Migration is not a crime: BWI on the persecution of migrant workers and inhumane deportations at U.S. borders
BWI statement on the persecution of migrant workers and inhumane deportations at U.S. borders
The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), representing 12 million workers in construction, building materials, wood and forestry sectors affiliated to 351 trade unions across 117 countries, strongly condemns the escalating persecution, detentions, and inhumane deportations of migrant workers in the United States. Under the current administration’s aggressive immigration policies, thousands of workers, especially those from Latin America and the Caribbean, are being criminalized, detained, and forcibly removed while facing extreme precarity in their workplaces. These workers, many in construction and wood sectors, build the homes, roads, and cities that power the U.S. economy.
Despite their essential contributions, they are being scapegoated under the pretence of irregular status or alleged criminal records. Immigration authorities have unleashed a brutal crackdown, ramping up deportations, and militarizing the borders. Across the country, women, men, children, and elderly people from Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and beyond, are living in fear, hiding under the threat of persecution by U.S. immigration authorities. These attacks not only violate fundamental human rights but also weaken protections for all workers.
While States have the sovereign right to regulate their borders, there are no exceptions to the obligation to respect foundamental human rights. Reports reveal degrading and inhumane treatment of deported migrants: shackled hand and foot, denied food, water, and medical care, and subjected to military-style detention. These violations recall the darkest chapters of history, where human suffering was institutionalised, and people were stripped of their dignity.
Far-right leaders with authoritarian instincts are seizing power globally on anti-immigration platforms, spreading racial hatred in communities through anti-migrant rhetoric and promises of restrictive immigration policies. Once again, they are following a familiar playbook: blaming the most vulnerable - the poor, the marginalized, and the displaced - for society’s problems while protecting the wealth of the rich and the power of the powerful. They arrest and deport migrants as criminals, yet they do not touch the profits of exploitative corporations or the privileges of those who benefit from their labour.
They are weaponizing fear and turning it into hate, division, and poisonous rhetoric. They legislate on human beings being "illegal" simply for existing, for being born on the “wrong” side of a border. These policies are an outright assault on the dignity and rights of all workers.
BWI affiliates reject race-based persecutions and inhumane deportations, and call for immediate action to:
- Strengthen global labour solidarity: expose these violations, mobilize against repression, and protect migrant workers from persecution.
- Halt deportations and raids: end inhumane enforcement actions, reinstate rights-based migration pathways, and provide reparations for affected workers.
- Ensure decent work and justice for all migrant workers: they are integral members of the workforce and must be treated with dignity.
- Uphold labour and human rights: implement legal protections to prevent abuse and guarantee clear pathways for justice, allowing migrant communities to fully participate in society without fear.
BWI stands in unwavering solidarity with migrant workers in the United States, resolute in our commitment to defending their rights, safety, and dignity amid escalating repression. In the face of this deepening crisis, we reaffirm our determination to fight together, knowing that justice will only be achieved when this dark chapter in history is decisively reversed by the collective strength of the global working class.
We fight together. We win together.
Download our statement. EN ES DE FR
Here are our campaign posters: Migration is not a crime Stop inhumane deportation