put enforcement-only mandates ahead of the
practical immigration solutions that America needs.
"If we have learned anything from Arizona, it
is that "tough" enforcement is not "smart" enforcement; that enforcement
first is really just the same as enforcement only. Instead of fixing
the underlying problems, putting enforcement before comprehensive reform
just wastes over $18 billion a year on border walls and worksite round
ups; it wreaks havoc in local communities and leads to the kind of
racial profiling our nation left behind years ago, but solves nothing.
"SEIU is committed to working with Senators
Schumer, Menendez and Reid to fix this framework and move a balanced,
comprehensive bill that gets
undocumented immigrants into the system and under the rule of law;
passes smart enforcement on the border and in our workplaces; and
creates a visa system that protects labor rights and meets the economic
needs of our future.
"In order to do that,
Republicans must join with Democrats and show they have the will to fix
our broken immigration system once and for all. It's time to put smart
policy ahead of partisan politics.
"On behalf of the thousands of Americans who
are marching in over 80 sites across the country this Saturday to call
for real solutions, Congress must enact real and lasting solutions. On
behalf of Arizonans who will soon be stopped on the street just because
of the color of their skin, the clothes they wear and the language they
speak, Congress must get this bill done and get this bill done right.
"SEIU will not back down until Congress can
deliver a balanced, workable immigration bill that will truly reform
immigration for America. Diverse
groups are aligned on the need for a comprehensive solution. A majority
of Americans are in support. Now we need Congress to take bold steps,
roll up their sleeves and pass smart reforms once and for all.
SEIU's Comprehensive Immigration
Reform Principles:
A comprehensive solution would
couple enforcement at the border and in the workplace with a path to
earned legalization for all hard working immigrants. It will also replace guest worker programs
with a system that guarantees immigrant workers full labor and civil
rights protections, and a path to U.S. citizenship. Done together, these reforms will
finally restore the rule of law and eliminate an informal labor market
that drives down wages and labor protections for all U.S. workers. Read more about the Change to Win and AFL-CIO's Unified
Immigration Reform Framework.
With 2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.
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Trump Blockade of Venezuela, Murders on High Seas Violate International Law: UN Experts
"The illegal use of force, and threats to use further force at sea and on land, gravely endanger the human right to life and other rights in Venezuela and the region."
Dec 24, 2025
Experts at the United Nations on Wednesday issued a scathing rebuke to US President Donald Trump's aggression toward Venezuela, saying attempts to impose an oil blockade based on US-imposed sanctions and a series of bombings of alleged drug-trafficking vessels at sea are clear violations of international law.
“There is no right to enforce unilateral sanctions through an armed blockade,” said the UN experts.
According to their statement:
A blockade is a prohibited use of military force against another country under article 2(4) of the UN Charter. “It is such a serious use of force that it is also expressly recognized as illegal armed aggression under the General Assembly’s 1974 Definition of Aggression,” the experts said.
“As such, it is an armed attack under article 51 of the Charter – in principle giving the victim State a right of self-defence,” they said.
“The illegal use of force, and threats to use further force at sea and on land, gravely endanger the human right to life and other rights in Venezuela and the region,” the experts said.
Aggression is a crime attracting universal jurisdiction under international law, which gives all countries the power to prosecute it, although the most senior government leaders retain immunity from foreign prosecution while still in office.
The experts behind the joint statement were: Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; George Katrougalos, Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order; Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development; and Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.
Their statement notes that the US sanctions imposed on Venezuela may be "unlawful" because they are "disproportionate and punitive" under international statute. It is alleged that violations of these sanctions that the Trump administration has used to justify the blockade.
"The threat is not Venezuela. The threat is the US government." —Venezuela UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada
The aggression of the US government toward Venezuela was also rebuked at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, with China, Russia, Cuba, Colombia, and others backing Venezuela's call for an end to the series of criminal boat bombings against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and the unlawful seizure of oil tankers as a way to coerce the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela's UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada equated Trump's Dec. 16 order that the US was establishing a "total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers" coming into or out of Venezuela an admission of "a crime of aggression" by the US president, who Moncada said wants to “turn back the clock of history 200 years to establish a colony" in the Latin American country.
Moncada characterized the recent US seizure of two oil tankers in international waters as "worse than piracy" and "robbery carried out by military force," warning that such brazen acts set "an extremely serious precedent for the security and navigation of international trade" in the region and worldwide.
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Human rights groups, UN experts, and scholars of international have all stated that Trump's extrajudicial targeting of alleged drug boats—which have now left over 100 people killed—are nothing short of "murder" on the high seas.
In their Wednesday statement, the four UN experts said the killings at sea ordered by Trump "amount to violations of the right to life," citing the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the US government ratified in 1992.
The experts called on all UN member states "to urgently take all feasible measures to stop the blockade and illegal killings" by the US government, "including through diplomatic protest, General Assembly resolutions, and peaceful counter-measures—and bring perpetrators justice."
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In his remarks, Moncada said Venezuela would defend itself against aggression but did not consider itself at war with the United States.
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Websites including YouTube and TikTok this week removed posts of a CBS News "60 Minutes" segment on a notorious prison in El Salvador, where Trump the administration has been illegally deporting Venezuelan immigrants, after being notified that publishing the clip violated parent company's copyright.
The segment on the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT)—which was intended to air on Sunday's episode of "60 Minutes"—was pulled by right-wing CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who claimed that the story "was not ready" for broadcast, despite thorough editing and clearance by key company officials.
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices," said "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported the segment. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
The segment—which can still be viewed on sites including X—was shared by social media users after a Canadian network received and broadcast an original version of the "60 Minutes" episode containing the CECOT piece prior to CBS pulling the story. The social media posts containing the segment were reportedly removed after CBS parent company Paramount Skydance filed copyright claims.
A CBS News representative said that “Paramount’s content protection team is in the process of routine take down orders for the unaired and unauthorized segment.”
Weiss—who also founded and still edits the Paramount Skydance-owned Free Press—has faced criticism for other moves, including presiding over the removal of parts of a previous "60 Minutes" interview with President Donald Trump regarding potential corruption stemming from his family’s massive cryptocurrency profits.
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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz "said the silent part out loud" on Tuesday, then promptly tried to walk back his comments that his country would not only never leave the Gaza Strip, but also reestablish settlements in the decimated exclave.
Israel evacuated Jewish settlements in Gaza two decades ago, but some officials have pushed for ethnically cleansing the strip of Palestinians and recolonizing it, particularly since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack and the devastating Israeli assault that followed.
The Times of Israel on Tuesday translated Katz's remarks—made during an event about expanding Beit El, a Jewish settlement in the illegally occupied West Bank—from Hebrew to English:
"With God's help, when the time comes, also in northern Gaza, we will establish Nahal pioneer groups in place of the settlements that were evacuated," he said. "We'll do it in the right way, at the appropriate time."
Katz was referring to the Nahal military unit that, in part, lets youths combine pioneering activities with military service. In the past, many of the outposts established by the unit went on to evolve into full-fledged settlements.
"We are deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave Gaza—there will be no such thing," Katz said. "We are here to defend and to prevent what happened from happening again."
The so-called peace plan for Gaza that US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced at the White House in late September notably states that "Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza," and "the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will withdraw based on standards, milestones, and timeframes linked to demilitarization."
Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff who launched a new political party a few months ago, responded to Katz on social media, writing in Hebrew, "While the government votes with one hand in favor of the Trump plan, it sells myths with the other hand about isolated settlement nuclei in the strip."
"Instead of strengthening security and bringing about an enlistment law that will bolster the IDF, the government, driven by narrow political considerations, continues to scatter irresponsible and empty declarations that only harm Israel's standing in the world," he added.
The White House was also critical of Katz's comments, with an unnamed official saying that "the more Israel provokes, the less the Arab countries want to work with them."
"The United States remains fully committed to President Trump's 20-point peace plan, which was agreed to by all parties and endorsed by the international community," the official continued. "The plan envisions a phased approach to security, governance, and reconstruction in Gaza. We expect all parties to adhere to the commitments they made under the 20-point plan."
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Katz became defense minister in November 2024, just weeks before the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for his fired predecessor, Yoav Gallat, and Netanyahu over Israel's assault on and blockade of Gaza. When Katz took on the new role after serving as foreign minister, Palestine defenders accused the prime minister of swapping one "genocidal lunatic" for another.
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