Fashion Designers Slam Trump's Immigration Plans
Fashion Week is long over, but that doesn't mean American designers are getting any less political. On Monday morning, Diane Von Furstenberg and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) held a press conference detailing their outrage with President Donald Trump's updated immigration plan and called for significant reform to fix what they deemed a "broken system."
Von Furstenberg, an immigrant herself who came to the U.S. with a suitcase full of "little dresses," says that immigrants today have it much harder than she did. "With these dresses I lived an American dream," she said in a statement, adding that the confusing system we have in place impedes talented workers from remaining here and can even deter them from coming over altogether.
To that, some would say, "Great - more jobs for Americans!" But Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA, said that's actually not the case. "Like Diane, when talented immigrants come to the United States to work in fashion, they bring new businesses and creative ideas that create jobs for native-born Americans in sales, marketing, photography, graphic design, production, cosmetics, and other industries." In other words, stop allowing innovators into the country, and you'll lose out on the potential for more jobs and more industry.
But it's not just about bringing over and keeping people like Diane Von Furstenberg in the country - it's also about protecting undocumented workers, who under Trump's plans are in danger of deportation. According to a 2015 study by the Pew Research center, 20 percent of workers in the fashion industry are undocumented. Deporting all of them could cost the U.S. billions of dollars and split up families.
The CFDA outlined a solution to these problems in a new report, which they conducted in partnership with FWD.us, a bipartisan advocacy organization that works on immigration reform. The general idea is to (1) expand the number of skill-based visas the U.S. gives out on an annual basis and create an entrepreneurial visa, which could help recruit and retain talented foreign-born workers, and (2) to create a pathway to legalized citizenship for non-criminal undocumented workers already living in the United States. The report called to attention two bills, which are already in the process of review by lawmakers in Washington: the Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy (BRIDGE) Act and the Recognizing America's Children (RAC) Act.
"The BRIDGE Act would ensure that young people who qualified for the Department of Homeland Security's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program under President Obama can continue to work, study, and be protected from deportation for a period of three years," according to the report. "The RAC Act allows hardworking young immigrants who arrived in the U.S. prior to 2010 as minors to adjust their status if they can meet certain educational or military requirements and pass a background check."
According to FWD.us's president, Todd Schulte, the immigration system hasn't been updated for 50 years - a lot has changed for our country since then.
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