Resolution Expressing Solidarity With Immigrant Workers With H-1B Visas and Other Immigrant Workers

October 16, 2025

WHEREAS, immigrant workers in the tech sector who hold H-1B visas, as well as other visas, have been among the active advocates of tech worker organization and unionization efforts within King County and across the United States. These workers have taken significant risks by standing up and speaking out, even though their ability to remain in the United States is tied to maintaining their employment. They are risking their children’s ability to attend their schools and their families’ ability to remain in the homes where they have invested their savings.

WHEREAS, the Trump Administration’s decision to raise fees on H-1B visas is harmful to the economy of Seattle, King County, Washington State, and the United States as a whole. Immigrant workers have made essential contributions to the success of the tech industry, which has become a primary economic engine. Yet they have not performed this work uncritically. Tech workers who hold H-1B visas have been among those at Amazon Employees for Climate Justice and Alphabet Workers Union who have supported unionization efforts for Google’s and Amazon’s entire workforces, called for increased safety for warehouse workers during the pandemic, advocated for higher taxes on the tech industry, and pushed for increased investment in green infrastructure—alongside other issues aligned with the Labor Movement.

WHEREAS, the Trump Administration has sent a clear message to many oppressed and immigrant groups that it wants them to “know their place.” These actions have ranged from the renaming of military bases after Confederate generals to the humiliations experienced by documented Korean workers at the Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia, to the hatred and contempt shown by masked immigration agents toward immigrant workers from Mexico, Central America, and around the world. Historically, non-white workers have occupied different rungs of America’s social ladder, but U.S. history has repeatedly shown that they all share something less than full citizenship. Now is a time for all impacted groups to organize together with and through the Labor Movement.

WHEREAS, an AFL-CIO resolution from 2022 calls for “Advancing a Humane Pro-Worker Immigration Agenda,” and the AFL-CIO’s Department of Professional Employees has made the case for reform of the H-1B and L-1 visa programs.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, MLK Labor shall post a message on social media that condemns the increases to H-1B visa costs, stands in solidarity with H-1B visa workers, and recognizes their positive contributions to our local community and economy. MLK Labor shall request that the Washington State Labor Council and the National AFL-CIO Federation make similar public statements.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, MLK Labor shall recommend to the National AFL-CIO that it issue a public statement condemning the Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant changes to the H-1B visa program and call for comprehensive immigration reform, including a clear pathway to citizenship for all graduates of accredited U.S. colleges and universities and for current H-1B visa holders.