Growing economic inequality on a global scale, between rich and poor countries, causes this migration. When people cannot survive and feed their families at home, they will leave and seek survival elsewhere, come what may. Economic survival has become difficult because of the structural adjustment and trade policies imposed by wealthier countries and international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. It is shortsighted, if not hypocritical, for the U.S. to promote these policies on the one hand, and then ignore their consequences on the other. The migration of people will not stop until the underlying economic causes forcing people from their homes are eliminated.
Workers also have a right to freedom of movement.
It is clear that building walls along the border and militarizing it cannot halt this flow of people. Nor can draconian anti-immigrant legislation, whether California's Proposition 187 or the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. The AFL-CIO recognizes this fact. U.S. immigration policies have, however, undermined the rights and wellbeing of people once they are here. Thousands of workers have been fired from their jobs as a result of employer sanctions.