Under Bush, immigrant communities lived in a constant state of fear "
terrorized by "Homeland Security agents arresting anyone who appeared Latino
and lacked ID. Families were separated, children left orphaned,
property abandoned, and long-lasting relationships severed.
This scenario " highly reminiscent of the NAZI Gestapo " has changed only
slightly under Obama. Some say for the worse. Obama's campaign promise of
undoing Bush's immigration strategy was, like nearly every other promise he's
made, a blatant lie. Instead, he's adopted the "enforcement first
immigration approach -- the style of John McCain
The Obama Administration is taking immigration policies
created under Bush and expanding them, much like he's done with Bush's war
policies, bank bailouts, civil right restrictions (the Patriot Act, torture,
unlimited/unchallengeable imprisonment, etc.).
Obama's head of Homeland
Security, Janet Napolitano, admits: "We are expanding
enforcement, but I think in the right way. In this case the "right way
is Bush's way, though modified for public consumption.
While ending the large, media-attracting factory raids that Bush endorsed,
Obama is intensifying "a shift in federal law enforcement that began under George W. Bush and
now has taken a particularly callous turn under President Obama. (Los Angles Times, Oct 3, 2009). The Los Angles Times refers specifically to the recent firing of 1,800 mostly immigrant
workers in Los Angeles, who
suffered the same fate as thousands of others around the country victimized by
the Obama administration.
Companies that are suspected of hiring immigrants are targeted and closely
monitored, "but instead of concluding with a raid, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
simply compels the employers to fire anybody whose papers aren't in order under
pain of ruinous civil
penalties. The Los Angles Times concluded, "the most
appalling aspect of the Obama administration's wretched conduct of this affair
is its studied indifference to the fate of the men and women it has thrown out
of work.
Well said.
When immigrants are fired from their jobs, they receive no unemployment insurance.
Thus, the heavy burden of being jobless during a severe recession is
multiplied, and families who've lived in the U.S. for years
suffer terribly. Obama's merciless attitude to immigrants was displayed
nationally when he proudly declared that, under his health care plan, "illegal immigrants will
not qualify. When asked later about the health care of immigrant
children, Obama seemed to show a moment of compassion. Exceptions may be
granted, he said, "partly because if you've got children who may be here
illegally but are still in playgrounds or at schools, and potentially are
passing on illnesses and communicable diseases, that aren't getting vaccinated,
that I think is a situation where you may have to make an
exception." The President is astonishingly clear: caring for the
basic well-being of immigrants or their children is of zero concern.
This coldness is reflected in all aspects of Obama's immigration approach "
programs born from the Bush
administration. The
New York Times explains:
"Ms. Napolitano has expanded a program that runs immigration checks on every
person booked into local jails in some cities. And she recently announced the
expansion of another program "that allows for cooperation between federal
immigration agents and state and local police agencies. (Oct. 18, 2009).
The first policy means that any immigrant that lands in jail for whatever
reason faces potential deportation. And although the law was created by
Bush to deal with immigrants who committed "serious crimes, Latino communities
have long known this claim to be a fraud. Officers instead arrest
immigrants on minor or manufactured charges and alter their lives
forever.
The second mentioned program will greatly increase these injustices. Before
Bush, immigration
laws were enforced by the nationally-run immigration department,
with the rationale being that local police were meant to protect and serve
communities. Now, local police are being enlisted to hunt down immigrants, most
of whom are no danger to anybody and productive members of their communities.
The dangerous result is that immigrant and Latino families will be pushed
further into society's shadows: they will be less willing to call police if
they witness or fall victim to serious crimes, suffer from domestic violence,
or are victims of hate crimes.
If they are not paid by their employer " a very regular occurrence " no one
will be held accountable.
These types of crimes will be greatly encouraged with Obama's new policy,
alongside another form of abuse. Many Latino communities have become
familiar with police picking up suspected immigrants off the street and sending
them to deportation facilities " with no crime committed. Knowing that these racial profiling
abuses would likely increase with local police becoming immigration enforcers,
the Obama Administration gave lip-service to the increased "oversight of the
expanded policy, but little action is likely to follow, and civil rights violations
will almost certainly increase.
Another Bush policy being expanded under Obama is the controversial E-verify system,
which gives governmental access to employers' employment records, with the
intention of verifying the legitimate documents of employees. Aside from
the above-mentioned hardships this is already creating for thousands of
families, the system is accused of being highly dysfunctional and error-ridden,
like its predecessor the "no match" letter.
"No match" letters were mailed to workers and employers alike to
notify them that a worker's social security number didn't match " implying that
the worker was using a fake number to gain employment. The "no
match" system was recently scrapped, likely due to the enormous errors
being committed and consequent outcry (this writer can personally attest that
the system was flawed, since my Caucasian, Indiana-born domestic partner had such a letter
addressed to her).
These policies of Obama's represent a drastic swerving to the right over
immigration. But he's just following the Democratic Party line, itself becoming
hysterically anti-immigrant. High ranking Democrat Charles Schumer is leading the
Democrat offensive, helping create a highly punitive "immigration reform bill
that includes Bush-era border militarization.
So far, this bill consists only of "general principles" -- polices
agreed upon to appease the section of big business that benefits from immigrant
labor. Highly skilled immigrants will be favored, lower skilled deported; some
immigrants will be allowed to stay and work, while others are hunted down like
animals. This divide and conquer strategy has already won over some
immigrant and labor groups, who wrongly view the bill as "a step in the right
direction. The
Democrats have spoken at length about their immigration
philosophy; they want to provide corporations with sufficient cheap labor while
demonizing "undesirable immigrants.
Why the right turn? Since having taken power of both Congress and the
Presidency, the Democrats have proven to be a very proficient tool for the
corporate elite, following much of the same polices created by Bush.
The enormous public anger over these policies creates in the Democrats an
urgent need for distraction. Rather than focus on the super-rich that are
profiting from the recession and the politicians feeding them trillions in tax
dollars, the Democrats would rather have our scorn funneled toward society's
most vulnerable population.
Always left out in the immigration discussion is why immigrants enter the U.S. at
all. U.S.
corporate-controlled foreign policy " under NAFTA and CAFTA " forced cheaply produced U.S. goods into
the markets of poor countries to the south. Impoverished farmers and
others were forced out of their country (where they would rather have stayed)
to feed themselves and their families. U.S. corporations
took further advantage of the situation by paying slave wages across the border
and by paying immigrants in the U.S.
below-poverty wages with no benefits. Speaking out against these injustices
equals deportation.
Consequently, wages for both U.S. and Latin
American workers are lowered by this divide and conquer tactic. Scapegoating
immigrants is absolutely crucial to this strategy working.
Therefore, the only progressive solution to immigration is to unite all workers
against the planned corporate offensive: CAFTA and NAFTA must be eliminated,
and all workers in the U.S. must be
given not only equal rights, but a livable wage. To achieve this, unions
must fight harder to organize not only immigrants, but the millions of other
workers who have little or no rights on the job. By doing so, corporations
will be unable to exploit any worker so as to lower the wages of all
workers. These lofty goals would be easier to accomplish if immigrant and
labor groups diverted their energy and resources away from the Democratic Party, so
that they could be used instead for real social change. that Obama once mocked.