Foreign Policy & Immigration

The American Solidarity Party is committed to policies which will bring about a more peaceful world through international cooperation and prudent restraint in the use of military force. Peace is not just an absence of war, but the positive presence of justice and charity among people and among nations. The United States should use its diplomatic influence and soft power to promote an international order that respects the dignity of the human person. Administrations of both parties have pursued a policy of reckless overreach, at great cost to both ourselves and other nations. Through its military, political, and economic interventions, the United States has exacerbated social and environmental instability in Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere. In the place of this tired elite consensus, we need a foreign policy with both a realistic appreciation of our country’s interests and a steadfast adherence to its values.

• Just war theory is the foundation of a moral foreign policy. It means that war should always serve as a last resort against grave acts of aggression and must be undertaken with clear goals and due regard for unintended consequences. The conduct of war must be governed by norms of proportionality and respect for human life.

• Most of the recent military interventions by the United States have not complied with just war principles. Overreliance on the military to achieve foreign policy goals has ultimately been counterproductive. The United States should end unilateral military intervention in foreign countries except as a response to an actual or imminent attack on the United States or to a catastrophic threat to international security for which there is no multilateral response. Wars of choice must end.

• A non-interventionist foreign policy must also reject the use of lethal drones against civilian populations or in neutral countries and the fueling of foreign conflicts through American arms sales.

• In order to prevent interventions prompted primarily by presidential power, Congress should reassert its war-making powers granted by the Constitution and the War Powers Act. It should reject overly broad authorizations for the use of military force that have given presidents of both parties legal cover for launching new conflicts without checks and balances.

• Our military involvement throughout the world over the last several decades has left some regions dependent on the relative security the United States provides. While this arrangement is not desirable in the long term, we cannot simply retreat immediately from some regions where a rapid exodus would cause further instability. Instead, a deliberate withdrawal is needed to ensure that American allies or clients are not left isolated and at risk by our departure. A reduction in military bases abroad should occur as part of this policy shift, except for those required to protect diplomatic missions or to meet explicit treaty obligations.

• We recognize the sacrifices of our fallen military personnel and of veterans. At a time when heavy burdens have been laid on an all-volunteer force for nearly a generation, all necessary resources must be devoted to fulfilling our collective obligations to veterans and their families.

• Nuclear weapons signal a failure to create a world that values peace over warfare. Our nation must lead the effort to rid the world of these terrible weapons through the use of arms control initiatives, non-proliferation treaties, and, where doing so does not diminish national security, unilateral steps to reduce our nuclear weapon stockpiles. In particular, the United States should rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and should negotiate an update to the lapsed Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty with Russia. Further, as a nation we should reject first use of nuclear weapons and should not seek first-strike capabilities.

• The United States should seek peaceful resolution of global environmental problems through cooperation with foreign nations, including maintaining participation in current treaties. We should rejoin the Paris climate pact and vigorously encourage all nations to meet ambitious climate goals.

• While trade agreements can be mutually beneficial for the United States and its international partners, the United States should avoid or seek to renegotiate trade agreements that privilege corporate interests over labor rights and environmental protections or that encourage the hollowing-out of domestic industries. Favorable trade status should be removed from countries where worker exploitation is unaddressed.

• The United States should seek whenever possible to remedy the human and environmental consequences of American intervention, both past and present. We must avoid actions which sustain corrupt governments or exploitative practices by American corporations. To truly make a positive impact throughout the world, the United States should focus on long-term economic development aid to produce self-sufficient local communities.

• The United States must end participation in international agreements and regulatory frameworks which favor international corporations over local producers. This effort includes the banning of lending practices that put smaller nations into financial stress, and of the use of international financial pressure to restructure the economies of debtor nations. It further includes the reform of intellectual property laws that allow corporations to control seed life, and thus monopolize a disproportionate amount of food sources, especially in developing countries. International economic institutions such as the WTO, World Bank, and IMF should be reformed or replaced in the interest of transparency, accountability, and fairness to all nations.

Immigration

Our obligations as part of the family of nations also encompass migrants and refugees seeking entry to our country. Mindful of the Biblical admonition to welcome the stranger and the importance of immigrants to our national fabric, we must enact policies that reconcile the legitimate interest of Americans in secure borders with a core commitment to human dignity. This effort will require not only addressing the crisis at our borders, but also the root causes of migration, many of which concern our country’s use of its military, political, and economic power abroad.

• The federal government has the responsibility to implement safe, secure, and orderly borders. We need reforms to protect migrants and to respond to unplanned refugee influxes with humane facilities adequate to house people and families in distress. At the same time, we must make our border areas safer for those who patrol them, live near them, or desire to cross them by aggressively targeting the trafficking of humans and narcotics. Among the most significant reforms must be the closing of private for-profit immigration detention centers, the provision of sufficient resources for immigration courts, and the expansion of monitoring programs that minimize the need for detention while asylum or immigration claims are processed.

• We support a path to citizenship for “Dreamers” brought to the United States as children and advocate reasonable accommodations for unauthorized immigrants without a criminal record who seek permanent residency.

• There must be a variety of bridge-building efforts between communities and newly-arriving immigrants, including offering lessons in civics and English for immigrants.

• We favor a generous policy of asylum for refugees from religious, political, racial, and other forms of persecution. Asylum claims should be evaluated with a view to integrating refugees into American communities.

• The availability of immigrant workers whose legal status renders them vulnerable allows employers to operate businesses with low wages and poor conditions that would likely not otherwise be tolerated. To improve working life and job availability for all, we support the enforcement of fair labor practices and solidarity between workers of all backgrounds. Immigration enforcement efforts within the United States should prioritize the illegal hiring practices of employers rather than the mass deportation of working unauthorized immigrants. Temporary visa programs should also be reformed to prevent companies from exploiting temporary workers and disadvantaging their American counterparts in skilled occupations.

• We will work toward the negotiation of equitable trade agreements that will help to make immigration a choice, rather than a necessity, by addressing economic deprivation in developing countries.