Immigration reform battles on hold, but not for long

"600 Words by Esther J. Cepeda"

My good friend asked me the other day why no one is talking about immigration anymore. "It seems to have fallen completely off the radar, and I don't get why," he wondered.

After July 2007's political failure to come to consensus on how to reform the currently broken U.S. immigration laws, no one wanted to touch the issue with a 10 foot pole until after the 2008 presidential elections.

The theory when like this: immigration reform would be a major sticking point in the nominating process by the two major parties and then in the final presidential contest and the debates would flesh out what a new administration's stance on immigration reform would be.

Then, once the new president took office, major gains would be made in instituting a bipartisan legislative compromise that would honor the contributions – and weigh the costs – of the millions and millions of illegal immigrants currently living and working in the U.S.

Don't hold your breath – the perfect storm that begot the current economic crisis took care of that.

Not only did the headlines start screaming about yuppies giving up their 4-dollar lattes instead of the latest workplace immigration raids, but the slumps in housing and manufacturing have driven hundreds of thousands of immigrants out of their formerly bearable "illegal enclaves" back home. Though, according to a recent Associated Press story, of the "estimated 12 million" always bandied about, approximately 500,000 illegal immigrants are actively defying deportation orders.

Already several immigrant rights groups are circulating emails calling on Obama to put immigration reform on his soon-to-be released list of top ten domestic priorities for his first 100 days.

Thinly-veiled are the insinuations that "they" – legal immigrants, supporters of illegal immigrants and minorities – are owed lenient immigration law changes for voting Obama in. Puh-leeze, as if there had been any chance in hell they would have voted for McCain/Palin even if they'd promised to eliminate all the borders.

In that spirit, more marches are being planned for Washington, DC on January 21, the day after Obama takes office as our 44 President.

Never mind that the marching tactic has not proven to do anything but stoke yet more anti-immigrant hatred. Never mind that portraying Latinos – who make up a large portion if the illegal immigrant population – as entitled flag-waivers only made everything worse for anyone who happened to be brown…there it is.

Because all things Obama and Chicago are in vogue these days, the Washington Post actually reported on a press conference Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez held Saturday spotlighting "mixed-status families" who would be torn apart by the current laws if one or more members of the family were deported. Showing how U.S. citizens’ lives could become deportation nightmares is a far better appeal than marching for "rights."

But that won’t stop them.

Buried in that Washington Post story was a small mention of Marcelo Lucero the Ecuadorian immigrant who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when a gaggle of unruly Patchogue, NY, teens went out literally hunting for "a Mexican" to attack and stabbed to death the first brown-skinned person they found. The reporter put into context how the past marches stoked ire in some communities that have experienced a large influx of legal and illegal immigrants in the past decade.

You can count on Obama not going out on a limb on such a hot-button issue so early in his presidency (who could blame him?) yet January 21 can’t come soon enough for the "manifesters" – as the marchers call themselves (roughly translated) in Spanish.

I guess when that news cycle passes, then we’ll see how many more "Mexicans" will die at the hands of people who go insane when faced with large crowds of people "demanding" immigration law reform.

Esther J. Cepeda writes the "600 Words" & "Pregunta del Dia" columns, and is also the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission. Her views and reporting do not necessarily reflect those of ISAC. "600 words" is a registered trademark of EeJayCee, Inc., Copyright 2008. May be reprinted with permission, contact eejaycee@600words.com

Comments

[black mamba]

Immigration reform is a must in order to protect the vital national security economic interests of America. It would be very helpful and wise if the Hispanic community would reach out to the African American community to educate and seek more support on this issue. And African Americans need to do like wise. McCain now that he is free of the right wing nativist hockey Mom lunatic fringe in the GOP needs to do the right thing. Obama needs to be pushed to do the right thing as well. Bill Richardson would be a much better and more qualified choice for Secretary of State than the Clinton drama. Si se puede! Yes we can! Yes we did!

[John]

There are many people who want some kind of sensible, compassionate reform…both Barack Obama & John McCain are actually close in thought on this issue…even Ted Turner, in an interview with Mr. Insecure (Border), er, Mr. Independent, Lou Dobbs, expressed a similar attitude: most illegals just want to work to be able to provide for their family.

They need to approach it such that those almost to the extreme on both sides can tolerate it. Just a few examples…

For conservatives (especially fiscal)
- If illegals just have to pay fines, and wait extra long for citizenship, we can get that revenue without having to spend more resources
- The alternative to the above is to either raise taxes or cut services
- Legal immigrants can send the money home (in a way Homeland Security can track), and develop other areas of the world, without the government sending money. A good economy will cut the “need” for people to illegally immigrate .

For liberals
- Immigrants get the legal protection they need
- Actual enforcement to help former illegals can begin (i.e. strong or “real” punishment of those who exploit immigrants)
- Laws to help these immigrants actually gets passed, and no more false starts
- Immigrants can get more overt support on different issues (college financial aid, law enforcement, etc.)

That means some they two sides also have to give up something

Conservatives
= Thinking of illegals as more than just law breakers, but as decent human beings (i.e. no more of a law breaker than the person doing 90 in a 55 mile zone)
= Acknowledge that American citizens are just as much to blame about this problem, and need more attention drawn on them

Liberals

= Allow conservatives to arrest workers who don’t go for the amnesty
= After the “amnesty”, you have let those future illegal immigrants get arrested, et. al. and not complain about it.

There’s so much more…but just a few thoughts…

p.s. there ARE Latinos who are for positive immigration reform and considered (and may have even voted for) McCain – Palin -- Evangelicals (especially those involved with Urban ministry) & Catholics who are strongly against abortion. McCain, in many ways, was a real choice for them to consider. That particular group (Latino Evangelicals & Catholics) may not be as loud as their white counterparts, or as numerous, but they are out there. (One reason they may not be as loud or apparent – they are too busy doing good work to get noticed, or answer their phone for a poll).