Since at least 1996, immigrant communities have been struggling to be recognized for our contributions to this nation through real and meaningful changes in immigration law. It was in 1996 that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) was passed. The law established a framework underpinned by a view of immigrants as a problem, a burden and a threat.
Known all too well by immigrant communities, yet virtually unknown to the general public, IIRIRA closed-off many avenues to U.S. citizenship; created many new bars to access to permanent residency visas; retroactively reclassified minor offenses to the law into aggravated crimes; restricted public benefits to immigrants who are legal permanent residents; bolstered enforcement; and eroded due process for immigrants in detention centers and deportation proceedings. IIRIRA basically established the legal framework that has been in place over the past 15 years and which all sides of the political spectrum claim is “broken” and needs fixing. Given our numbers, Latino and Caribbean immigrant communities have been the primary victims of these changes in the law.
Since 1996, immigrant communities have been losing serious ground as the political space has been filled by a small but loud and influential chorus of anti-immigrant voices who have successfully sowed fear and hatred, making it virtually impossible to fix anything in IIRIRA, let alone entertain more visionary changes that will bring U.S. immigration policy in synch with 21st century realities of a more interconnected and “globalized” world. Recent efforts in 2006 and 2007 to enact what has come to be known as “comprehensive immigration reform” have failed; and while Senators Schumer (D-NY) and Graham (R-SC) recently unveiled a “framework” for comprehensive immigration reform that ostensibly would be presented in the Senate in an unforeseeable future, the truth is that we do not have the political conditions for any kind of immigration reform to take place any time soon, let alone one that truly transforms the brokenness of the system that IIRIRA established. The politics of mid-term elections will dictate conservative behavior on the part of incumbents running for re-election as well as political posturing to convince certain voting blocks, like Latinos, that they are doing what they can to deliver on promises, such as immigration reform, without actually doing much about it.
What is at the heart of the contentiousness regarding immigration reform? Why is it such a “hot potato” few elected officials are willing to touch? A recent posting in the Opportunity Agenda’s web site correctly points the finger to the dominant narrative regarding immigrants that has taken hold of minds and hearts in the U.S. Indeed, it is clear that not only is IIRIRA premised on a particular story about who we are as immigrants, but that the current political discourse continues to reinforce and even embellish the same story as well.
What is this story? According to The Opportunity Agenda, the anti-immigrant movement basically says that immigrants violate the law and that we overwhelm scarce resources. Unfortunately, The Opportunity Agenda’s analysis does not go deeply enough to the real heart of the matter. It is not surprising, then, that their “alternative” narrative is not doing much to detoxify the political climate surrounding immigrants and by extension to truly create favorable conditions for changes that will fix our broken immigration system.
What is missing from The Opportunity Agenda’s analysis is how at the core of the anti-immigrant narrative is the systematic dehumanization to which immigrant communities have been subjected over the past two decades. This dehumanization is encapsulated in pejoratives such as “illegal” and “criminal aliens.” This kind of “otherness” is necessary to scapegoat a group of people in order to protect the status quo and advance a particular agenda. Dehumanizing and “othering” to serve the interests of political and economic elites and justify gross human rights abuses has historic precedents. A few of these examples are slavery and the Holocaust.
Despite the fact that clearly no human being is “legal” or “illegal” since only things and actions can be labeled as such, immigrants who cross the border without inspection or overstay a visa continue to be subjected to these terms without critical awareness from most of society of how wrong and immoral such terminology is. There is hardly any consciousness of what such terminology does to our psyches, both immigrants’ and native born; for, what is one to do with “illegals”? This is how we become desensitized and may turn a blind eye when immigrants die in detention centers for lack of medical care, or suckling babies are wrest from their mothers, or children come home from school to find their parents are no longer there or witness the actual apprehension of their parents in the middle of the night by immigration officials and the police departments that collaborate with them. Moreover, to ease our collective conscience, there is a law that justifies these actions against human beings. Never mind that the law itself is broken. Never mind that laws should serve and protect people and bring about equity and justice. Never mind that we have examples of bad and immoral laws, such as slavery, that eventually must be abolished.
More worrisome is that the “illegal” framework has become so entrenched in our collective mind that even well-meaning people seem to have internalized it as well. For example, advocates in the beltway readily adopted the term “legalization” to get around the problematic term “amnesty” without realizing that such a term plays into the “illegal” framework , for how can we “legalize” human beings, given that no human being is Illegal? Another example is when they advocate for a “legalization” program so that undocumented immigrants can get “right by the law.” Clearly, these examples do nothing to tear down and expose the dominant narrative of immigrants as “illegals”.
The Opportunity Agenda is promoting an alternative narrative focused on three elements: workable solutions, upholding our values as a nation; and moving forward together. This is a good start, but again, it is not sufficient because it does not address the “othering” and dehumanization of immigrants. It does not challenge the grossly incorrect and immoral story that the anti-immigrant movement tells about who we are. Further, a “workable solution” is too vague and is open to interpretations that may not be in the end “workable” for immigrant communities, particularly if the “Illegal” vision continues to hold sway.
Latino and Caribbean immigrants believe that it is urgent to challenge the lies and distortions that are said about us. We believe it is urgent to challenge the abstractions that do not allow people to connect with our essential human nature and what we really mean to this county. We believe it is urgent to shed light on our truth and reclaim our humanity. We have an important story to tell of our courage and perseverance in embarking on perilous journeys so that we and our families have a shot at a future. We have an important story to tell of our sweat and tears as we forge a new life in this country and contribute to its economic wealth while we suffer years of separation from loved ones and often exploitative working conditions. We have an important story to tell of how our diverse and multicultural roots enrich the tapestry of this country. The day people wake up from the abstraction of the term “illegal”, they will connect with our essential human nature. That day, we will no longer be feared or hated, for people will see themselves in us. Until that day arrives, we will continue our struggle for changes in immigration laws that truly reflect who WE ARE.
