LINK: http://www.jconline.com/article/20130417/OPINION03/304170004/Guest-column-Still-missing-target-immigration-reform
The current U.S. immigration system is broken. That’s an understatement.
The challenge is how we go about fixing a system in a country that welcomes immigrants and yet maintains the rule of law.
The continued effort to
fix it based on the stereotype of keeping Mexican nationals from
crossing the southern border is foolish, shortsighted and doomed to
fail. The encouraging part of the current try is that there is still a
bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate to reform immigration.
The rhetoric coming out of the “Gang of Eight” is not encouraging.
Here is a quote from U.S.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., from “Fox News Sunday” about negotiations with
the bipartisan group of senators trying to hash out immigration reform
and how it will impact current undocumented immigrants.
“They don't qualify for any federal
benefits — no food stamps, no welfare, no Obamacare," Rubio said, as
reported by the Huffington Post. “They will have to stay in that status
until at least 10 years elapses ... and then all they get is a chance to
apply for a green card.”
Now that makes you feel warm, fuzzy
and welcoming, doesn’t it? Of course, Rubio has ulterior motives for
2016, but let’s try to ignore that right now. The talking point doesn’t
acknowledge a basic truth about many undocumented workers in the country
today.
The truth is that there is a
business magnet that attracts and encourages them to come here. To craft
legislation that ignores that reality is punitive and may keep many
undocumented immigrants in the shadows.
The Greater Lafayette Diversity
Roundtable held its biennual Diversity Summit at Ivy Tech Community
College on Thursday. Briseida Sandoval, who graduated with honors from
Frankfort High School in 2010, gave one of the most compelling reasons
for immigration reform when she talked about current Latino students
getting lost in the system.
“People tell them you’re not going
to graduate, you’re not going to be able to follow your dreams,”
Sandoval told the audience of about 80 people. “It brings that
individual down. It brings his self-esteem down knowing he can’t get a
higher education and pursue his dream. So they drop out of high school.
They don’t wait for other opportunities to come their way.”
Multiply the numbers Sandoval has
seen in Frankfort to places with bigger populations of undocumented
immigrants, such as California, Texas and North Carolina, and one can
easily see current and future challenges for undocumented immigrants and
the country. Meaningful immigration reform has an opportunity to make
the young people Sandoval talks about a bigger part of the economy and
the fabric of America.
President Barack Obama’s deferred
action policy in June 2012 allowed many children of undocumented
immigrants brought into this country at a young age to be eligible for
work authorization. While not the Dream Act, which would have given them
a pathway to citizenship, the action has already had an impact on
giving these Latinos hope.
“These young kids, some of them may
be adults already and brought here through no fault of their own, now
are able to apply for Social Security cards, identification and so on,”
said Veronica Jalomo, of the Latino Center for Wellness and Education,
who also was part of the Diversity Summit panel. “This is a good thing
for the students and will allow them to pursue a higher education. This
will open doors for them.”
Also, we can’t escape the racial
aspect at play in immigration reform. The reason why we’re even talking
about immigration reform in the first place is because of this “concern”
over Mexican and Central American nationals crossing the border. Even
the proposed walls and fences along the border have a sort of
confinement aspect to it.
In 2010, U.S. Border Patrol
reported nearly 4,000 border crossings from Canada to the United States.
I wonder how that fence between U.S. and Canada is coming?
National security? Remember that
five of the Sept. 11 hijackers, including ringleader Mohamed Atta, were
in the country on expired visas, and none of them entered the country
via illegal border crossing. According to the U.S. Government
Accountability Office last year, as many as 45 percent of people who are
here illegally are those with expired visas. You wouldn’t think that
with the amount of financial resources and attention politicians
continue to put on the southern border patrol and fences.
Yes, the country’s borders need to
be secure. It’s important to know who is legally in this country.
Punishing those who are already here with draconian actions meant more
to score political points will ultimately backfire. Let’s hope the
upcoming immigration reform proposal offers better.
Hughes is a member of the Greater Lafayette Commerce's Diversity Roundtable.
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