Should Immigration Activists Go All In, Or Bet On A Smaller Prize?

By • 6/10/10 • Categorized as Commentary,Immigration News,Immigration Reform

It's Just a Bad Hand - Photo: Malinkrop/flickr

It's Just a Bad Hand. (Photo: Malinkrop/flickr)

Despite thousands in the streets marching for immigration reform; civil disobedience; law suits; and hunger strikes, Congress has barely moved a toe towards passing “comprehensive immigration reform.” A proposal was introduced in the Senate, but it’s so flawed that politicians are finding it easy to ignore. The president hasn’t exerted much leadership on immigration, except for appeasing Republicans by agreeing to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the southwestern border. Meanwhile, July 29 is quickly approaching, the day SB 1070 will be implemented in Arizona.

Immigration is a tricky issue, and may be just as incendiary as health care.  At this point, even members of Congress who openly support immigration reform say it’s unlikely to pass this year, as they prep for midterm elections in a difficult political climate.

But if not now, when?

It’s universally accepted that Democrats will lose some seats in November. That makes it unclear why passing an immigration bill would be easier in 2011 than it is now.

I wouldn’t say that immigration reform advocates are in outright despair, but some have taken a cue from Congress and given up on lobbying for full-blown immigration reform. This is a game of politics, and some players are betting that singular pieces of legislation, namely the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act and the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act (AgJobs) have a better chance of passing. The DREAM Act would provide a path to legal status for youth brought to the U.S. before the age of 16, and AgJobs would do so for farm workers. These two bills have bipartisan support.

That’s why there are 10 young immigrants on hunger strike outside of Sen. Schumer’s (D-NY) office. They’ve refused to budge until Schumer supports the DREAM Act as a standalone bill. He doesn’t want to, because he favors fighting for “comprehensive immigration reform.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid shares the same position.

“We can’t just do the DREAM Act,” Sen. Reid told Latina Lista. “Republicans would have a field day with adding amendments to it.”

Even Sen. Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.) the main sponsor of the DREAM Act, is holding back in deference to his congressional leader. “I’m not going to push for that because I don’t want anyone to think I’m pushing the DREAM Act at the expense of comprehensive immigration reform,” Durbin told The Hill.

Some immigration reform proponents worry if Democrats push the DREAM act and fail, it will make it impossible to pass broader legislation. In essence, they believe they only have one shot to pass an immigration bill, so they have to pick the bigger fight.

Robert Gittelson of Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform told The Hill that Senate Republicans will not support broad reform. He believes the DREAM Act and AgJobs bills could pass separately, yet he’s still advocating for a bigger bill.

“I feel that by taking off what would be the low-hanging fruit, it takes away significantly from the full coalition advocating for comprehensive immigration reform,” he said. “It would be a long-term mistake to try to pass this short-term, temporary piecemeal solution.”

But some DREAM Act proponents are questioning this strategy. If comprehensive immigration reform will plainly not happen this year, and possibly not happen in the remainder of this presidential term, is this just stalling? The Dreamers are refusing to wait. As a blogger named Mohammad wrote on DreamActivist.org last week,

“We have two options right now: either we continue to play this waiting and pandering game to these groups that want nothing to do with us and care nothing about our futures, or we take a risk, we take a stand, and we push for the DREAM Act to pass as a stand alone bill.”

Tension is clearly mounting within the immigration reform movement. Calling it a “moral crisis,” Mohammad continued: “If you are not making the DREAM Act happen as a stand-alone bill, then you are a roadblock to DREAM, and we are going to call you out in a very public way.”

As can be seen in the comments to the blogger’s post, immigration reform advocates are by no means universally in agreement. It’s a poker game. What hand to play?

    Tagged as: , , , , ,

    • Max9010

      Replace SB 1070 with Comprehensive Immigration Reform
      By Joel Wendland
      click here for related stories: democracy matters

      6-02-10, 10:10 am

      Mobilized to overturn Arizona’s anti-immigrant law (SB 1070), an amazing coalition of labor, civil rights organizations, students, recording artists, healthcare professionals, faith-based groups, professional athletes, Arizona elected officials, city governments around the country, and police groups want swift federal action. Critics charge the law is a draconian legalization of racial profiling to target people who appear to be Latinos. Police organizations have slammed the authors of the law as “fear mongering” and as pushing for ineffective local enforcement of federal laws that will overwhelm police agencies. A combination of education on the law’s racist effects and its negative impact on public safety can build pressure on federal authorities to replace SB 1070 (and other laws like it) with comprehensive immigration reform.

      Public opinion is complex

      While a number of public opinion polls show some six in 10 Americans support SB 1070, additional analysis of the data reveals that only a small portion of that support comes out of right-wing or racist hostility towards immigrants. Xenophobia and racism are palpably dangerous in the current climate, and right-wing leaders of the Republican Party and Tea Party use these influences to promote and cover for their discredited policies. Key portions of their program and ideology are built with the planks of racism.

      At the present moment these influences may not and need not be the dominant ideas and forces at work on this issue, however. It is important to avoid the mainstream media’s error of attributing support for the law solely to xenophobic or racist sentiments. If the mud of hate can be cleared, we may discover an important chance for the country to move in a new direction on immigration.

      Most sentiments about the law seem to center on a desire for urgent federal action on immigration reform. A poll conducted by Lake Research Partners and Public Opinion Strategies in May found that while supporters of the Arizona law are most likely Republicans and supporters of the Tea Party, a significant number do not fit these categories and say they support the law only out of frustration with the lack of federal action on comprehensive reform.

      In fact, more than three in four Americans from both major parties and in all geographic regions of the country support comprehensive immigration reform. People view the Arizona law as an unfortunate reaction to decades of federal foot-dragging on reform. Instead of the punitive or enforcement-only responses to immigration on the state or local level favored by the Republican Party, Americans, including a significant majority of Latinos, want comprehensive federal action with four basic parts:

      1) Increased security at the border
      2) Crack down on employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers
      3) Require unauthorized workers to register, undergo background checks and learn English
      4) Unauthorized immigrants should get in line for citizenship

      Simply put, Americans agree with the immigration reform agenda the Obama administration has repeatedly called for.

      David Mermin, a pollster with Lake Research Partners, explained apart from extremist anti-immigrant sentiments, “the sense that the system is out of control and that there isn’t a legal orderly process by which people are immigrating” drives most attitudes about immigration reform.

      “The vast majority of Americans think we should still be welcoming immigrants,” he said, “but they want that done in a legal way.”

      “Folks don’t want some sort of draconian enforcement effort where you try to round up millions of people,” Mermin added, “they want people to register, to get in line, to pay taxes, to learn English, to become American.”

      “People aren’t angry at immigrants,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration reform group America’s Voice, in a recent conference call with reporters. He noted that the polling data proves that instead “they are frustrated that the government hasn’t solved the problem.” He warned that Congress should not use the fallout from SB 1070 as an excuse to avoid dealing with comprehensive immigration reform.

      The evidence suggests that most Americans sharply break with Republican Party and extremist views on immigration. They do not support right-wing hostility towards inclusiveness or provision of legal status and eventual citizenship for new immigrants.

      Read the rest of comment

    • Max9010

      Recently I was sent one of the sets of bogus statistics that the xenophobic Right, and some on the Left I might add, send around which bashes immigration. In particular, they have hissy fits about “illegal” immigrants.

      What is an illegal immigrant? It is someone who moves to the United States without government permission. They lack a piece of paper granting them permission issued by some bureaucrat. I find it hysterical that the fringe lunatics on the Right scream about this illegal status. They argue that these people are immoral, evil, and criminals for violating the law — not for violating the rights of others mind you, merely for violating the law.

      The same lunatic fringe distribute literature praising “patriots” who do precisely the same thing: violate the law. They have wet dreams over “patriots” who drive without driver’s licenses. And, they get dreamy eyed when some “patriot” gives them another scam that supposedly exonerates them from paying income taxes. Mind you, I am saying nothing about the wisdom of such laws. These groups have long lists of laws they want people to violate. They encourage people to violate the law; they applaud them for doing so. They honor them for it unless they were born in Mexico. For Mexicans they say: do as I say, not as I do.

      This recent email contained some “statistics” that the Right was throwing around. It claimed that there are under 21 million illegal immigrants in the US. That is not an unreasonable estimate. Of these, four million are children in school. That would leave 16 million adults. Supposedly 10 million of these people have “skilled” jobs. The Right says they “stole” these jobs from Americans. It should be noted that you can’t steal a job. A job is a voluntary contract between a willing employer and a willing employee. It is a relationship, not a piece of property. No one has a property right in a job and what you don’t own can’t be stolen from you.

      I was rather impressed by the quality of workers that supposedly come into the US illegally. If this email is to be believed, then over half the adults who live in the US illegally, have skilled jobs. I don’t know if “skilled” is defined as any job held by an immigrant, or if there are more immigrants who hold “unskilled” jobs not listed. But the labor participation rate for US adults is about 66 percent, and supposedly 60 percent of adult, illegal immigrants hold “skilled” jobs. That is rather impressive. Particularly when you consider all the racist legislation that has been passed by political weasels to make it impossible for illegals to find work.

      Of course, at the same time, these illegals are living off of welfare. The “statistics” threw together numbers about what immigrants supposedly take out of the economy. And, they threw around some high numbers to confirm the worst suspicions of people worried about the “brown menace”. What I noticed was that the balance sheet only added up debits. Apparently the 10 million illegals with “skilled” jobs have all joined the tax protest movement and pay nothing in the form of taxes. There must be secret tills at the grocery stores for illegals where they buy their food without paying sales tax. No where did the balance sheet ask what is contributed by the labor of these of immigrants…

      Read rest of comment

    • MarkG

      Max, that was well put together. That’s exactly what the pandering right fails to see. The economic contributions these immigrants have on our economy. They want to deport 12 million undocumented people, but at the same time they forget those 12 million have 12 million legal family members. Why can’t the DREAM ACT be a stand along bill right now, it’s been around for 9 years and was originally introduced by a very conservative republican. Make it a down payment towards a comprehensive bill, the democrats will lose seats and I don’t see it being any easier by waiting to get it done next year. These young people are willing to join the military to defend America isn’t there nobility is such a creed? The foundation of America is FREEDOM not for some but for ALL. Let freedom ring in America or else call her Iran. We are better than this or are we?

    • http://www.citizenorange.com/orange Dave Bennion

      A piece of legislation was introduced in the Senate, but it’s so flawed that politicians are finding it easy to ignore.

      With respect, this is not true. No CIR legislation has been introduced in the Senate. The Democrats keep introducing “blueprints” and “plans” with great fanfare knowing that it will fool the public into thinking they are moving forward with CIR. They are not. Their plan is working as long as people wrongly believe they are pushing a bill forward.

      The only comprehensive legislation in the House is Gutierrez’s CIR ASAP bill, which even he concedes is not “the” CIR bill that House leadership will mobilize Democrats behind. That bill doesn’t yet exist and maybe never will.

      Could someone please notify Democratic voters that their politicians are busy doing absolutely nothing about immigration reform? Because right now, too many left-wing voters have been bamboozled.

    • Feet in Two Worlds

      Thank you Dave Bennion–we should have written “proposal” instead of “legislation.” The article has been updated.

    • http://chicanofuturet.wordpress.com/ Chicano future tense

      ALL OR NOTHING!

      Sorry,personally I could never accept such an unjust,unsavory arrangement that would accept some but not all members of the same family of undocumented workers..
      What about my family…
      my parents? what about my brothers and sisters?

      The argument that a student once legalized could submit applications to legalize the rest of the family in my opinion is not worth the price of dividing the family across borders for perhaps ten years or longer.. complying with existing immigration requirements it would require his family to go back to Mexico and wait in line for an unspecified period of time of up to ten years or longer just to get the process finalized!

      Honestly to me this DREAM act smacks of selfish individualism and divisiveness and promotes the erosion of family unity.
      ……that’s not the Latino way..

    • Pingback: Harvard’s Undocumented Student Allowed To Stay in US “Indefinitely” | Feet in 2 Worlds · Immigration news · Immigration reform · Immigrant communities

    • http://aol frankee

      HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Lets see….No action on immagration this year or the next 2 years….Seems that the change that obamamaaaaaa is said to have is makeing people wait for nothing….So how does it feel to have the change that you voted for in 2008……

      From what I can see that was a very good year for wine and cheese plants as they both need to age, Then they can taste good……Just the Obammmmaaaa years …Thank god he has only a temp job….

      Reform for the illeaglas not now or ever …..why do I have to pay for their play…NOT…..The Mex Prez comes here and gives a speech to congress in the good old USA …He demands the end to the AZ. law…..and the dems all stood up and gave him a round of appluash……..Just goes to show ya ….Nuts stay together …..I say deport the Mex Prez a### back home and dont come back no more…

      *COMMENT EDITED BY FEET IN TWO WORLDS FOR LANGUAGE*