Immigration Issues

I was just listening to a discussion of the New York driver's license initiative of governor Eliot Spitzer. According to Ed Schultz, a new poll shows over 70% of Democrats are opposed to it. I would guess that the Republican opposition would be well over that since they don't have many of us "Bleeding Heart Liberals."

To be honest the illegal immigration problem has me confused. It encompasses several several sub-issues and concerns.

Except in extremis, it seems to me that people ought to obey the law and shouldn't expect a "pass" when they don't. People who enter the country illegally ought not expect the benefits of the rights of citizens. (Please note that I cannot bring myself to call them "illegal aliens". They do not come from another planet. They are brothers and sisters on this earth and must be seen as immigrants, not aliens. But they are in this country illegally, and they are immigrants.)

Should they be able to get a license to drive? On the one hand, it would provide a handle on their presence and could be used to enforce some minimal standards of driving ability. On the other, it seems to legitimatize their illegal behavior in crossing the border illegally.

Deny it if we like, but illegal immigrants do take jobs that citizens would have. Yes, they are onerous jobs, stoop labor in the fields, house cleaning, grunt work in construction and similar work. But citizens would take those jobs if they were adequately paid for it and provided the benefits appropriately. It undermines the power of the labor force to press for fair compensation when illegal immigrants take these jobs for less.

Illegal immigration does put strains on our social services. Generally, the undocumented immigrants do pay some taxes, but figures don't add up. On the other hand, I certainly do not want to deny medical care to children. Even for purely selfish reasons, I certainly don't want people walking around with infectious diseases and no treatment. But more than that, I cannot, morally, allow our nation to deny health care. Immigrant children, again for moral reasons as well as practical ones, have to be educated and provided other social services. The alternate is to build more prisons, and we are already overbuilding.

Then there's the other side--well a couple other sides--well several other sides. That's why this is such a hard problem. Illegal immigrants only take jobs if employers are willing to hire them. Unfortunately many are. They are the real criminals. The poor worker is just trying to survive and maybe send a little back to help his family. The corporation that fails to check the documentation of those whom they hire is guilty of violating the law at least as much as the person who crosses the border illegally. And has less excuse for doing so.

A legitimate question needs asking. Why does Mexican poverty continued to be so great that people will make the perilous trek to the border and the even more dangerous crossing, to live a precarious shadow existence in the U.S.? I was told that NAFTA would improve the lot of both American and Mexican workers. (Of course, I realize that Mexicans are also "Americans" but we call ourselves Americans and Mexicans call themselves Mexicans, not Americans. So let's leave the linguistics for another day.)

Of course there are many reasons. Mexico has long been ruled by a single party, the PRI, which was corrupt and ruled by buying support. In order to avoid real reform, the PAN party, a pseudo-reformist party was created by some of the PRI members. The "mordida" (bribe) became a way of life. It would be incorrect to place the entire blame elsewhere, but the U.S. government had a continued presence of support for the ruling PRI and now the PAN and the wealthy elite of Mexico. This isn't any different from our national activity in regard to other Latin American nations. But Mexico's proximity has led to a more intense version. The US has invaded Mexico both in 1846-48 and again in 1917.

In recent years, manipulation of the Mexican economy has assumed even more gigantic dimensions. NAFTA has only been the latest problem for Mexico. While NAFTA has made possible the macquiladora factories which employ many along the border. It has also meant that heavily subsidized US corn can undersell Mexican home-grown corn, thus putting Mexican farmers out of business. Even for those employed by the factories, many are poorly paid and treated, and many young children are exploited in this. These and other examples of US influence has driven down incomes in Mexico, especially in rural areas.

I do recognize the plight of Mexican and other Latin American impoverished peoples, I am also aware that the illegal immigrants create problems. Open borders, at this time, simply do not work. The truth is that both the illegal immigrants and the working people of the United States are victims of the financial and class elites. It is the large corporations who impede real immigration reform. The elite classes exploit both groups and strive to turn each against the other. It is similar to what has been done with poor whites and poor blacks.

Then there is my Christian faith. The Hebrew bible (Often called the Old Testament.)in many passages calls upon us to treat kindly, the foreigner who is within our gates, the orphans, the poor and the stranger with kindness and righteous compassion. In the Christian New Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 25), Jesus tells us that the sheep (the righteous) and the goats will be divided exactly by how they treat those in need.

So here I am. How do I resolve this dilemma about immigration reform? How can the immigrants be treated with justice and righteousness without damaging the working people of this country? How do we promote respect for law in the face of the illegal immigration--but also in the face of the illegality of the elites. (If you don't understand the latter, it will have to wait for a future post.)

Whatever the shape of change, it must not be punitive for those who cross the border in order to survive and help their families survive. It must account for the welfare of children and adults of the poor, the working class--and the middle class--among both immigrants and citizens of the US. But it must also address our economic relationship with Mexico and Central America.