Congress and President Obama are proposing immigration reform. After a decade of fighting, it may happen. We are happy that progress is beginning, but we believe that what both the President and Congress propose is missing important points. We agree more with what the Justice for Immigrants Campaign proposes, which adds compassion to the equation, supporting reform that:
1. Provides a path to citizenship for undocumented persons in the country.
2. Preserves family unity as a cornerstone of our national immigration system.
3. Provides legal paths for low-skilled immigrant workers to come and work in the United States.
4. Restores due process protections to our immigration enforcement policies.
5. Addresses the root causes (push factors) of migration, such as persecution and economic disparity.
True immigration reform may be on the horizon – if President Obama takes a more critical approach to some of the issues being proposed.
In his speech at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, Obama cited four main points his administration will focus on to carry out his vision: continued border security strength, a sharper crackdown on employers that hire undocumented workers, the creation of a path to citizenship, and an overall reworking of our lapsed legal immigration system.
It’s meaningful that his speech took place at a high school in Nevada, a state in which over a quarter of the population is Latino, according to Las Vegas’ local NBC affiliate. The news outlet also cited a 2011 Pew Hispanic Center study that found 7.2 percent of Nevada’s residents are undocumented immigrants – a larger percentage than any other state.
On top of it, however, the high school location serves as an acknowledgement that immigration most affects our youth – individuals who are often marked “illegal” or “alien” without the recognition that, more often than not, these youths came to the U.S. as infants or toddlers; that, without their parents’ treacherous journey to America, which was their only true chance at pursuing the American dream due to a failing immigration system, these children would have been trapped in the same cyclical poverty their parents tried so hard to escape.
Clearly the location for Obama’s speech was chosen to reach those who this initiative most represents. But it’s been a long time coming.
The DREAM Act, which could have provided permanent residency to undocumented immigrants if they met certain criteria like actively working towards a high school or college diploma, was first proposed in 2001. A federal version was never passed – but a state version was passed in California in 2011 and, the day after Obama’s reelection, Maryland passed their version of the DREAM Act.
Progress has been slow for the undocumented over the past twelve years, with the bill being brought to the House and Senate several times but falling just short of the votes necessary for its passing – often with criticism from Republicans that immigration would have to be more strictly enforced for it to pass, which Obama has clearly listened to and incorporated into his vision for immigration reform.
The problem, as Suzy Khim of the Washington Post notes, is that something like stricter border enforcement is already a reality. The 2007 immigration reform bill passed under the Bush administration aimed for 105 radar and camera towers to be built along the U.S. border – but that number’s now exceeded 300. As for border patrol agents, the 2007 bill called for 20,000 total – since FY 2011, however, that number has exceeded 21,400.
In the wake of Obama’s long-awaited comprehensive immigration reform proposal, we at the Loquitur believe that this message of reform must not be lost in the illusory call for stricter enforcement. While it’s crucial that our border patrol be maintained, the continued growth of its policing should not be the priority. That was the idea behind 2007’s reform – now it’s time for our idea of reform to evolve.
As Mother Cabrini herself wrote in a letter to immigrants of Latin American and the Caribbean, “I know the wants of every one of you. I will take a great interest in you and keep you close to my heart – you may be sure of this.” She devoted her life to immigrants and their struggles, herself an Italian immigrant who later became a U.S. citizen – and then the first U.S. citizen canonized as a Catholic saint.
We must strive to further her work and keep immigrants close to our own hearts and recognize the many factors in their migration, not just messily accommodate for our misgivings. We must be unwilling to compromise on our brothers’ and sisters’ inclusion.
The New York State Youth Leadership Council criticized Obama’s projected reform proposal exactly for its attempt to gather more votes by compromising with conservatives, saying that they “expect our elected officials to be more creative than repackaging old and obsolete discussions and ideas in the name of a new bipartisan framework, especially in a year when both Republicans and Democrats alike have witnessed the power of the immigrant vote. “
According to an impreMedia-Latino Decisions poll, Obama had won about 75 percent of Latino votes in the nation, largely, analysts say, due to his stance on immigration reform.
The path to resolution must focus on the very Americans who aren’t recognized as citizens; this is about Americans who are faced daily with slurs, with hatred, because they chose a life of promise over a life of poverty; this is about impoverished communities across the border which leave their citizens jobless, left with the option to pursue their dreams for something better, or to stay put and hope for the best.
As a country, we must look to the horizon, joining our hands with those who now, more than ever, deserve to be regarded as American as ourselves.
As Cabrinians, we must remember our duty to uphold Mother Cabrini’s courageous work for America’s immigrant population over a century ago. Immigration reform is intrinsic to our community, to our identity. We must uphold the values of our college’s namesake and advocate on behalf of the immigrants among all of us – on behalf of the immigrants in all of us.
