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Is The Media (And Blogosphere) Killing Immigration Reform?
President Obama has resolutely and repeatedly stated his intention to move immigration reform this year and create a path to citizenship for 12 million hardworking, new Americans. The two major American labor federations recently agreed to a plan that will help immigrants as well as US-born workers, ending the stalemate that hampered reform in 2007. A major funder, the Ford Foundation, has announced unprecedented support for grassroots organizations pressing reform this year.
So why is the mainstream media in a perpetual state of disbelief? On April 9, 2009, the New York Times ran a front page story citing aides in the Administration who say comprehensive immigration reform, including a workable path to citizenship for America’s undocumented population, will be a priority this year. Note that the story was front page news only because it was so counterintuitive --- not to the President, who sees immigration reform as an imperative moral and economic issue, but to the news media, who can’t understand why Obama would pursue another complicated priority that the media can joyfully turn into a political soap opera. Shouldn’t Obama just take a breather and save the whales?
Obama has made clear that he intends to help suffering Americans, citizens and immigrants alike, and recognizes that comprehensive immigration reform must be prioritized alongside other strategies to rebuild our struggling economy. Yet a full two weeks later on April 22, with plenty of time in between to read the New York Times cover story in between, Fox News reported, “The Obama Administration has not seemed anxious to deal with this political hot potato, at least not this year.” Perhaps it’s not fair to pick on Fox News, whose reporters have repeatedly proven they’re illiterate, but privately, far more reliable journalists and columnists have expressed their unyielding skepticism. When Vice President Joe Biden told reporters, "We’ve got to start serious discussions, serious negotiations on immigration now. I hope we’d be able to complete it this year, but whether we can or not, we have to start," the AP reported only that Biden said overhaul of the existing system may have to wait for 2010. This is all a publicity stunt, the media suggests, for Obama to simultaneously woo and placate Latino voters. He couldn’t be serious!
“The unprecedented political participation of immigrants in the past election, new allies and alliances supporting reform, the leadership of the White House --- immigration reform is at a level of possibility and necessity like never before,” Chung-Wha Hong, Executive Director of the New York Immigration Coalition told me recently. But here’s what’s going to happen. The May 1st immigration rallies across the country, which had swelled to millions in the streets in the past, will undoubtedly be smaller this year --- in part, says Hong, because “we’re more sophisticated now and engaged behind the scenes to make reform happen” but also because the media has created the perception that reform isn’t really on the table, tamping down the hopes and thus energy of immigrant communities. So on May 2nd, when the mainstream media says, “See, we told you that there isn’t enough political pressure and mobilization for immigration reform to be a serious priority,” the media will be guilty of creating the self-fulfilling prophecy they like to call news.
It is no coincidence that the mainstream media is faltering as the opinion-driven blogosphere is on the rise. While newspapers and television news have long denied that they are part of the stories they cover, that the concept of what is “news” is not objective but rather a subjective determination they drive and thus create, the blogosphere not only acknowledges but seeks to exploit its power to shape the environment on which it opines. Bloggers don’t just comment on elections, they seed candidates. Facebook doesn’t just track social movements, its starts them. Meanwhile the mainstream media, congenitally averse to acknowledging its point of view, is by design or by default a defender of the status quo. As the blogosphere tries to act at the speed of light to capture and catalyze change, the media reports on change only once it has happened --- inevitably behind the curve. So the prospect of not only sweeping change that would affect the lives of 12 million new Americans and their millions of US-born family members and friends and neighbors and classmates, all for the better, is so hard to believe for the change-adverse media that they require proof. Words from the President and his aides won’t suffice. But the trouble is hard proof, like, um, passing legislation, will not happen as long as the media insists it’s unlikely. It’s a Catch 22 that not only hobbles the possibility of much-needed reform but the credibility and relevance of the media as well.
Not that the blogosphere is much better. In a 2007 study, the Opportunity Agenda found that immigration was woefully under-addressed in leading blogs, compared with other key social justice issues. And what’s worse, posts that did speak to immigration reform were commonly pelted with deeply anti-immigrant comments, including on the most progressive blogs. Immigration reform is not an issue that the liberal establishment, new or old, has stepped up to champion. But again, that doesn’t mean the Obama Administration isn’t serious about making this a priority nor that the immigration reform movement has the moral suasion and muscle to win. All this says is that the white liberal mainstream, online or off, is as behind on this issue as many others affecting primarily low-income communities of color.
Immigration reform is a priority --- this year --- for our President, who prioritizes unity and shared prosperity over the lunatic rants of the fringe Right, and for millions of immigrants and their millions and millions of allies who know that as an American community, we can only move forward together. The mainstream media hasn’t been skeptical about the commitment to health care reform and budget priorities and for these priorities, the blogosphere has shown its clear support. What about immigration reform? Will the media cover it, the blogosphere champion it, or both be culpable in killing it?
Meanwhile, if you want to add your voice to the millions calling for a workable path to citizenship and an immigration policy that lifts up all Americans, text JUSTICE or JUSTICIA to 69866 from your mobile phone, or visit http://www.anewdayforimmigration.org.
- Posted in
53 Comments so far
Show All"Path to citizenship" has the same ring as "Truth commission" to my ears.
Just once I'd like some one to explicitly point to where exactly our immigration laws are broken. Exactly where and how? This is a favorite refrain of business and cheap labor advocates to achieve their goal of more illegal immigration and an unending supply of cheap labor.
So where exactly is our system broken?
You are right about the exploitation of cheap labor by businesses. But, our immigration system is broken many ways. For example, the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) regularly rounds up undocumented aliens and deports them but hardly ever do you see prosecutions of employers for employing these undocumented aliens. You can look at the docket of any federal court and you will see US Attorneys prosecuting people for having a fake social security card (which is required to work and that is usually their only crime), but you won't see any employers being fined, much less criminally prosecuted. Also, the way the immigration visa number system is set up, if you are a greencard holder (permanent resident of the US) from Mexico for example, your spouse and minor children have to wait in Mexico for seven (yes, seven!) years before they can join you. However, if you are on a work visa (e.g., working for a corporation) you can bring your servant to join you in the US. These are just a couple of examples of how our immigration system functions.
Very good points.
However I don't see that as being broken.
We have the laws on the books pertaining to employers, they simply aren't being enforced. So no new laws need to be passed, just enforce existing law. And I would slam any employer that was using illegal labor as a matter of course. One person could be a slip up, but not 3 or 30 or 300. These people are the scum of the Earth, exploiting another persons needs for their own personal gain.
And I wouldn't exempt corporations either.
Fake Social Security cards are a crime that should be punished severely along with identity theft. They have already comitted a crime by entering our country illegally.
Your point on the H1B workers and the abuse of it is well taken and should certainly be changed. Most of these jobs and the use of this program is to depress wages for American workers and increase profits. Another betrayal of our country and its citizens by business and politicians. But these rules can be changed without passing a new law.
As to Green Card holders, the problem there is our old civil war law that is being used to provide citizenship to anyone born inside our borders. The only country in the world that does this. Frankly I hadn't given much thought to Green Card holders and their problems.....thanks for bring it up.
I still don't see any need to provide an amnesty which is what this is all about, to ensure their flow of cheap labor. The minute these folks get legal status they will be out of work just like 1986 and the new wave of illegals will take their jobs.
Thats what happened last time we had "comprehensive" immigration reform.
Thanks very much for your thoughts, very helpful.
The H1B and L visa systems are, as you say, just means to depress wages. But few people realize that 130,000 people, per month, arrive in the country with jobs awaiting them. That is 130,000 US citizens and legal residents per month consigned to the dole - courtesy of corporate-written legislation. The H1B and L visa systems are and abomination.
Parallax
Excellent point. It is not just the illegals that are being exploited, H1B workers brought in....hotel workers brought in on this program, but its always presented as a technical worker program. The other 8/9 programs are abused to varying degrees.
"The H1B and L visa systems are and abomination."
Couldn't say it better myself. And another way of entry for illegals as many don't leave when their visa is out.
you do realize that we give work visa's to europe every year
kind of like a lottery system
It would be good to investigate the financial companies like CitiCorp, Bank of America, and the rest for their role in wrecking the Mexican economy.
What is happening here in the U.S.- with banks increasing credit interest percentage rates to unprecedented levels- just because they can- and Americans in debt up to our necks, defaulting on loans for homes, losing jobs- all happened in Mexico, first.
This situation (the banks) is one HUGE reason that many Mexican people are flowing into the U.S. desparately seeking jobs & educational opportunities in order to feed their families.
You are saying that it is criminal to enter the U.S. "illegally"?
It is the behavior of the Megacorps & banks that is illegal.
We should turn our attention toward prosecuting those who have CAUSED these econmic problems, not those who are at the end of a chain of human exploitation.
What does it serve for ICE to raid fruit packing plants and deport parents off to Mexico, while their infant children remain in the U.S.? (true story)
Why does ICE put whole families in detention while they await some resolution of their case? Yes, FAMILES are in jail-like settings, children in restrictive, barren rooms, left without toys or places to play, with limits on family visitations- all while their parents' immigration status is being "investigated".
Immigration reform is complex, I'll grant you.
But the sooner we look to the real perpetrators, the REAL criminals- the greedy Multi-national Corporations and capitalistic systems that keep them in power, the better.
i forgot... did the mayflower go through customs?
Depends on what is meant by "immigration reform"! We have 10-20 million undocumented aliens in this country and were it not for the recession/depression we would have millions more. The fact that our government won't protect our borders is based on Congress doing what is best for big business rather than what is best for America. Illegal aliens should be deported and the businesses who hire them ought to be fined to the point where their bottom line is no longer so inviting. I don't care if these illegal aliens had children here either. The kids should be sent back with their parents and then, if they can produce a high school diploma and show proficiency in English, they can re-enter. This country needs to take care of its own first. And that also means not bringing in cheap workers on special visas for Microsoft, who will pay an Indian computer hacker less than half they'd pay an American worker. We should be boycotting every company that outsources or chooses a foreigner first. And lest you think I'm a right-wing nut case, I am a liberal Democrat who is sick and tired of what is happening to my country.
actually,
a good amount of children who were brought by their parents, without documents.
are now fluent in english, have college degrees, and have never been to mexico or do not understand mexican culture.
i read an article in the texas monthly about this issue.
july 2006 is when it came out.
i highly recommend it, i think it gives a dead on description of the challenges that migrants face in the USA.
immigrants have...
So you contend if you are sucessful in breaking the law you should be rewarded?
You contend that Americans should have to pay for the choices these illegals made in bringing their children here?
These not migrants my friend, they are illegals, they are breaking the law, taking jobs from American citizens, stealing money from communities to stay here and depressing wages, no amount of blue sky will change that.
Being a Liberal does not mean that you disobey the law, hate your country, put foreign nationals ahead of your countrymen or want to help business exploit these folks.
PS on re-reading this it looked as if I could have meant that last paragraph personally and I did not. It was more in the way of saying this is no right wing view or that kind of thing. Its strictly concerns whats right and moral.
Check into who wrecked the Mexican economy some years back.
Let's have a little history lesson.
The culprits are the same giant financial corporations who just got bailed out here. They took their money from Mexico and ran.
The very same credit companies and Wall Street giants who have never paid ANY taxes. Why should THEY get away with it?
Why are we pointing fingers at "illegal immigrants"?
We've got it all backwards.
We should be prosecuting the Corps who are at the top of this economic mess.
It is a global concern, not merely one of "protecting" our U.S. borders.
I, too, am very liberal. I do not understand why we should allow people who are not here legally to stay here. I do not understand why we should allow those people to work here. I care about low wage Americans. By allowing low-skilled immigrants into the United States, we decrease wages of low wage Americans. How is that good?
undocumented, not illegal.
it is not illegal to be human nor is it illegal to migrate.
animals migrate across the border, "freely".
corporations migrate across borders, "freely".
why can't humans?
In America, we have Legal Immigration and Illegal Immigration. Immigrants who do not come her legally are, therefore, necessarily, Illegal Immigrants.
You say that it is not illegal to migrate. I tend to disagree with you. When you cross a country's border, you have to have permission. If you do it without permission, then you are migrating illegally.
Humans can migrate if other humans give them permission. Please explain to me how it advantages low wage Americans to have more low-skilled workers coming to this country.
what about the flora and fauna, and corporations?
humans have been migrating for thousands of years without documents.
I'm afraid Cardinal Mahoney's rhetoric is as false as his concern. The Catholic church is interested in more church members, thats all.
why can't humans?
First because its against the law, secondly, we simply cannot afford to support them any more.
Using your reasoning any one of these folks could move into Jones house because the laws don't apply. Have you considered what happens when you do knock the laws down? What Jones does?
Whether or not any of you support amnesty, there needs to be one thing for us all to understand. These immigrants are the victims of destructive trade policies, our government cooperating with their governments to rig the elections and oppress them, union busting, anti-worker legislation providing the slippery slope to slave labor in the forms of outsourcing and insourcing, privatization of land and crowding more people into big cities, deregulation, etc ... I would love to be angry at these immigrants for supposedly taking away our jobs but let's get real. They're not taking away our jobs. Our own people who have no respect for their own are giving it to them but only because they can count on these lost souls to not question their authority. It's easy to shout and scream "Send them back" and have fun watching our government and their own government persecuting them. And if you think women and children are having a bad enough time in the USA, check out the horror hell in Mexico. Thanks to our government and their, the female population in Mexico is degraded to the point of persecuting the raped victims while simultaneously "defending" the rapists. When we allowed bad trade policies and government meddling to ruin their way of lives, GOD decided to make us learn our lesson and unfortunately, he is giving us a crude one slow but painful. If we working class Americans would unite with the working class foreigners, the elites would not be enjoying us tearing each other apart as their divide and conquer plans have been successful at doing. And don't get me started with borders. The border fences only mask the true problem but obviously they cannot hold even the symptoms back for long as we are now witnessing more foreigners desperately crossing the borders.
Another thing that I would like to ask these same people worried about the borders are the double standards. Why is it that Israeli Jews and Cubans alone are given blanket "legal" status even when they enter the country illegally whereas Haitians and Mexicans are treated badly for coming over after most of the stupid electorate voted for pols who installed rightwing terrorist governments in Mexico and Haiti? Remember the Elian Gonzolas mess in 2000? If Elian were a Haitian or even a Mexican, he would have been sent back to his father, no questions asked. However, because he was a Cuban, the conservatives fought to "legalize" the kid's status without even asking him about it. I'll give Janet Reno credit for returning the kid to his father by the way.
JenniferBedingfield
Its not just the Southern Border Jennifer. More is made of it because our two largest States are wilting under the assault of illegals and their cost.
But there are plenty of illegals all over the country. Irish, Eastern Europeans, Asians are coming in by the ship load on our Western coast. Its simply that 55 or 60 5 of illegals are Latino's and it suits the business lobby for cheap labor and their shills like LaRaza to present the problem in racist tones.
All that oppose it must be xenophobic, nativists, bigots, etc. All Hogswallow. The very people that make these charges are bigots, racists and the ones that exploit the poor. When you see an argument based on insults and emotional rhetoric like "no human is illegal" or "Round them up and deport" or "Tearing families apart" you can be fairly sure they are employed by business and their shills, politicians hoping to buy votes or Churches hoping to cash in on more members. Though there are still some people that actually believe the naive view that people can wander at will and law is something to ignore.
The border fence is worthless to solve this problem, going after the employers is the only thing that works.
"Another thing that I would like to ask these same people worried about the borders are the double standards. Why is it that Israeli Jews and Cubans alone are given blanket "legal" status"
The Cuban thing is left over from the old cold war and the Cubans here have so far been able to keep it intact thanks to traitors like Martinez in Florida.
"I would love to be angry at these immigrants for supposedly taking away our jobs but let's get real. They're not taking away our jobs."
I would say to you there is no reason to be angry at the illegals that come here to work, any person would do the same if allowed. But make no mistake. They are most definately taking the jobs they hold from Americans. The lie that "they only take jobs Americans won't do" is just that. A lie. It is patently false. And if you hear someone saying that, once again they have been taken in or they are shills.
And while it is true our trade policies have not helped the Mexican workers and in some cases hurt them as in the case of the Mexican corn farmer, their situation is not our fault. Its like the claim that 90% of guns in Mexaico are coming from the US. A bald faced lie. Most come from elsewhere in the world.
We cannot affoprd to support these illegals anymore nor can we continue to subsidise Corporate America.
Thomas, I have mixed feelings about what you wrote. Here's what bothers me.
1. The truth is we are a nation of immigrants and I really am ambivilent about this whole thing because we cheated and killed the Natives who came here first. If they were indeed barbaric, I'd love to see proof of that but in any case both North and South America are technically filled with illegals unless they're native related or something like that. However, I am willing to forgive all that and I know that as time has gone along and still does, the genocide thing might be somewhat put to rest.
2. Having grown up on the rurals and finally having to move in to the crowded suburbs and cities just to work and earn, I can see a lot of what these immigrants have been through and I see that they're just like us. If the Mexicans weren't pushed off their lands, forced into cities just to earn and live, and then having to desperately cross the border just to earn and live, this immigration issue wouldn't have existed. I'm just saying that NAFTA and the US government and media helping immigrant dumper Calderon steal the election over Obrador who would have actually improved local conditions in Mexico so that people would not find themselves desperately crossing the border are indeed the culprits.
I'm sorry but the border fence is just sweeping the problem under the rug only to surface again. I'd accept the border fence but seeing that it will be rendered null and void by everything else, I'm not so sure it'll make any difference.
JenniferBedingfield
"1. The truth is we are a nation of immigrants and I really am ambivilent about this whole thing because we cheated and killed the Natives who came here first"
The truth is we are not a nation of immigrants. Most of us are from this country for many generations. In any case immigration is a good thing and nothing wrong with having otherrs from all over the world join us. Legally. As my friend Red Rick is so fond of saying to me, immigration keeps us fresh. And its true.
But illegal immigration is not good in any way. First they come here as criminals, uninvited, except by people that want to use them. Let me suggest to you that the moment they can't do that labor any more, they are not exactly treated as valuable employees.
Next, the Native Americans were no more barbaric than any other hunter-gatherer culture and the claim of genocide against the Native Americans is a bit overstated. If we had committed this genocide, I'd love an explanation of how so many survived? We are usually more efficient than that. And to determine the first immigrants that took possesion of lands here before we took them is almost impossible. At least we treated our slaves better than they did.
We are simply not responsible for the problems in Mexico as much as most here would like to blame us. But we haven't helped either.NAFTA was worse for Mexico than it was for us and it was very bad for us.
Everbody is like us. If you see a white guy in Japan you know he is not Japanese, even if he has lived there all his life, same for most countries. Ours is the only one where there is no way to tell who is an American by looking. We are from every race under the sun.
The border fence is a waste of time. Its a foolish waste of time. The problem is that left unchecked illegal immigration is bankrupting our communities. We simply cannot afford to keep importing uneducated, unskilled labor and expecting any other result than we are getting.
TM,
Nobody takes a job from anyone. Each worker spends money and pays taxes and grows the system.
Undocumented workers pay social security taxes and never take the benefits so they pay for other people's retirement. They pay sales taxes every time they buy anything, gas taxes every time they buy gas, support businesses and other employment every time they buy anything. This is not a "zero sum" game, otherwise my having a job would be putting someone else out of work. This argument is absurd. Why do the immigration rate and the unemployment rate move independently of each other? There are plenty of times when immigration is going up, but unemployment is going down. These are independent variables, and your repetition of your error does not make it true. NO ONE IS TAKING ANYONE ELSE'S JOB.
And, YOU are a criminal. You break laws every week of your life. There are so many laws, every person in this country is a law-breaker. Here are two truths: "Just because it's legal, don't make it right". And, just because something is "illegal" doesn't make it "wrong". Look at all the things that are against the law where the law is "a ass" as Dickens wrote. It was "against the law" for a slave to run away. It is "against the law" for a farmer to grow hemp. It was "legal" for the banks, investment firms and insurance companies to form conglomerates, invest in derivatives, and pay their executives hundred million-dollar bonuses. So? Your argument is entirely empty.
The substance is, what is right? Not, what is legal? And in this case, the same jokers who created the financial conglomerates, have STRUCTURED the international economy to drive the people off the land in Mexico - you can look it up, look at the amendments to the Mexican Constitution that they pushed through in order to sign NAFTA with the US and Canada. More recently a Mexican minister publicly stated the government's goal to drive down farm population to 5% of Mexican citizens. IT IS THE POLICY TO DRIVE THEM OFF THE LAND. What are these "illegal" people supposed to do in your world, starve and die so they do not become "criminals"?
And then there is the long sad history in the US of the dominant (white) public demonization of the "different" people who are supposedly destroying "America". What happened to the stereotypical picture of the opium-smoking criminal rapist Chinese man? After the indentured workers built the railroads for the land-grabbing railway magnates and robber barons, the "exclusion laws" were created to lock the surplus "others" out of access to the economy and the myths of demonization held "true" for generations. But what is the myth of the Asian American now? Hard-working, smart, good businessman, good in math, etc. etc. Stupid mythologies do not justify the ugly systems that they are invented to justify.
Please struggle to rethink your negative stereotyping and demonization. All these people are people with universal human rights, and the fact that the system criminalizes them for trying to live does not justify such negation.
There is so much more to say but i have to run. i will be marching on May Day for worker and immigrant rights.
undocumented immigration is not bankrupting our communities.
get your facts straight please.
I'm walking away, shaking my head, Thomas.
You know not whereof you speak.
Enough.
Your venom against "immigants" is quite unpleasant.
In any case Jennifer this is a fight that is coming and either business and the political hacks will win or the American people will. There is no in between. The illegals lose either way.
I choose the American worker and will do everything I can to stop this shameful exploitation of both the illegals and American citizens.
I wish you well.
Thank you Thomas. I knew you had a heart out there and I wish you well too. Sometimes, it takes a lot to dig through to understand one another. If the American worker wins, eventually that victory will also spread to the Mexican worker from what I understand. Take care. :)
Sioux Rose
JENNIFER: Although I think your bringing GOD into this debate is not particularly germane, I applaud your explaining NAFTA's role in drawing all these out of work Mexicans over the border. Those who blame the victims of policies of elites are cruel and unjust. You are quite right in banging the drums for unity among the proletariat of all (particularly neighboring) lands. Much of your argument (and points) is well-stated.
Hi Sioux,
I'm generally not all that religious. Sometimes, out of fear, sadness, helplessness, or just plain confusion, I end up invoking God. In this case, in my combination of looking at the plight in terms of helplessness and sadness, I invoked God when I should have said karma. I guess I still have a long ways to go before I can get a hold of myself. My apologies.
actually religion has everything to do with it...
the book by max weber, spirit of capitalism and the protestant ethic.
manifest destiny is highly religious in context.
Then let's bring them out from the shadows, let them be documented and insist they get the same rights as all workers here; end immigration as we know it, which is patently unfair to those immigrants who pay the fees and jump through the INS hoops. Enough of this farce. Let them into the job market completely to compete with Americans seeking the same jobs and let the chips fall where they may. If the greater labor pool lowers wages for all those involved, then so be it (this is already a reality in many areas).
Having shadow people here is dangerous in many respects and, when combined with poverty, encourages and facilitates underground crime. Don't complain, though, once an equilibrium is achieved, and the standard of living is lowered for all, when municipalities, educational, and health care systems are no longer able to support the overload, which will indeed be the consequence.
We're not labeling people saints or villains here, just looking at the practical aspects of the situation. Undocumented immigrants are no better or worse than anyone else, and are perfectly capable of exploiting a situation for THEIR benefit, just like you or I would be in a similar situation. Much of this relates to human nature.
Many that post here seem to believe that immigrants are somehow entitled by virtue of their destitution [by that same logic why do you not give all your disposable income to those starving in Africa (for example)?]. But we must resolve this issue (as some here also suggest) at its root cause, and that means looking inward at our own greed and selfishness (immigrants included), not only implementing 'reform' from the periphery believing that we can resolve this issue with new rules and regulations. This simply will not work absent of understanding.
you are naive sir.
www.ime.gob.mx/investigaciones/aportaciones/arizona.pdf
Not sure which one of us is being naive. Nevertheless, the outcome will be what it will be, regardless of our opinion. That is Reality.
Well said, Thomas, and realistic. Those who support cheap illegal labor, are those who support for profit 'slave' labor. They care nothing about these poor souls.
Nonsense. It is not either one or the other of your false choices.
i support the rights of HUMANS to find work wherever they need to.
The system does NOT need to be STRUCTURED as it now is.
If you support the false choices of the structured system, that is what you are doing.
i support the HUMAN BEINGS.
Making changes to the structure alone, via reform will not work unless you or I transform ourselves. Communism, for example, is a wonderful concept, but cannot work where ego is trying to fulfill itself. You cannot force individuals to work toward the good of the whole, if they prefer to pursue only what benefits themselves. If you do, tyranny results. We have created a fragmented society because we are fragmented within ourselves; society cannot be other than a result of this projection. Most people, though, prefer to sleepwalk, then have the audacity to complain when they bump into a wall or trip over a rock. Immigrants entering this country illegally are pursuing their own egoic interests (just like you or me). Sure many are desperate, but by that same logic would you allow a desperate homeless person to take your spare room, if he or she promised to clean your house, or tend your yard, knowing nothing of his or her background? And if so, would you be doing it to help them or yourself? Another thing is that a rapid and disorderly influx of new people into one country from another is likely to create chaos, which is not in the interest of anyone. That being said, I agree that systemic change is badly needed, and is coming, probably faster than most people will like.
Point blank, Jen: would you be personally willing to pay higher taxes to support this influx, and can you afford to pay them? Let's instead change the policies that promote these inequalities. As it is, with the economy crumbling, our infrastructure is at or the breaking point.
actually
immigrants pay taxes
www.ime.gob.mx/investigaciones/aportaciones/arizona.pdf
immigrants contribute to the economy
www.ime.gob.mx/investigaciones/aportaciones/arizona.pdf
Yes, that is true, my wife is one. Just think for a moment who the undocumented labor benefits most, the worker or his boss? So what are you REALLY supporting here? What protections and rights are proffered these workers: none. And who should foot the bill for their health care and childrens' education--we the people or the employer benefiting from their cheap labor?
they pay for their own social services through the taxes they pay
did you even read the article?
Please read my comment to Rose above. If they do pay for their own social services, why are there huge deficits in border states? Also, I did not see your comment on those benefiting from the cheap labor (many of whom pay these workers 'under the table'). What do you believe is their responsibility or liability here? Should they be able to continue to profit unimpeded? You see, this is part of the race to the bottom (the insourcing aspect). Walmart exemplifies the outsourcing aspect. BOTH are EXPLOITATIVE. This race to the bottom is arguably the root cause of the depression we find ourselves in. People need jobs and incomes to access credit, and cannot go on indefinitely consuming more than they produce (the balance thingy again). We are observing the conclusion of a false economic premise, whose purpose was/is to concentrate wealth, and the dam has reached its breaking point. The architects of this unbalanced system are scrambling frantically to maintain it and prevent a 'catastrophic' collapse, but they will not succeed. All they will wind up doing is increasing the 'pain' for everyone, meaning we will have to tighten our belts much more than we might have otherwise once the dam bursts.
I've been guilty of neglecting this issue too. It's been a while since I blogged about it. Since then, my position has changed somewhat.
I am still against simply opening the borders...for now. We have a broken, unequal system. How can we provide amnesty for people when we can't even take care of our own?
This is my fear, and I'm being candid here. I don't want our underclass growing. If we simply open all of our borders, as Thomas More and others have stated, the immigrants, largely from Mexico, are going to be exploited. The number of working poor will balloon, I fear. And with that, I worry about tensions rising and those rising tensions being used to pit different racial groups against each other all the more.
We don't yet live in an America where we have a living wage, where there are price controls, where everyone is guaranteed a job, where the people have universal single-payer healtcare and education.
There's all this talk about Mexicans coming in to America to do work that "no one else wants to do." But would Americans still turn their noses up at certain jobs under the umbrella of menial labor if those jobs paid them enough to live on without struggling?
I was when I last discussed this, squarely in the "punish the employers who hire illegals" camp. My rationale, and it certainly was not my idea alone, was that if employers couldn't hire the undocumented, the undocumented would go back home, and hopefully those discontented people would fight for their rights within their own nation. I felt, and still do to an extent, that allowing the undocumented to pour into the states, would only enable Mexico's highly corrupt and unequal society. If all of Mexico's discontented left, there would be no one left to oppose their own elites, and nothing would ever change for the better.
I mean, let's face it, Mexicans aren't risking life, limb, and imprisonment to simply be Americans. I don't feel that they want to undermine our nation or displace anyone either. It pains me to see people on the right demonize them. I'm starting to see them in my city. They're weary, wary, and sad. But, they're doing what they feel they have to do to help themselves and their families. All they want to do is work. They wouldn't be coming here if they didn't feel they had to in order to escape their circumstances.
Would you go to another country for a job if you didn't have to?
And there is racism from both ends that spoil this issue. It's sickeningly obvious why people like Pat Buchanan don't want open borders. He wants to be able to look around and see nothing but beige and hear nothing but English. But I also think there are the Latino groups that simply want more Latinos here to the point of dominance. I also think there are those who treat Latinos as little lost animals who need refuge and aren't thinking of improving conditions in Mexico. As if America is Heaven.
Not everyone can come here and not everything is hunky dory for the people who are already here.
Excellent comments, and I wholeheartedy concur with you. Opening the borders would leave many vulnerable to the vicious drug cartels as well.
yea!
we should build a wall along the U.S.-Canada Border
you never know when the penguins and moose will cross over
(sarcasm)
Just saw a two documentaries on Netflix, one about Brazil and the other about Mexico. They were very enlightening, but perhaps you'd be happier riding a moose or feeding a penguin that crosses over.
America's not the shining beacon of the hill. Not everyone should want to come and live here. The fact that so many people want to come here so badly, risking it all in the process, shows that there's a serious problem.
As Jennifer said, the economic injustices need to be addressed. Would immigration even be an issue if NAFTA and GATT were repealed and all the debt poor nations owe cancelled?
Thom Hartmann said this in a CD article from March of '06...
"Shouldn't we be compassionate? Of course.
But there is nothing compassionate about driving down the wages of any nation's middle class. It's the most cynical, self-serving, greedy, and sociopathic behavior you'll see from our 'conservatives.'
There is nothing compassionate about being the national enabler of a dysfunctional oligarchy like Mexico. An illegal workforce in the US sending an estimated $17 billion to Mexico every year - second only in national income to that country's oil revenues - supports an antidemocratic, anti-worker, hyperconservative administration there that gleefully ships out of that nation the "troublesome" Mexican citizens - those lowest on the economic food-chain and thus most likely to present "labor unrest" - to the USA. Mexico (and other "sending nations") need not deal with their own social and economic problems so long as we're willing to solve them for them - at the expense of our middle class. Democracy in Central and South America be damned - there are profits to be made for Wal-Mart!
Similarly, there is nothing compassionate about handing higher profits (through a larger and thus cheaper work force) to the CEOs of America's largest corporations and our now-experiencing-record-profits construction and agriculture industries.
What about caring for people in need? Isn't that the universal religious/ethical value? Of course.
A few years ago, when my family and I were visiting Europe, one of our children fell sick. A doctor came to the home of the people we were staying with, visited our child at 11 pm on a weeknight, left behind a course of antibiotics, and charged nothing. It was paid for by that nation's universal health care system. We should offer the same to any human being in need of medical care - a universal human right - in the United States.
But if I'd applied to that nation I was visiting for a monthly unemployment or retirement check, I would have been laughed out of the local government office. And if I'd been caught working there, I would have been deported within a week. Caring for people in crisis/need is very different from giving a job or a monthly welfare check to non-citizens. No nation - even those in Central and South America - will do that. And neither should the United States."
I'm not for walls, fences, or mass jailings and deportations. But I'm also not sure anymore that we should be discouraging people from coming here either. I don't want to militarize our borders. How can having closed borders ever be ethical?
Should we have people carrying their "papers" around? Is clamping down on employers who hire the undocumented in a sense making it acceptable for employers to discriminate?
What I think we should do is just allow our borders to be open. If people want to come and go, let them. This is how my position has shifted a bit. I don't think it is ethical for The United States to be detaining people or whathaveyou. We don't need fences or walls. We don't need to kick anyone out. But I don't think we should just let everyone in just yet. I think before that happens, we have to make sure the playing field is level first. We need universal single-payer healthcare/education. We need a living wage for all. We need to make sure that having a job, along with healthcare, and secondary education is a right. We need to make sure that the wealthy are paying their fair share of taxes. If we don't to those things first, and then just give the undocumented citizenship, we're only enabling big business. If we don't defeat the elites first, they'll only be made stronger.
As for not talking about this issue, there's been so much else going on with the bailouts, torture, the environment, the wars, banking scandals, etc. It's not that I don't give a shit about immigration, I do. It's all connected really.
I'm not 100% tonight and therefore am a little "off." Sorry.
I don't know how some people have that drive. I feel like I'm giving it my all day in and day out, it still doesn't seem like enough, and I still feel drained.
"you do realize that we give work visa's to europe every year
kind of like a lottery system"
Should we follow that model here you think?