The case for a strong and vibrant Pro Migrant blogosphere.

Two years ago, after the failure to pass meaningful immigration reform, there was much introspection and examination within the immigrants-rights community about exactly what went wrong. Many lessons needed to be learned and much restructuring done.

I had this to say at that time:

I believe the last round of negotiations on Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), the so-called "Grand Compromise", provided a huge wake-up call for the immigrant-rights community. We found out just how badly the right-wing had out flanked us both in Washington and in the media and that any hope for meaningful CIR was now in the distant future.

Crafted in hopes to find a "sweet spot" that would calm the far-right, give business interests what they wanted, and appease those concerned with immigrant rights, the Compromise ended up to be nothing more than a gumbo of concessions to business and the restrictionst wing of the Republican party.

Despite the fact that a majority of Americans believe that the immigration system is severely broken and that those who have come here improperly deserve to be given the opportunity to stay and continue leading productive lives, a vocal and influential minority within the Republican Party managed to hold CIR hostage. They garnered concession after concession until the bill presented was an unworkable mess of restrictions, punishments and business concessions. All these concessions made in a vane attempt to appease this minority so that they would allow the "amnesty" that the vast majority of the American people want anyway.

As has happened time and again, when the closed doors were finally opened, and the super-secret compromise legislation revealed, many in the immigrant-rights community decided to play it safe with a "wait and see" strategy before endorsing or opposing the bill. This, in the hope that they might "work to make it better" through the amendment process.

And just as in the past, the amendment process was not meant for them, but rather those demanding greater and greater restrictions, and in the end, the bill received tepid support from a few organizations and outright opposition from others, and was killed.

Yet, this didn't stop the far-right for taking sole credit for its demise.

Lou Dobbs crowed about how "we the people have stopped the illegal alien amnesty bill", restrictionist Republicans gloated over the bill's failure, and Rush thanked his listeners for killing "shamnesty".

Yet, even though the bill was a train wreck from the start and probably never had any real chance of passing despite all the bravado from the Whitehouse, the grassroots campaign launched by the restrictionist movement was impressive to say the least. Over 700K e-mails and faxes flooded the Capitol in opposition to the legislation.

An effort like this is only possible because the ant-immigrant movement has a firm grip on much of the traditional and emerging new media.

Along with their legion of talk radio propagandists, they have Lou Dobbs' daily hour long cavalcade of hate on CNN, Pat Buchanan posturing as NBC's resident immigration expert, and a full roster of immigrant bashers occupying the seats over at FOX News to dominate the traditional media.

On the Web the ant-immigration movement is broad and far-reaching also.

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and its affiliate organizations, The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and Numbers USA dominate. CIS, through its "studies and research", and Numbers USA, through their legislative "analysis," provide talking points and misinformation spread throughout the web and the main stream media. Numbers USA alone has a membership of 447,000 and played a large roll in orchestrating the restrictionist grassroots effort last spring. This web presence is magnified by the hundreds of blogs and other web sites that take their cues from FAIR and the other more traditional lobbying efforts.

So where does that leave the immigrant-rights movement?

... We have no true counter to this restrictionist effort.

In the traditional media, print journalism does manage to get to the truth sometimes, and there is the occasional positive piece on TV. On the web there is a disjointed community of web sites and blogs trying to reach an audience, but in general nothing comes close to the coordinated effort put on by the right.

In my last post I discussed the lack of a coordinated message and unified goals as one chief stumbling block for the movement. But there are others.

Even if a set of goals and messages were formulated, we have no effective means to disseminate them. Sending a lone representative from the NCLR off to face Lou Dobbs on his home turf, or writing op-eds in hopes that they sway public opinion don't constitute an effective media strategy.

Along with a unified message we need a strategy.

We need infrastructure.

We need tools.

We need coordination.

We need to reach the point where not only is our message getting heard, but the opposition's message is being debunked or vilified. We need to be able to ensure that every time a CIS "study" is quoted as fact, it can be countered. We need to make it possible that when a restrictionist pundit or expert quotes the same old Borjas study on the adverse effects of immigration on those at the bottom of the economic ladder, it can be countered with the newer Peri study that debunked it. But that kind of information needs to be not only readily available, but but people need to know it's out there. But most of all, we need to be willing to confront some of the uglier aspects of this debate and not let the underlying racism and xenophobia that motivates some, receive a free pass out of fear WE will look too confrontational.

I'm not an "old media" guy so I can't really make too many suggestions as to how to crack that nut.

I do know that as much as I give credit to anyone willing to face down Dobbs or Buchanan, our official spokespeople have not done too effective a job when dealing with them. We need spokespeople willing to be as confrontational as our opponents, who won't be bullied or badgered, and are willing to call our opponents out when they mislead or misrepresent the truth or rely on jingoistic rhetoric or fear mongering. And most of all; They can't be afraid to call a minuteman a racist …because he is one.

But that said, much of the work to be done is in the new media and the web.

The web is where much of the misinformation used by our opponents emanates. Google up "immigrant taxes", "immigrant crime" "immigrant disease" or any of a myriad of other hot-button topics and I guarantee the CIS or some other restrictionist think tank or web site will come up to supply an endless stream of bogus studies and talking points. Those "facts" then swirl around the right-wing echo chamber from the blogs to talk radio to the MSM…. Eventually becoming accepted fact by the public.

The web is also where restrictionist advocacy and organizing takes place. Number USA being the most prominent site. Between its legislative analysis, candidate rankings, and on-line lobbying efforts, it’s a one stop shop for restrictionist action. But there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other websites and blogs raising money, influencing elections, lobbying legislation.

We need to do much better in this respect if we are to ever move our cause forward.

There's more

So, two years later, how much has really changed since I first wrote those words.

Once again resrtrictionists, racists, and wingnuts are gearing up for the next fight. Testing their strategies and abilities at town halls, teabag revolts, and a media barrage opposing healthcare reform, they are honing their skills for a battle that will be far more contentious.

Groups mobilize for the next immigration battle

Former schoolteacher Evelyn Miller doesn't plan to retire from the anti-illegal immigration movement any time soon.

She's too busy organizing petitions, blasting e-mails, faxes and letters, and threatening politicians who are up for re-election.

The 76-year-old member of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform says she is driven by her belief that those in the country illegally are taking jobs and taxpayer services from Americans.

"We're soldiers in the foxhole," Miller said from her dining room in Irvine, which doubles as a home office.

Groups like Miller's have proven so effective in mobilizing and delivering their message that they have halted two attempts at comprehensive immigration reform. In 2007 the groups literally shut down the Senate's phone system at the height of discussion on changes that would have given millions without legal status a pathway to citizenship.

OC Register

And while I agree that great strides have been made on the pro-reform side ...there is still much to be done, ...and much that has been done incorrectly in my opinion.

It is true that pro-immigrant groups all scrambled after the last failure to gain web presence. Websites that had been afterthoughts at best, were revitalized and invested in by national organizations. Nearly every organization under the sun set up some sort of blog or webpage, promoting interns or in some cases hiring known bloggers to run them.

Daily e-mails, Facebook messages, and tweets now fly from the advocacy groups in rapid-fire succession pimping this or that blogpost, highlighting events or news, or asking for various actions. Listbuilding of perspective activist has become a universal obsession for advocacy groups..

It's a far cry from the days when most of the organizations barely acknowledge the web's existence.

But with all this, the a real organic growth of a pro-migrant movement online has not taken root and grown.

Sure. there are hundreds, if not thousands of new pro migrant websites that weren't around a few short years ago. But the great majority of them or not the organic, grassroots efforts of individuals or communities needed for true movement building, but rather top-down enterprises formulated by national organizations, PR hacks, and professional think-tank types in DC, NYC, or LA.

In fact, in some ways, in their haste to enter the new medium of web base activism, these organizations sucked all the oxygen out of the room and stifled any organic growth that was taking place.

Back in the spring of 2006, when the large scale rallies were taking place, most of the organizing for them was done via myspace, hastily thrown up websites, texting, local advocacy groups, Spanish language radio, and on the ground efforts like posters, flyers and old fashioned organizing.

The national organizations were late to the game and in some cases ambivalent to the whole endeavor.

Back in the spring of 2006, when the large scale rallies were taking place, most of the organizing for them was done via myspace, hastily thrown up websites, texting, local advocacy groups, Spanish language radio, and on the ground efforts like posters, flyers and old fashioned organizing.

The national organizations were late to the game and in some cases ambivalent to the whole endeavor.

On-line, there were but a handful of us posting information about march locations, times etc. There was so little discussion of immigration on the web that my small blog, with less than 100 hits a day at the time, remained the number-one google search for "hr4437" and "Sensenbrenner bill" from the time the bill passed in Dec of 2005 until after the marches of April 2006.

But this lack of web presence did not hamper the effort ... it instead made organizing easier. People knew where to get accurate and up to date information. A simple google search or myspace link put them on one of the few sites that listed every march in every city or town. Organizers also knew who to contact to update their info or add new events. As far as the web aspect of the campaign went...it was extremely effective.

But this could never be replicated today.

Small, hastily thrown together websites like those of nohr4437.org and other groups like the March25Coalition and the Immigrant Solidarity Network would be overshadowed today by the large national advocacy groups and their now well-oiled web machines. And the decisions and direction of any grassroots effort would be hampered by the usual DC political machinations.

And this is a great loss to the movement.

As we move forward to what we all expect to be the battle of our lifetimes, it becomes evident that the need for a vibrant, independent, and strong pro-migrant blogosphere is greater than ever.

Perhaps, there has been no greater demonstration of this then the recent growth and success of the Dreamer movement.

No other on-line organizing effort from the pro-migrant community has come close to the effectiveness, reach, and scope of their organizing efforts. Over a relatively short period of time, a small group of on-line activists has grown a truly formidable on-line campaign of thousands of people to move DREAM legislation forward and highlight the plight of Dreamers. They've saved many from deportation, and forced the issue to the front of the immigration debate. All this done from the grassroots up.

Now of course, the national advocacy groups all clamber to "cash in" on the DREAMER magic. All want to be able replicate the effectiveness of their on-line efforts.

But of course this too can never happen.

Just as the rallies grew organically from the ground up, so too did the DREAMERS. It is through their commitment, heart, and drive that these true grassroots efforts grow.

While all the work done thus far by pro-reform forces has been well-meaning, and in some cases useful, one of the most important things they must do is make sure that a true grassroots pro-migrant blogosphere thrives and grows. That it is never overshadowed or usurped by money or politics.

- Give us the tools we need
- Support us financially when possible, but without restrictions or preconditions
- Spend the time to know our work... then let us go about doing it

We are an unruly, often impetuous group, that might seem at first glance to be too headstrong or emotional, prone to infighting and argument ... but that is because we are REAL. We are the grassroots, we are the on-line activist committed to the cause...for ourselves, our families, community or friends.

And if this movement is to ever match the fervor and emotion we see in our opponents as they scream and yell at town halls, or stand outside home improvement stores, or spend their weekends intimidating others at the border .... we will need to tap into the headstrong emotions that only come from the true grassroots

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How about a "temporary bail out" for immigrants

On Thursday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and senior White House and DHS staff met with about 100 immigrant advocates and leaders from faith, business, law enforcement, and labor to reassure them that the administration is still serious about fulfilling its promise to enact immigration reform. So serious in fact, President Obama took time away from his battle for healthcare reform to make an unexpected appearance before the group and reiterate his commitment to getting immigration legislation passed in 2010.

And of course when all was said and done, those in attendance thanked Napolitano and Obama for again telling them that they have not been forgotten. Press releases and statements were quickly penned, each guardedly optimistic, yet appreciative of the attention paid the issue by the administration.

But for the thirty-odd-thousand souls held in detention each day …

or - those who will be stopped tomorrow at some arbitrary traffic stop, set up to single out those with foreign sounding accents or names, or a little too much melanin, and then subject them to interrogation and intimidation …

or - those waiting patiently for the government to reexamine a policy that deports children, who've lived here almost all of their lives, to countries they've never known...

or - for the millions relegated to the shadows where abuse and violence have become the norm…

There was little to rejoice about after Thursday's meeting.

For them it just means more waiting, more worrying, more vague promises … more of the same.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

When the economy began to crumble, and banks, brokers, and insurance companies began to go under due to gross mismanagement, incompetence, bad planning, and failed business models, the government JUMPED.

Both the previous administration, and the current one, did everything in their power to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. Trillions were pumped into the economy, billions to individual companies, rules and regulations were modified and changed ….all, because the government claimed million could loose their homes and fortunes.

When the auto companies started to go under after years of ignoring the obvious; that their business models were unattainable, and their practices unprofitable … the government again stepped up, and did everything in its power to prevent their collapse claiming millions of jobs were at stake.

Yet, when the government itself oversees policies that are every bit as flawed in both theory and practice as any we saw from Wall Street. or in Detroit, does it jump to action and attempt to fix them?

Does it recognize its own mismanagement or gross incompetence?

Why is it that when the private sector failed miserably, this administration could quickly jump to action, analyze the problem, assess accountability, and offer up solutions to stop the suffering of millions, yet, when the public sector is failing, they drag their feet, leave failed policies in place, and hunker down?

Just as they were willing to put temporary stop-gap measures in place to fix the economy… why can they not do they same now for those suffering from their inability to fix the immigration system?

It seems simple enough to me.

Call it what you want … "enforcement relief," … "a temporary moratorium" … (let the PR people loose, I'm sure they can come up with a catchy phrase that will work). But the bottom line is it's time to stop the arbitrary enforcement of laws all admit must be changed.

It's time for this administration to stop asking migrants to suffer quietly and wait until the "political climate" is right before getting any relief.

If this administration can't deliver on its promises now because Congress is too busy, or other priorities must be dealt with first, or the President has too much on his plate …. fine. But they can no longer bide time on the backs of those held in prisons for profit, or those being deported under laws all admit must change, or those waiting patiently to come out of the shadows.

Simply saying that you recognize that the system is failed and that the laws must change is no longer enough. It's time for action NOW.

Nearly 40 years ago John Kerry asked "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"…Today we ask "Who will be the last migrant deported or jailed for a law that is a mistake."

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Good Immigrant-Bad Immigrant: codifying a caste system

On Thursday, President Obama will once again meet with the movers and shakers in the Immigration Reform debate. Having already punted the ball down field, postponing any meaningful reform until next year, Obama will take this opportunity to reassure those concerned that he hasn't forgotten them, and more importantly, their constituents and members who worked so hard to put him in office.

And when the niceties and glad-handing are over, they will hunker down to the kind of horse trading that goes on in proverbial smoke filled rooms.

Political calculations and public relations strategies will as much topics of conversation as policy and legislative change. And when the smoke clears, we'll be one step closer to some sort of Frankenstein compromise, cobbled together of various bits and pieces of previous legislative initiatives, concessions to numerous special interests, and easily sold sound bites intended to mollify the great middle of the uninterested or uninformed.

And so it goes

But one thing we know will be included in the Great Compromise of 2010 will be the division of all immigrants, both current and future, into a two tiered caste system that places one value on those with education, skills, English language proficiency, or financial resources, and another on the vast majority of others who come with little more to offer than a yearning to make a better life.

We first saw this division of future immigrants into "desirable" and "undesirable" in the merit based system proposed in the 2007 legislation.

According to that system, each new prospective immigrant would be rated according to his or her "desirability" and ability to "contribute" to society. Points were given for English language proficiency, educational achievement, ability to be employed in certain fields, job history, whether one had personal health insurance, and finally, family ties.

Under this system, the Migration Policy Institute found that a marked shift in immigrant demographics would result. A shift from an essentially hemispheric migration model that favored family reunification and opportunity for the kind of low-skilled workers that have traditionally made up immigrant population for over 100 years, to a global model that favored high skilled immigrants with access to higher education and English language acquisition.

Put more plainly … those who came from countries that can afford to educate their populations to provide the skills needed in a new global economy would be welcome.

Those from regions too poor, rural, or politically unstable to provide world class educations … they'd be shit outa luck.

Additionally the system would have meant a defacto closing of the door to our closets neighbors.

After spending 200 years meddling and destabilizing our southern neighbors for either profit or geopolitical machinations, the vast majority of prospective immigrants from the region would be ill equipped to compete in a system that placed added value on certain attributes they lacked, while making sure to minimize the valuable contributions they have made not only in the past, but could continue to make in the future.

But that's all past history .. right? The bill crashed and burned.

This time around is different.

We've got a majority in both houses, a liberal President, and a right-wing in shambles … no need for ridiculous restrictions just to mollify a minority of rabid racists bend on stemming an imaginary "invasion."

Well think again.

One of the cornerstones of Chuck Schumer's seven-point plan to finally accomplish what Tom Tancredo couldn't, reintroduces a new merit system for the 21st century:

we need to recognize the important contribution that high-skilled immigrants have already made, and must continue to make, toward revitalizing and reinventing the American economy.

No immigration system would be worthwhile if it is unable to attract the best and brightest minds of the world to come to the United States and create jobs for Americans—as has been the case for Yahoo, Google, Intel, E-Bay, and countless other companies.

That being said, any reformed immigration system must be successful in encouraging the next Albert Einstein to emigrate permanently to the United States while, at the same time, discouraging underpaid, temporary workers from taking jobs that could and should be filled by qualified American workers.

link

While Schumer vaguely alludes to the institution of an immigrant caste system …. The Council on Foreign Relations, who appear to have written the blueprint for Obama's immigration compromise, flesh it all out:

Attracting Skilled Immigrants

The United States needs to develop a conscious and explicit policy for attracting highly skilled immigrants. For most of its history, America has enjoyed a considerable skills and education advantage over its largest economic competitors. This is unfortunately no longer the case. Other countries are producing highly skilled workers faster than the United States, and such individuals will be in increasingly high demand in the U.S. economy in the coming years.

America’s economic future, as well as its diplomatic success, depends greatly on its ability to attract a significant share of the best and brightest immigrants from around the world.

The Task Force recommends that the United States tackle headon the growing competition for skilled immigrants from other countries and make the goal of attracting such immigrants a central component of its immigration policy. For decades, the primary goal has been to ration admission; in the future, recruiting the immigrants it wants must be the highest priority.

… The Task Force recommends that quotas for skilled work visas like the H-1B visa be increased, but fluctuate in line with economic conditions. Similarly, the number of employment-based green cards should not face a hard cap, but should be allowed to increase and decrease as economic conditions warrant. Under most economic conditions, the number of employment-based green cards should be significantly higher than current levels.

For those in the United States on temporary work visas, with the exception of seasonal work visas like the H-2A and the H-2B, the Task Force recommends eliminating the current requirement that these visa holders demonstrate the intent to not immigrate to the United States. Such a requirement is an anachronism that does not reflect how immigration to the United States actually takes place for most people, and does not recognize the U.S. national interest in encouraging some of those visa holders to remain in the United States permanently

The Task Force therefore recommends eliminating the nationality quotas for skilled workers.

link [pg.84]

According to this plan, skilled workers would get more green cards, no national quotas, and not be subjected to real temporary status. They would be actively recruited and their path to citizenship made as easy as possible.

And what about the unskilled …. They get to come as guest workers:

Temporary Worker Programs

Although the U.S. economy has exhibited an enormous and continued appetite for low-skilled labor, the immigration system simply does not recognize the demand. The quotas for employment-based admission by low-skilled immigrants are minuscule, and in practice most of the demand is filled by unauthorized immigrants. Recognizing that the U.S. economy has had and will continue to have a significant appetite for low-skilled workers is a critical part of gaining control over illegal immigration.

.. The Task Force recommends a two-pronged approach. First, the United States should recognize that, subject to economic fluctuations, continued demand for low-skilled labor is likely to be an ongoing feature of the economy. Therefore, the United States should allow greater numbers of lowskilled immigrants to enter on work visas, with the option of seeking permanent residence if they wish. Those numbers should be adjusted regularly based on the needs of the economy, with the goal of enhancing U.S. competitiveness. At the same time, the government should create an expanded seasonal work program—but one that is easier for employers to use and that provides better protections for the foreign workers employed in it.

link [pg.87]

The unskilled, according to this plan, are allowed to enter the country on temporary work visas that have the option to become permanent down the road, or as temporary seasonal workers (see: agricultural workers), who will be presumably treated better than currently is the norm.

This plan is not much different from all the previous guest workers programs proposed in the past from McCain-Kennedy to the Grand Compromise. A promise of some sort of future permanent residency is offered in return for temporary worker status.

This division of the immigrant population into two distinct castes, one actively recruited and provided with an easy path to permanency, another "allowed" to enter under temporary visas or "tolerated" as agricultural guests workers, sets up a dichotomy that is not only morally vacant ..But contrary to a common sense approach to immigration reform.

Any system which attempts to codify some arbitrary value placed upon the worth of human beings, and the contributions they make to society, can never succeed as public policy.

How can the worth of those who provide your food, build your homes, or care for your youngest and oldest, be of any less value than that of those who work in any other fields .

This whole notion runs contrary to the ideals on which not only the nation was founded, but that attracts so many to come here in the first place.

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A Long Look in the Mirror

Last Friday night around 11:30 PM, an unidentified Latino man walked down Division Avenue in Patchogue NY.

As he approached the intersection of Division and West Avenues, three white teens hanging out in a nearby parking lot called out to him. Seconds later he was struck in the face, knocked to the ground, and as the teens shouted racial slurs, robbed of cash and other personal items. .... Just another case of "beaner hopping" in Long Island's Suffolk County.

Nine months earlier, within a stones throw of last Friday's incident, Marcelo Lucero was walking with a friend, minding his own business, when seven teens decided he would be their next, and final, victim in a long night of physical harassment of Latino neighbors played out as sport by the gang of marauding racist youths.

Within moments, Lucero lay on the ground bleeding to death from stab wounds….wounds inflicted as part of a sick, racist, game.

Despite international outrage, investigations by Justice Department, changes in police personnel, and various other attempts to stem the tide of anti-Latino violence in an area so notorious for its racist attacks that the Mexican government has long warned travelers to avoid it, the attacks obviously continue.

But, should we really be surprised.

What has really changed since that night back in early November when Marcelo Lucero's life oozed out onto the cold Long Island pavement?

The Hope? …The Change We Can Believe In? … The chants of Sí Se Puede and the promises made with them? … The awakening of the "Sleeping Giant" that drove Latinos and immigrant communities to the polls in record numbers? … The election of a black man, the child of an immigrant?

All of this has meant nothing to those held in the tentacles of the ever-expanding immigrant detention industry.

It's meant nothing to those profiled by local authorities at traffic stops and street corners around the country.

It’s meant nothing to those hoping against hope that they, or love ones, can simply live their lives without fear of deportation.

It’s done nothing to protect those who only want to work and make a better life for themselves and families, free from exploitation and abuse.

And most of all, it has done nothing to stem the tsunami of violence and hate that has afflicted this nation for years.

It's easy for Liberals, Progressives, and left-leaning media types, to point self-righteously at the obvious knuckle-draggers that lead the charge against social change and a more equitable society.

From the "birthers" to Sarah Palin, to Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck and a new generation of "dixiecrat" politicos from deep red states, the easy targets are abundant.

They're painted as ignorant, hypocritical, hillbilly, hold-backs, who represent not the views of the majority … but a small, yet vocal, minority of dinosaurs riling against the inevitable march of time.

Yet, these same Liberals and Progressives, so smug and self-righteous, fail to look in the mirror for even a moment to see that they are just as much responsible for events like those that happened in Patchogue, as any hirsute hillbilly or plasticized pitchman from the far-right.

They have not only accepted the racist frames and exclusionary rhetoric of the right on issues of immigration and immigration reform, they have embraced them.

When Rahm Emanuel(the son of an Israeli immigrant) first uttered his famous statement that "immigration is the third rail" of politics and should be avoided for political expediency, and that only a get-tough message would assure electoral victory, he telegraphed not just capitulation to the right, but willingness to accept their worldview.

We now see that the acceptance of the "immigrant as criminal" philosophy so prevalent on the right has morphed into the "get-tough" policies of the Obama administration and its surrogates like Chuck Schumer.

While Obama and his DHS move to increase raids, deportations and detentions in hopes of ploughing the way for legislative compromise, Schumer embraces the rhetoric of the right and calls for not only get-tough measures, but acceptance of terminology that reinforces the idea of the undocumented immigrant as criminal interloper

The first of these seven principles is that illegal immigration is wrong—plain and simple. When we use phrases like “undocumented workers,” we convey a message to the American people that their Government is not serious about combating illegal immigration….

… Above all else, the American people want their Government to be serious about protecting the public, enforcing the rule of law, and creating a rational system of legal immigration…

… People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the United States legally….

… Second, any immigration solution must recognize that we must do as much as we can to gain operational control of our borders as soon as possible. ….

…. Third, we must recognize that illegal immigration will never seriously be stifled unless and until we end the job magnet currently engendered by the seriously flawed I-9 regime. As we speak, any individual who steals a social security number and has access to a credible fake ID can get a job in the United States. ….

… Only by creating a biometric-based federal employment verification system will both employers and employees have the peace of mind that all employment relationships are both lawful and proper….

SCHUMER ANNOUNCES PRINCIPLES FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL

Clearly, the talking points first rolled out by the right during the Sensenbrenner legislation battle four years ago are not just still being thrown around … but have now somehow morphed into a "liberal," pro-reform platform. …a platform accepted not only inside and outside the beltway by both politicos and advocacy groups, but by the broader, supposedly left-leaning, universe.

We hear little push-back against this acceptance of "immigrant as criminal" framing outside of ethnic media and the "bomb-throwers" of the Latino/ pro-migrant blogosphere.

But until the broader progressive movement starts to reexamine its honeymoon with Obama's immigration policies and more importantly takes a long look in the mirror to see where their acceptance will lead, the growing pattern of violence like that in Patchogue will be just as much on their heads as those of the knuckle-dragging bigots who at least wear their racism on their sleeves for all to see.

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Immigration reform need not be a triple-headed hydra

This week the Obama administration finally announced a long overdue revamping of its immigration detention system.

The system, comprised of a hodgepodge network of 350 unregulated local jails, privately owned prisons, and federal correction facilities run by DHS has come under attack for it's failure to adhere to even the most basic civil and human rights standards. Numerous groups including Amnesty International and the government's own Accountability Office have documented the inadequacies in the system.

The failures include; inadequate or absent medical care leading to the preventable deaths of 90 detainees since 2003, young children held for long periods without access to education or recreation, detainees denied access to legal representation or family members, and the list goes on.

Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence of the failure of the system, the Obama administration until now refused to address the situation, even after having been ordered to do so by the Federal Courts.

So this weeks announcement that DHS will begin to finally take some control over the situation by reviewing the contracts with it's detention providers, establishing oversight, and ending some of the most grievous practices, is a welcome change.

But it is far from the sweeping kind of CHANGE™ we were led to believe to expect from this new administration.



Candidate Obama, time and time again on the stump promised sweeping, almost revolutionary change.

He challenged the nation to think outside the box and start to look at old problems through new eyes.

Where Bill Clinton claimed to feel our pain, Obama promised that working together we could end it… sí se puede

But now we find that from healthcare reform to immigration policy, Obama does not so much offer real change… but rather, promises to more competently and effectively administer the same failed policies of the past.

As DHS announced its "sweeping" new changes to the immigrant detention system , there was an underlying message of …"don’t get your hopes up folks …we ain't changing things that much."

Assistant Secretary of DHS, John Morton, while touting the move to a "truly civil detention system" made sure to add in that large scale detention would remain to be the norm…it would just be done "more humanely." He added that the new system would move from one focused on incarceration to one focused on deportation.

DHS head, Janet Napolitano, added that she actually foresaw an increase in the number of detianees held in the government's new "humane" prisons.

But this should come as no surprise coming from an administration that has voiced support for expanding the 287G system that gives local honchos like Arizona's Joe Arpaio carte blanche to terrorize whole communities. Or that looks to expand the failed e-verify system. Or worse yet, embraces Chuck Schumer's Orwellian national biometric identification system.

But this is all because rather than thinking outside the box . .. Obama seems firmly encased in it.

He and his brain trust simply can't separate themselves from the failed paradigm of viewing immigration policy as a matter of regulation of a criminal activity.

This is the same thinking that has produced every piece of failed immigration policy since 1986.

Rather than addressing the underlying social and economic realities both here and abroad that drive global migration, and working on a system that rationally an effectively works within those realities, this thinking has produced a system that relies upon punitive deterrents to attempt to regulate the flow of immigration.

This becomes evident when viewing actual legislation. Hundreds of pages are usually dedicated to various aspects of how best to punish those who enter the country without permission …and scant few pages dedicated to how the decisions as to whom, and under what circumstances, that permission should be granted.

This had led to the idea that reform of the system simply must contain three key components:

1. a method to allow businesses to get needed workers
2. a method to keep everyone else out
3. a method to deal with those who came anyway…now that they've become needed workers.

This has led to the three-headed hydra of Comprehensive Immigration Reform that mandates guest workers, increased enforcement and a path to legalization

In the minds of policy makers these three components seem to be inseparable.

Business interests can't envision an immigration system that doesn't supply them with needed workers, especially if they can be sent home and exchanged for fresh cheap replacements periodically

Advocacy groups can't imagine a system that doesn't normalize the status of the millions already here without permission.

And both are willing to view criminalization and punishment as a means of regulating immigrant flow.

But here is where that CHANGE™ Obama had promised so eloquently during his campaign should translate into a new mindset in DC.

Perhaps he and all those working behind the scenes to enact a new version of Comprehensive Immigration Reform should take a fresh view of the situation and finally start to look at the problems in the current system in a truly COMPREHENSIVE manner…. "Comprehensive" as in encompassing ALL the various push and pull mechanisms in play that foster migration and the system's current inability to deal with them.

If reform were enacted properly, all the interested parties would be able to get basically what they need or want from the legislation, and there would be little need to worry about enforcement and punishments. A truly functioning immigration system would not create millions of undocumented immigrants and hundreds of thousands of detainees in prisons …It's that simple. The hard part is figuring out how to reform the system to reach that goal.

Instead of worrying about how best to build walls along our borders, or punish workers or employers, our leaders should figure out a better way to allow immigrants to enter the country legally, or better yet…have the kind of opportunities in their home countries that would allow them to stay if they wish.

But this would take big thinking … grand vision … and relentless political will.

Something we saw from candidate Obama …but sadly, not yet from President Obama.

As I've said before:

We will judge future legislation and policy not by how successful it's been at apprehending, deporting, or incarcerating migrants ... but rather in how little apprehension, deportation and incarceration is necessary

Our leaders should keep that in mind as they work to reform a dismally failed system.

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