Earlier this week, the United States celebrated MLK Day. For the last quarter-century, we've marked this occasion with tributes and speeches that restate ideals that shouldn't need to be restated. I'm talking about the basics: shunning bigotry, treating individuals of different backgrounds with respect, judging people by the content of their character, and so on. We really should have these concepts down by now, but we don't.
In any case, Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy is framed within the context of civil rights. Indeed, the phrase "civil rights movement" is practically trademarked to refer to the quest of African Americans in the 1960s to gain the privileges promised to them in the U.S. Constitution.
However, many social movements of the last few decades have attempted to appropriate this term as their own. Among the latest to claim the power of the civil rights movement are those who advocate for immigration reform.
Certainly, there are parallels. Like blacks in the 1960s, undocumented immigrants are on the bottom rung, socioeconomically, and are constantly demonized for society's ills. They too live in a state of perpetual fear that the state will clamp down on them, often for little cause.
These parallels haven't prevented many Americans from adopting a "deport 'em all" attitude. Let's not rehash all the reasons why this is not practical and isn't going to happen any time soon.
Assuming that one is in favor of immigration reform, then, is it accurate to call the struggles of illegal immigrants a new version of the civil rights movement? More important, is it actually offensive to make the comparison?
As Esther J. Cepeda of the Seattle Times points out, MLK and other participants of the original civil rights movement were citizens of the United States of America, and they fought for the fundamental rights that this citizenship guaranteed. Undocumented immigrants, by their very definition, are not assured these rights. Furthermore, although the struggles of illegal immigrants are substantial, "there's really no equivalent to the suffering that African Americans had to overcome."
Cepeda advises proponents of immigration reform to drop the allusions to Rosa Parks and bus boycotts. She claims, rightfully I believe, that such terminology only annoys people.
Roberto Suro of the Washington Post goes even farther. He wonders if illegal immigrants should end their drive for civil rights altogether. Suro asks if the undocumented would be willing to "settle for a legal life here without citizenship?" pointing out that "it would be a huge improvement over being here illegally."
Suro floats the idea of illegal immigrants paying a tax to live and work in America, without threat of deportation. But neither would they be allowed the full benefits of citizenship. Creating this subcategory of residents would, as Suro admits, come at a "cost to the nation's political soul of having a population deliberately excluded from the democratic process."
But is that the way to go? Is this the best that the undocumented or immigration-reform advocates can hope for?
Clearly, the very fact that baby steps such as the Dream Act get shot down is proof that immigration reform is not resonating with Americans. We just don't see it as a civil rights issue in this country.
I wonder if Martin Luther King Jr. would view it in the same manner.
Or to put it another way: Who would MLK deport?
After the US imprisoned people in Guantanamo Bay without access to an attorney or judge, we know the extent our government is willing to go to oppress others.
When the opposition is "offended" by parallels, they represent a class of selfish people who have theirs and don't want others to have anything.
Every right minded person must protest the injustice immigrants live under, no matter their race. http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/breaking-colorado-introduces-arizona-sb-1070/
"Clearly, the very fact that baby steps such as the Dream Act get shot down is proof that immigration reform is not resonating with Americans. We just don't see it as a civil rights issue in this country."
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NO
Congress will have to step forward and start to work on fixing the immigration system. It is not only about illegal immigrants but legal immigrants, business, economy, border security and lots more.
There are more people on the outside of America than on the inside, what if they all want in? They have their own country and choose to flee it. I'am sure there is a Mexican who is willing to do your job for half the price.
America is soft on this issue and illegals come here feel as thou they are US citizens entitled to all the rights of a citizen. If i were from another country i would come here too because i know the government won't do anything to stop me and once i'am here i can live and work as a American. Sent my kids to school get free health care and send money back home. Some cities it's against the law to ask me if i'am illegal.
America's own laws will be the death of it.
"2 girls undermine entire US border strategy in less than 18 seconds"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHjKBjM1ngw
Deporting 11M good people is impractical; they support our economy. And it's expensive. Their departure will cause foreclosure rates to soar even higher. Most live in "survival mode" emotionally & economically. Fear is constant. Yet "family values" flourish as they have more 2 parent families than citizens.
1) Support high school graduates brought here as children - enact a DREAM Act & create a PATH to citizenship (citizenship is NOT automatic). No fines (they didn't have capacity as children.) Charge in-state tuition. Limit the number of people they can sponsor WHEN they achieve citizenship to say 10 people.
2) Issue temporary stay documents to Parents/Siblings of DREAM Act participants who want it. (That's not amnesty or a path to citizenship.) Set fines, to pay, over time (keep college expenses in mind).
They can't vote or collect Social Security as they aren't citizens.
These folks must be doing something right; many natural born citizens can't get their kids to graduate high school.
Those with a financial agenda are creating the hysteria. Secure our Borders. Focus on violent/serious crimes.
Then, they have chosen on their own, to break U.S. Immigration Laws ~
8 U.S.C. § 1302 : US Code - Section 1302: Registration of aliens
http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/uscode/8/12/II/VII/1302
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Children of illegals should ask their parents why they gambled with their future? It was along shot and there was never any guarantee. They are now tryingto make ot somehow there should be?
Giving documents to relatives of Dreamers is useless and impractical. We are hardly able to control things now so what difference would a piece of paper make? If we had biometric ID's in place and actually had teh collective will to enforce our laws - then we would not be in this mess to start with.
I know of many who do collect Social security benefits using fake ID and SSN's so they can collect benefits and could absolutely vote if they wanted to - and I believe many have. One of the things they ask you in your naturalization interview is if you have ever voted. Why would they ask if it was not possible??!!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/19/welfare-tab-children-illegal-immigrants-estimated-m-la-county/?test=latestnews
For example, try out-sourcing the construction of buildings to China. Buildings are really hard to air or ocean ship once they are built. Imagine shipping a fourteen story apartment building by boat, driving it through the streets to its destination, and lifting it into place, basement and all. Or try harvesting American crops, mining American ore, preparing American food, cleaning American buildings, or moving goods in America with workers living in China or India or even Mexico. It cannot be done. The Worker’s arms are not long enough to reach across our borders and do the jobs.
These jobs by their very definition are and always will be American Jobs. If Americans are not doing them it is because wages have been driven into the cellar by the exploitation that is illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is purely and simply replacing USA Workers on USA soil doing jobs that can NEVER be exported somewhere else via outsourcing. No civil rights issue is more important than protecting an American’s right to work without fear of being replaced by Illegal Workers ON THEIR OWN SOIL.
F & F
Who cares? He's dead. He no longer has a say in the matter. The relevant statement is here: "immigration reform is not resonating with Americans. We just don't see it as a civil rights issue in this country."
That's your answer. The federal government should heed it and ensure that policy and laws flow accordingly. If they would just do so, much of the anger surrounding this issue (on both the left and the right!) would be diffused.
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the Dream Act was not a baby step... It provided benefits of at least Seven Billion dollars of taxpayer money for a group of illegal aliens whom, it was presumed, were faultless because their guardians did it to them.
WHAT EVER THE CASE... the people you want to talk to about compensation would be the people who did it to you... not the American Taxpayer.
FURTHER.... back in the day when all these people came in to the United States illegally, the issue of the American Immigration Law was discussed in every single house and bar in Mexico. There wasn't a soul alive who didn't know what was happening with out law.. and there is NO excuse for the conduct.
But is it a civil rights movement? Not even close.
The country is on the skids and we do not need more unskilled labor, let alone more competition for the lower eschelons of our own people! Thereafter if there is a case to be made for bringing in either seasonal migrants or legal imigrants - it should be done in a regulated manner on the basis of what is good for the country - not a bunch of people doing only what is good for them!