We have been very skeptical of guest worker programs.

Nobody in this administration talked about amnesty. It's always been a guest worker program.

Our committee has a lot of work to do before we truly think about implementing a guest worker program in this country. I say that because our Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents drive by day-labor centers knowing that illegal aliens loiter the street corner in search of illegal work — but do nothing. I don't know how we can reasonably create a system for 10 million illegal aliens when we cannot currently handle the workload on our desks.

We regret to see them leave the federation because there's a lot of history there. It's a union with a proud legacy that got a lot of support from the entire movement, especially the AFL-CIO. I hope we will make history together again in the future.

It's really significant that we're reuniting at the state and local level. This shows that people still want to work together and not disrupt this relationship.

We obviously regret their decision to leave because there's a lot of history there. They have a proud legacy.