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Immigration: A Great Debate About What It Means to Be American
By Tula Connell
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click here for related stories: Human Rights
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04-04-06,9:14am
One of the great outcomes of the national debate over immigration has been—the debate.
People actually are talking with one another about how we see our roles as individuals, as communities and as a nation—basically, what it means to be American.
Saturday, the union-backed North Texas Activists group sponsored an Inquiry into Working Conditions for Immigrants with panelists who included state representative Roberto Alonzo and Dr. Joerg Rieger, of the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Rieger is just back from a trip to the Texas border area, where he investigated the situations of Maquiladora workers. Tunde Obazee, a syndicated radio commentator who continues to work with Africans in their home countries and with those who have immigrated to the United States, also joined the discussion.
In Los Angeles this past week, NPR reports on a community-wide meeting of black and Latino leaders in an open and no-holding-back discussion about immigration, competition for jobs and how many traditionally black neighborhoods are now mostly Latino. In urging members of the black community to see immigration as a civil rights issue, African American leaders acknowledged that many in their communities do not view immigration as an issue they should be involved in.
While the U.S. House of Representatives last December passed a draconian “immigration reform” bill that would penalize individuals or groups for even so much as feeding a hungry immigrant child—and would build a Berlin Wall on the U.S.-Mexican border takes a more empathetic approach. The bill also would make the 12 million undocumented workers felons—and require them to leave the country. The punitive measures in the border enforcement bills do not enjoy broad public support: 32 percent think it should be possible for them to stay permanently; 32 percent believe some should be allowed to stay under a temporary worker program under the condition they leave eventually and 27 percent think all illegal immigrants should be required to go home, according to a poll released by the Pew Research Center March 30.
Another recent survey shows lawfully present immigrants—26 million Americans—strongly oppose the harsh measures of the House bill. In fact, 67 percent are against imposing stiff penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and prosecuting religious and advocacy groups that help illegal immigrants.
The survey, commissioned by the Center for American Progress, Leadership Council on Civil Rights and the New America Media, found that 73 percent of those surveyed say immigrants help the economy by providing low-cost labor.
And as for the Berlin Wall? Some 66 percent oppose it.
Meanwhile, if you’re in Washington, D.C., this month, stop by the National Archives. The Archives is offering a series of films and lectures on Women’s Activism and Immigration, including “Americans All,” a film the Archives describes as taking “a look at the loyalty and value of immigrants to the United States.”
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