If Congress wanted to attract attention to border/immigration issues, then mission accomplished.
There's no way that the Sensenbrenner-King bill will be passed, if not only for the concern that it would cost too much money to construct a potentially ineffective border wall. The Governor of Arizona, Janet Napolitano, said that if "you show me a thirty foot wall, and I'll show you a thirty-one foot ladder."
Some Mexicans, however, say that the wall would be a great thing—tongue in cheek—because they would be the ones building it.
The Sensenbrenner-King bill comes from what has become the pervasive, perhaps isolationist mindset of “enforcement first”—in other words, pump more money into security measures without regard to the effectiveness of such measures. Enlist more agents, employ more unmanned drones, place more sensors, and invest in other technological measures, like surveillance towers. Go ahead and do it. See what happens.
The Sensenbrenner-King bill, however, does not discuss some of the alternatives currently discussed under the rhetoric of “comprehensive immigration reform:
Guestworker programs. establish a program with pathways toward earned citizenship. Any program without possibility for naturalization creates a permanent working class with little to no opportunity for advancement and opens up other opportunities for human rights abuses.
In basic terms, employers can treat workers like garbage because they're sticking around only as long as the employers let them. Faced with the choice to suck it up or be deported, what would you do?
For those concerned about cultural integration and assimilation, what is the incentive for undocumented residents to integrate/assimilate if they're going to get the boot from the country in a few months’ or years’ time?
Increase the amount of visas. Make undocumented immigration documented immigration. Releasing 200,000 visas for 11,000,000 undocumented workers poses some obvious difficulties, does it not?
Businesses, take some responsibility: if you hire undocumented workers, either be an advocate for them or cut them off the payroll. Take a stand. Don't just further obscure what many already call a "shadow society".
The Sensenbrenner-King bill is a farce of a law, but a dangerous one. Even farces tell truths. Given the current climate around undocumented immigration in the United States, many pro-immigrant advocates have argued that they don’t want to see a bill passed this year. If it doesn’t happen soon, however, I don’t know when it will. Immigrants shouldn’t have to stay in the shadows.
1 comment:
Ryan--
This is quite a project. Reading your posts suggests that you are not just doing 'oral history' but rather advocating a preconceived point of view.
I told you I dislike the assertion that some 'journalists' make, namely that they are 'fair' and take all points of view into account. Your blogs clarify your biases, as does the makeup of your 'committee', and [as I suggested] your choice of interviewees.
I have enjoyed our conversations, slightly heated tho they may have been.
The statistics you cite in this post can indeed be used to confirm the observation that
'humanitarian' aid is actually resulting in more deaths. Of course that's not the only possible interpretation. There is obviously great good being done for those who are saved. But it is the obligation of those who advocate and implement the current 'humanitarian' techniques to consier whether there are other, unintended consequences. There should be an open mind on both points, and it would be appreciated if the advocates of these activities would similarly grant the possibility that they are causing, not preventing, an increase in the deaths in the desert.
PS. I have a couple of bicycles at the shop, and they may not need much overhaul. I assume you have that kind of mechanical capability! Take one for the asking!
Chuck Josephson
The Print Well
Tucson
chuckandjoan@msn.com
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