Migrant Justice Groups Call for USMCA Overhaul to Stop Displacement and Protect the Rights of Migrant Workers
WASHINGTON, D.C — In comments submitted to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) as part of the six-year review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Public Citizen joined prominent migrant justice organizations in calling for the agreement, as well as immigration policies, to be rewritten to prioritize human rights, labor protections, and climate resilience.
The submission – from National Partnership for New Americans, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Detention Watch Network, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), Latin America Working Group, and others – emphasizes that the first Trump administration’s signature trade deal did not fix rules in NAFTA that destroyed livelihoods, contributing to forced displacement of millions and mass migration.
Together, the groups note that the USMCA review coincides with a troubling escalation in the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant campaign, marked by mass deportations, expanded detention, and militarized enforcement, which ignores how U.S. economic policies have contributed to migration pressures.
The comments outline key recommendations to transform the USMCA, including:
- Replacing corporate-dominated advisory committees with a transparent process that centers the voices of migrant, frontline, and labor communities.
- Strengthening workers’ rights and their enforcement, including for migrant workers.
- Affirming governments’ right to protect small farmers, regulate investment, and ensure food security.
- Removing Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) and other corporate privileges that undermine labor and environmental safeguards.
Read the full comment here.
For more background on the linkages between trade and forced migration, read the joint report by Public Citizen and NPNA: The Impacts of U.S. Trade Policy on Migration in Latin America.
Quotes from signatory organizations:
“As a national network of immigrant and refugee rights organizations, NPNA is proud to support the call for a trade framework that upholds the dignity and rights of workers, families, and communities across borders. For too long, trade policies driven by corporate greed have uprooted communities, deepened inequality, and forced immigrants to live as second-class in societies that have failed to build just trade and immigration systems centered on human dignity.” Nicole Melaku, Executive Director, the National Partnership for New Americans
“Rather than protecting labor rights and the environment, NAFTA and the USMCA traded away the interests of workers in favor of the interests of big business, and freed multinational corporations from public regulation in the northern hemisphere and globally. Workers and unions have been denied legal status, forced to work longer for less pay, and threatened with outsourcing if they did organize for their rights. Global trade must have real benefits for workers and communities. Anything less is simply not sustainable.” Vicki Gass, Executive Director, Latin America Working Group
“At the U.S.-Mexico border, we witness every day how unjust economic systems and failed trade policies uproot families and force migration. Grounded in the call to uphold the dignity of every person, we believe trade and immigration policies must be rewritten to serve the common good. The USMCA review is a crucial opportunity to build an economy that keeps families together, protects communities, and helps address the root causes that compel people to leave their homes in search of survival.” Dylan Corbett, Executive Director, Hope Border Institute
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