Voting block and potential union members if amnesty is granted. That is what this fight is all about.

President Barack Obama:

"We are not going to ship back 12 million people, we're not going to do it as a practical matter. We would have to take all our law enforcement that we have available and we would have to use it and put people on buses, and rip families apart, and that's not who we are, that's not what America is about. So what I've proposed... is you say we're going to bring these folks out of the shadows. We're going to make them pay a fine, they are going to have to learn English, they are going to have to go to the back of the line...but they will have a pathway to citizenship over the course of 10 years."

AFL-CIO: (I put certain words in bold that I believe promotes the Employee Free Choice Act, or doing away with the secret ballot.)

"Immigration reform is a component of a
shared prosperity agenda that focuses on improving
productivity and quality; limiting wage competition;
strengthening labor standards, especially the freedom
of workers to form unions and bargain collectively;
and providing social safety nets and high-quality
lifelong education and training for workers and their
families.

"To achieve this goal, immigration reform must
fully protect U.S. workers, reduce the exploitation of
immigrant workers and reduce employers’ incentive to
hire undocumented workers rather than U.S. workers.

"The most effective way to do that is for all workers—
immigrant and native-born—to have full and complete
access to the protection of labor, health and safety
and other laws. Comprehensive immigration reform
must complement a strong, well-resourced and
effective labor standards enforcement initiative that
prioritizes workers’ rights and workplace protections.

"This approach will ensure that immigration does not
depress wages and working conditions or encourage
marginal low-wage industries that depend heavily on
substandard wages, benefits and working conditions."


http://www.aflcio.org/issues/civilri...form041409.pdf