After Iraq, healthcare, the economy, and trust, Americans rank immigration as the number five problem facing the United States. That's not surprising; in June, Congressional debate on immigration policy was front-page news. "Immigration" has become a simulacrum for "race relations" in the U.S. It's no longer politically correct to vilify folks for the color of their skin but, in some quarters, it's okay to bash them for their immigration status.
There are approximately eleven million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. While there's broad agreement that something should be done to make it harder for foreigners to sneak across our borders, there's dissension about on what to do with the unauthorized migrants who reside here: should they be arrested and sent back to their countries of origin or should they be granted a path to citizenship?
The leading Democratic candidates for President have relatively compassionate attitudes about immigration: Clinton, Edwards, and Obama favor tighter border security to keep out undocumented visitors, as well as a clearly-defined path to "earned" citizenship. A few Republican Presidential candidates, such as Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, hold similar positions. However, former Governor Mitt Romney and former Senator Fred Thompson oppose "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants. And Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo takes the extreme position: "Illegal aliens threaten our economy and undermine our culture... I am 100% opposed to amnesty. As President, I will secure our borders so illegal aliens do not come, and I will eliminate benefits and job prospects so they do not stay." Tancredo http://www.rightwingwatch.org/2006/09/tancredo_on_mas.html"> supports mass deportation of unauthorized migrants.
Immigration has become an important issue because it combines American concerns about security and jobs. Since 9/11 there's been distress about lax border security that lets in thousands of immigrants each year. And Americans continue to worry about the nations' economy; they're concerned about the shortage of good jobs. Politicians such as Tancredo argue these jobs have been usurped by "illegals." Conservative demagogues suggest our economic woes are the fault of "those people;" only this time it's not "colored people," the Irish, or Jews, it's illegal aliens.
Underlying the immigration issue is the fact the demographics of the United States are rapidly changing. In May, http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/010048.htm"l> the Census Bureau announced the minority population of the U.S. went over 100 million – combining race and Hispanic origin. Approximately one in three U.S. residents is a member of a minority group.
The two political parties take different stances on America's changing demographics. Democrats embrace diversity – this year their top four presidential candidates include a woman, a black, and a Hispanic. Republicans define their base as White, non-Hispanic voters. And further restrict it by pandering to conservative Christians and xenophobic heterosexual males. This tactic has helped the GOP rally a base that's been dispirited by the failings of the Bush Administration, but it's narrowed their appeal.
On Thursday, September 27th, PBS hosted a minority-focused debate for the Republican Presidential candidates. The leading candidates – Giuliani, McCain, Romney, and Thompson – didn't show up, which was interpreted as their having little interest in minority voters. Perhaps they were reading the demographic "tea leaves." In the http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html"> 2004 Presidential election, George Bush carried 58 percent of the White non-Hispanic vote, but only 44 percent of Hispanics and 11 percent of Blacks. Since that time, Bush's approval ratings have fallen dramatically for every group other than White non-Hispanic straight men.
Nonetheless, it's difficult to make sense of the harsh GOP stand on immigration and race relations, in general. Defining Republicans as the Party of white Christian men seems to be a throwback to the segregationist posturing of the fifties and sixties, a strategy that doesn't have a chance in the 2008 general election. However, it makes a historical sense: since the Reagan era Republicans have been adept at mobilizing resentment. In campaign after campaign they've fueled the anger of lower and middle-class whites and redirected it to imaginary groups: liberal elites who promote "sixties values," black welfare "queens," promiscuous women who want abortion on demand, aggressive homosexuals who seek to convert others to their "lifestyle," and now illegal aliens who steal American jobs and benefits. Tom Frank described this process in What's the Matter with Kansas: within the Republican Party, economic conservatives distract social conservatives with inflammatory issues in order to get their votes and keep them from noticing the various life-threatening problems caused by conservative social policy.
Republicans mobilize around hate. That's the common thread that connects GOP candidates over the past forty years and fuels the draconian immigration philosophy embraced by a majority of Republicans.
In 2008, will playing the hate card work for Republicans? Will they again be able to mobilize the resentment of lower and middle-class whites? This seems unlikely so long as Democrats remember that lurking beneath the GOP politics of hate are legitimate economic concerns about jobs, healthcare, and energy costs; concerns that need to be addressed by policy not prejudice.
Bob Burnett is a Berkeley writer and Quaker actvist. He is particularly interested in progressive morality and writes frequently on the ethical aspects of political and social issues.
play a huge role in the whole debate. Are they 'migrant workers', 'undocumented laborers', 'illegal aliens', or 'terrorists'?
I'd say that since they have not entered our country by the appropriate and legal course -they are not merely 'migrant' or 'undocumented' but also 'illegal'... and who's to say everyone crossing the border 'illegally' seeks to be a 'good' immigrant and not packing some very caustic munitions to unleash in a major metropolitan area further down the road?
I think that most of the politicians prefer to take a light-handed approach to dealing with the problem merely so they can win over hispanic votes... The corporate big-wigs are the true winners as long as the job market is flooded with 'illegals'... It's not that there are jobs that Americans won't do -it's that there are jobs that Americans won't do unless paid properly for the labor!
The 'hate card', 'race card', or 'whatever card' is used WAY too often when people want to put people on the defensive and haven't many options left to make points for their side...
When you see through such cheap tactics, oft-times the one holding the deck looks foolish.
Why do we even have laws governing our borders? The answer to that best settles the debate...
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 647 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 9:38:03 AM
Hate is an ugly emotion that destroys the hater as well the subject of his hate. It has no place in this discussion. "Illegal" seems to me to me to be a well defined term at least as it is used in the context of undocumented aliens. This should not be a matter of hate but one of law. I know that certain companies and other businesses in the agricultural industry and other industries have welcomed and acquiesced in the hiring and employing of illegals but I don't believe the country has at this juncture because the law has not been changed to legalize their status. Therefore the law requires that they be returned to their birth countries. That is the only way this matter will be solved. Either you are a country of laws or you are not. Make up your minds.
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Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 974 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 11:19:25 AM
Right wingers foam at the mouth when citing mostly mythic "facts" concerning crime and health care costs for these illegal workers. As Thom Hartmann is fond of noting we do not have an illegal worker problem in this nation ,we have an illegal employer problem, if a problem exists at all.
The only practical solution to this supposed problem is not a wall around our nation. It is an ending to the economic conditions that make employment in their native lands an impossibility.
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ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 11:25:12 AM
I agree if we locked up employers the problem would be partially solved. The employers are in a bad situation however on this because illegals have very good forged documents and some states are issuing drivers licenses and other forms of ID making it difficult to determine who is legal and who isn't. A national ID card is a good idea.
Illegal immigration is a huge problem in the US and to frame it as a Repub or Dem political or as a racial issue is stupid and dangerous. Our prisons, hospitals (our local hospital in the middle of a senior citizen area had 5000 babies born in it last year - most of them with illegal parents), and schools are being stretched to the max in Arizona. Who is paying for all this? We are. Money that illegals make goes back to Mexico and to the Coyotes and does little for the local economy.
Can't people, for once, forget about the stupid politics, arguing about semantics, and whether it is racist or not and sit down a figure out what is best for the country, the illegals already here, and the poor taxpayer?
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Mad Jayhawk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 226 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 1:26:31 PM
If you'll note... I never said anything about Dems or Repubs being the nature of the problem solely.
Semantics is used only as a diversion.
And you think a National I.D. Card would solve this? Yeah right.
You wanna walk around carrying a RFID chip in your wallet? Be my guest...
And they should go after employers of 'illegals'... fake documents are no excuse. Ever seen what some people let pass as authentic? I'm certain that many employers know they are hiring illegals and do it anyway! I've been part of the process before and when I raised my concerns I was labeled a 'racist' by my bosses -which, I can assure you, I am not... Employers should be held accountable. The law is the law.
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C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 647 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 2:10:00 PM
What I hate is the fact that our government puts the "needs" of undocumented workers, illegal immigrants or unlawful cheap labor for the corporationsprofit ahead of legal American citizen workers, their needs and their families needs...Mexico doesn't allow that..an American citizen is not welcome to work or vote in Mexico..until our government starts supporting the American workers rights, to unionize, collective bargaining, health care for employess, pensions (that corporations can't grab), stop shipping our good paying jobs overseas, stops flooding our labor markets with cheaper labor, stops flooding our stores with cheap goods from other countries (free trade) and allows a living wage, rather than a minimum wage, (that no one can live on), I will not support illegal immigration or amnesty of any kind, from any country!!..as for the top five major issues..neither party is representing the will of the people on these issues
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Susan Nelsen (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 252 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 2:08:51 PM
Perhaps you are easily led, perhaps you have never encountered any so-called illegals so it is a simple matter for you to demonize them and diminish their stature as human beings. Perhaps you really believe that they are taking jobs from American citizens, but you would be, for the most part, very wrong.
The whole issue of illegal aliens is a distraction put forth by the Bush administration in order to take focus off the abysmal job they are doing in every aspect. They judge us, and they seem to be correct, as all too gullible and easily led. Please, as a duty to this nation, become a responsible citizen and do the research into this issue prior to supporting what is basically fomenting racism and hatred.
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ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Saturday, October 27, 2007 at 7:12:57 AM
Looks, like you, folks live a pretty good life and Bush had not stirred the possum yet. You have not noticed yet that we have a lawless country, that laws are trampled at, that war eats our flesh and that the Junta above does not care for you. Because if you had noticed that you most likely would have concentrated on the restoration of all those good things BEFORE spending your emotions on the people who so far, all of them had done you and me much less harm than one Bush does in a day. Get alive, folks, forget about immigrants and smell the coffee. Bush wants to kill us all. That's the problem and the only one.
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Mark Sashine (47 articles, 19 quicklinks, 235 diaries, 3360 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 2:17:52 PM
Generally, I agree with you a lot of the time. However, I AM able to multi-task...
If the issue doesn't concern you, that's fine. You could make the same comments on every other article on the web.
Why should we drop everything else, when all our efforts, so far, to impeach has come to nothing? Given that rationale, why shouldn't we continue to oppose the war in Iraq, fight for health coverage for children, or investigate the deep vein of corruption running throughout our government!?
We're not talking about flag burning here...
by
C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 647 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 3:57:20 PM
is ok if tools are not contaminated. In our case those 'laws' you mention are no more; the judiciary has been pushed aside. As such we better restore those laws and only then think about implementing them. Thus the immigraiton issue is to be put aside because it involves the specification on who is legal and who is not which is a joke now because our President is the ILLEGAL entity.
That's what I meant. Thanks
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Mark Sashine (47 articles, 19 quicklinks, 235 diaries, 3360 comments)
on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 7:48:50 AM
Bob your playing the race card no one is playing the hate card!
For the past several years both Democrats and Republicans have allowed our borders to go unsecured and our business community to hire illegal immigrants. Large campaign contributions to both parties were implemented so that our immigration laws could be ignored and business could increase profits by hiring illegals. Most Republicans are bought and paid for by corporate interests and would love to see open borders, Just look at the trucking deal Bush tried to push through
The fact of the matter is that Republicans and Democrats love illegal aliens more than American citizens and would gladly give an illegal immigrant an American citizens job if his corporate donor could make a few extra bucks.
The reason some Republicans and Democrats are finally coming out against illegal immigration is the tremendous pressure they are getting from their constituents. Thousands of letters, emails and phone calls all tell the same story. They are angry with trying to compete with businesses who hire illegals. They are tired of losing their jobs to illegals. They are tired of watching wages go down because of illegals. They don't trust comprehensive reform because the government has always lied to them in the past, NAFTA is a good example.
What it all really boils down to is that some American citizens have finally woke up and now have the audacity to say hey this is my country And I have the right to speak my mind and demand some representation from my elected officials. It has nothing to do with hate or racism.
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Gary Denson (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 208 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 7:41:47 PM
You say that Americans have awakened but I say they have been duped. The real reasons for the flood of illegal to this nation lie with the economic policies that despoil their countries to benefit a small, very small minority of the wealthy. The folks who risk their lives to come here and work at menial jobs, living ten to a room so they can send back a few hundred bucks a month to their families do not deserve to be thought of in such a poor light.
Only you can throw off the propaganda that leads you to such incorrect beliefs......
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Sunday, October 28, 2007 at 10:27:05 AM
As a Quaker, you understand that we cannot have peace until we are at peace with all the creatures around us. Every net increase in one American means that AT LEAST 10 acres of forest, wetlands or waterways must be consumed to support that person. Increasing our numbers is an act of war we wage against the rest of Creation; and given global warming, increasing the U.S. population is one of the LAST things the Earth needs.
My adopted son is from Guatemala. I am not xenophobic, and I feel a special responsibility to care for all the creatures who inhabit this land over which I have some influence.
- Bob Fireovid
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Bob Fireovid (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 18 comments)
on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 8:08:19 PM
Your really bothered by your boss, (i.e. the rich who are taking ALL the money) but you can't kick the "boss" so you kick the dog, (i.e. the immigrants) instead. Face up to it blamers it's a change the whole world is going through. I live in the highlands of Scotland and there are now around 10,000 Pols in Inverness alone. I have had nothing but good experiences with them. Finding someone/ something to blame is never the answer. As Monty Rock the third used to say, DIG YOURSLEVES.
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davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 241 comments)
on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 6:24:34 AM
This is extreme?? California had to close no less than 65 hosptials due to illegal immigrants not paying their bills... Wanting this to stop is considered HATEFUL?
As President, I will secure our borders so illegal aliens do not come, and I will eliminate benefits and job prospects so they do not stay."
This is hateful? These people, when they cross, essentially tell us that they don't care about the rule of law in the US... Mexico is filled with corruption, so maybe these people don't know any different, but the theory is that we are a nation governed by laws...
However, when someone advocates ENFORCEMENT of said laws, against the illegal immigrant, he is considered hateful and or a racist..
Well, I have two words.. WAKE UP! there are more illegal immigrants out there besides Mexicans! there are illegals from Russia, China, South Africa, and a host of other places... Before you spout off that someone is doing something because of hate, lets check the facts first!
Ciao, CZ
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steve scheetz (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 509 comments)
on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 8:25:58 AM
Funny thing is, if we were talking about granting amnesty to arabs... (and here's where the term 'illegal aliens' should be taken to mean blanket coverage of all races and nationalities entering our country 'illegally' or remaining after visas expire etc), how many of these same people would pipe up about that being wrong? Seems to me the playing of the 'hate' card is employed only to put the opposition on defensive as long as it serves their need...
but we all know the 'fear' card beats anything on the table...
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C.Bid (0 articles, 7 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 647 comments)
on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 9:09:38 AM
