Reframing the Immigration Debate

By Jon D. Melegrito

Listening to the pundits and talking heads rant and rave about the growing “mistrust” of government, we worry that our elected officials won’t accomplish much for the public good in the months ahead. Mid-term elections are coming up. As expected, there’s more campaigning than governing going on in the nation’s capital.

No wonder the nation’s mood is sour and irritable. The promises of springtime – economic recovery, for one – remain just that. The natives are restless and they can’t take it anymore.

But all this fear-mongering in the media, while worrisome, is getting to be wearisome. I still believe that the losers in the last election haven’t come to terms with the fact that an intelligent, competent African American is in the White House, one who is trying very hard to change the way Washington works. As one astute observer puts it, Obama’s ascension represents the massive demographic change that is underway in the country today. But there is a strong core of Americans that’s clearly threatened. They make no bones about their intentions. They want Obama to fail.
Still, progressive forces have shown in the bruising battle for health care reform that we can prevail. And we can energize our forces once again to win other battles, like comprehensive immigration reform.

But it takes an activist government to make it happen. And it takes empowered communities to make sure elected officials are held accountable.
As a community activist, I know the risks one takes in changing people’s hearts and minds. “I don’t want to get involved in something political,” is a common refrain. Of course, to thrive in a culture of self-imposed disempowerment is very much a political act. It’s safer that way. We avoid being branded as “socialists” or “communists” because to be politically engaged is a seditious act.

But ours is an insurrection against a status quo that benefits only a few. Where the rich and the powerful – in order to protect their interests – continue to dictate public policy, and ensure that the laws of the land don’t threaten their purses.

Sadly, their fear-mongering find favor among ordinary Americans whose misdirected anger is fueled by a poor economy and the widening class gap. Notably, they heap their hostility at undocumented immigrants who “don’t speak English,” “take our jobs,” and “threaten our way of life.”

In a nod towards the loudest and noisiest anti-immigrant voices, bills in Congress are being shaped mainly around issues of security, law enforcement and border control. The notion that these immigrants are actually assets – who help build the economy and strengthen communities – is never considered at all. Critics ignore the fact that $66 billion in new revenue over 10 years would have been generated if supporters of the 2006 immigration reform bill had succeeded in legalizing most undocumented immigrants. On the other hand, the federal government spends billions of taxpayer dollars on costly border controls that don’t really deter unauthorized immigrants.

The browning of America is inevitable. By 2042, as predicted by the Census Bureau, the number of whites will fall below 50 percent of the population. Nothing will stop this country from changing and evolving into a genuinely multiracial democracy in which no racial group dominates. Even if all the borders are sealed, whites would still lose their majority.

Obama knows this. But policy making is a tricky business when you have an issue that’s been framed as divisive and controversial. As a former community organizer, Obama is rooted in the daily realities of hard-working people who don’t have the voice to match those of the rich and powerful. As a consensus builder, Obama tries to reach out across the aisle, to find common ground.

Inevitably, he has to make compromises. Consequently, he disappoints even his own supporters. Like Rep. Luis Gutierrez, a Chicago Democrat and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Immigration Task Force. Gutierrez is tired of waiting for decisive action from the White House. He is afraid that Arizona , which recently passed a new racial-profiling law, will overtake efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Briefly, Arizona ’s legislature would permit police officers to stop anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. That someone – because of their color, clothing, music and accent – could be anyone. If this becomes the law of the land, you and I would be under constant suspicion. Scary.

In other words, if they can do that to an undocumented immigrant, they could do that to a permanent resident or a U.S. citizen. So let’s stop pitting Filipinos against Filipinos based on legal status. Let’s challenge the urban legends sent around in the Internet and sort out the vicious myths from the facts.

We made the same journey coming to America , a nation of immigrants. Regardless of where we came from, everyone has an equal stake in the making of America , in becoming an American. As historian Ron Takaki puts it, “ America does not belong to one race or one group of people; neither does our country’s history.”

Hate groups, nativists and vigilantes are defining the debate on immigration, which is detrimental to policy making. We need to take the hate out of the debate and reframe the issue – not as a law enforcement matter but one that reflects the values and “varied carols” of a people committed to a multicultural America.•