Weekly Immigration Wire: White House Meeting a First Step to Reform

by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

After postponing twice, President Obama finally met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on June 25 to discuss moving immigration reform legislation forward. The meeting was applauded by activists and advocates for immigration reform, as the issue seemed to have stalled, and the acrimonious tone of the debate has proven deadly.

All parties emerged from the meeting with positive feelings about the prospect for progress, as I heard on last Friday's White House debriefing conference call. A confluence of positive factors are contributing to the momentum: Major labor leaders are united for reform, Democrats are leading much of Washington, and voters in the U.S. clearly want to see reform passed. President Obama made his intention to pass reform very clear and the White House predicts the process will begin late this year or early 2010.

New America Media calls the meeting a hopeful beginning, but makes it clear that nothing is guaranteed this year--despite the pressing need. And we can't wait too long for reform to begin. 2010 is the beginning of the 2012 Presidential election cycle and the issue could be "too easily politicized" at that time.

Wiretap Mag's M. Junaid Levesque-Alam writes that, while Obama complimented Senator John McCain for taking risks, he seemed averse to boldly stating what he hoped to see or would stand behind; that "nothing [Obama] said indicated significant political movement" on the issue. But, Levesque-Alam hypothesizes that Obama's caution is related to tension caused by "core contradictions not simply between but within the political parties." The immigration issue is contentious, even among members of the same party.

GritTV and The Nation teamed up to present a panel asking Is Immigration Reform Dead or Alive? (video). The panelists discuss a potential future in which immigration reform does not pass. Their predictions make a grim scene, centered around the horrors of a growing detention industry. Children are incarcerated in these facilities. Over 90 people have died in detention and they are damaging families. Guest Ravi Ragbir, now a member of Families for Freedom, spent two years in a detention center. Ragbir's young daughter was so disturbed by the sight of her father in shackles that Ragbir requested she no longer visit while he was detained.

A Truthdig article titled America's ICE Backwards Approach to Immigration details the broken legal system that further clouds the immigration process. Over 200,000 immigration cases are backlogged and the number of government attorneys who argue for deportation has risen by 35%, stressing the court system accordingly. Add a declining number of judges and a sharp increase in the number of border guards and the result is a setting where "the equivalent of death penalty cases" are heard "in a traffic court setting," according to Judge Dana Leigh Marks, the president of the National Association of Immigration Judges.

New America Media also explores the results of a study that finds a low rate of crimes are committed by the undocumented, which is a stark contrast to the accusations of right-wing pundits. The undocumented population in Utah grew from 70,000 to 110,000 in the last four years, according to a new study released by the Sutherland Instituate, but the number of incarcerated undocumented increased by only 28. That's 28 people, not percent. In fact, the crime rate for undocumented immigrants in Utah is only 3.9% and dropping.

Finally, RaceWire's Michelle Chen reports on the impact of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on Mexican Americans who want to deliver children using a midwife. The Initiative, which went into effect yesterday, "requires Americans passing across the Canadian and Mexican borders to have a valid U.S. passport or passport card." Previously, only a valid driver's license was required. This is yet another policy that refuses to recognize the long pattern of movement over the border area, and is culturally antagonistic to Mexican Americans.

Law indicates humankind's attempt to be just; it is an extension of a civilization's morality. Immigration reform must come soon; it is a moral duty. It must pass not just for the benefit of the undocumented community, but so we can live up to our national ideals, and also, to decisively stave off a destructive energy made possible by the lack of humane law.

This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration. Visit Immigration.NewsLadder.net for a complete list of articles on immigration, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy and health issues, check out Economy.NewsLadder.net and Healthcare.NewsLadder.net. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of 50 leading independent media outlets, and was created by NewsLadder.

Comments

[Norski]

The heart of our current immigration system was designed by that Liberal Lion Teddy Kennedy. It is geared to let in Immigrants in a way that does not exceed our ability in the USA to create jobs. I know because I have worked with it. Just because the system does not let in everyone who wants to come in does not mean that the system is broken. In fact, recent studies on Legal Immigrants show that the current system is amazingly successful at not creating unemployment due to excessive immigration. So is it morally wrong to try to stop Illegal Immigration because Illegal Immigrants bypass this system and threaten the whole employment picture? Or is it morally wrong to stop people from having their way in violation of the law even when it threatens the well-being of the group? Letting people immigrate at will regardless of whether they use legal channels or not is in many ways comparable to turning a blind eye to pollution. Overstaying a visa and polluting are both violations of Civil Law. Both are of benefit to the person who does it. Yet both cause harm to the community that has to put up with the effects. Too much pollution means health problems. Too much illegal immigration means unemployment problems. So where is the morality in Illegal Immigration?

[lemonsparrow]

The idea that immigrants are responsible for environmental degradation is absurd. It's just absurd. How many immigrants do you know that are purchasing Hummers, or buying McMansions in new developments that encroach on wildlife? We are all responsible for environmental degradation-- and if anything, immigrants consume fewer resources than most Americans.

I believe that the author was arguing that we should introduce a level of morality on par with the facts of immigration. More people enter the United States than our archaic immigration laws can handle. They live in the shadows, and have to turn to emergency health care rather than less expensive preventative care. They are unable to contribute to American society to the full extent of their capabilities.

Even setting morality aside, immigration reform just makes sense. Immigration is not going away. We need to start addressing it in practical ways that are consistent with American values and move us all forward together.

[Norski]

I see that you have consumed the same cool-aid that has let many supposed Environmentalists numb themselves to the effects of Illegal Immigration on our green space. I have a news flash for you - even the Sierra Club and other main line environmental organizations now admit that about 50% of our urban sprawl is due PURELY to population growth.

There are just some facts that cannot be ignored. Like the fact that it currently takes one square Kilometer of farmland to feed 125 people. If Illegal Immigrants in the USA are only residing in cities then at average city population densities their shear numbers (12 million) have sprawled over farmland that used to feed as many as 2 million people. That farmland is now gone forever. That includes the new roads, supermarkets, power lines, and other infrastructure needed to accommodate the added population.

Hummers? Too many people cannot see past the "Global Warming" scare far enough to see environmentalism is really about carrying capacity. If our cities were not to encroach on another single acre of farmland the USA could sill only carry 554 million people because of the nature of our farmland. Once we hit that number we become a net food importer. Since the USA is one of only a handful of net food exporters in the world we then face a big problem. Where do we get the extra food from? You think being dependant on foreign oil is bad, try being dependant on foreign food.

[Norski]

According to this article "Law indicates humankind's attempt to be just; it is an extension of a civilization's morality. Immigration reform must come soon; it is a moral duty."

Wow! The entire World must be a cesspool of immorality and injustice! Compared to the vast majority of countries in the World the USA has very lax, non-punitive immigration law. What other country let 12 million people illegally enter and done little more than try to "encourage" them to go home with a few high-profile workplace raids?

What happened to America's moral duty to protect our green spaces from the depredations of a growing population? Where are those who saw "Silent Running" or "Soylent Green" as a glimpse of our future if we did not put limits on immigration and population growth? Apparently "morality" is no longer immutable. Instead, “morality" is defined as want makes a person happy and "immorality" is what makes a person unhappy.

As we watch the incessant destruction of our green space by Developers on the alter of creating infrastructure to support an ever growing number of people who have no legal right to reside in the USA, does the unhappiness many suffer make the actions of those who illegally reside in the USA and their supporters immoral? Does not then enforcement of Immigration Law become the moral choice? Or is it tough luck wild animals, farms, and parks, it’s make room for people time? I think they used to call that environmental destruction.