Author: Elena

As word of the presence of ICE agents in the neighborhood spread, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums rushed over to Esperanza Elementary School, where a number of parents and community members had gathered.

Addressing them, the Mayor called the situation the “the ugly side of government.”

He labeled the ICE actions “inappropriate and unnecessary” and reiterated that children needed education, not harassment. “There should be no raids in Oakland,” he said.

Is this what has become of our great nation? A willingness of our government to intimidate parents through fear tactics in public schools? Have we been reduced to such base behavior? Say what you will about the illegal immigration, but NEVER, let me repeat, NEVER, should any government willingly strike fear within a child who has committed no crime!

http://www.alternet.org/rights/84718/

“How do we remain a country that is both diverse but also has a firm integration policy?”, asked Igor Tymofeyez, director of immigration policy and senior advisor for refugee and asylum affairs at the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security. This question of U.S. identity has occurred since the early 20th century. At this time, immigration was based upon a quota system. Immigration from Northern and Western Europe was encouraged, while Jews and Latin Americans were discouraged from coming to the United States. As Stephen Pitt, professor of history and American studies at Yale University noted, “there was a fear of cultural assimilation”. In the 1960’s, with the passage of the Hart-Celler Immigration Bill of 1965, family unifcation became the overriding principal of immigration. This focus continued in the Immigration Reform and Control(IRCA) of 1986, the basis of our current immigration policy.

Panelists argue that IRCA put polices into place that led to the current large population of illegal immigrants in the United States today. While the law offered amnesty to anyone how had resided in the United States since before 1982, it cut off any future flow of legal immigrants. Yet people were still drawn to the United States for jobs that were readily available. The magnet was work says Myers. In addition, political turmoil and revolutions in Central America, massive structural adjustments in Mexican economy, and the increased numbers of foreign owned factories along the U.S. – Mexican border that employ Mexican workers, all acted as “push factors”, driving people into the United States.

Because U.S. immigration policy made it so difficult to gain citizenship, it artificially built up an undocumented population.

These are excerpts from an article on an immigration symposium.  I found the article very informative and truly gained insight into the dynamics of this complicated issue.  What I liked best, was that a need was identified to have an open process regarding immigration a need to flexible.  Immigration policy is not a one time fix, but most be monitored constantly to ascertain, what  policies are working and what is no longer effective. 

http://www.cfr.org/content/meetings/immigration_symposium_summary.pdf

Wow, does this read like a horrible deja vu nightmare?!  The similarities are striking:

*Help Save…….Maryland

*Deny services to children by initating legal status confirmation (original resolution laguage written by Robert Duecaster with help of IRLI(FAIR) )

*Citizen concern about overcrowding/neighborhood issues

*Racial profiling concerns

*A Chief of Police who advocates community outreach to immigrant communities

Until now, the county has handled the influx with outreach classes in schools and community policing programs. Chic Hispanic restaurants flourish in downtown Frederick, and working-class Latinos have remained relatively invisible.

Suddenly, however, their presence is igniting a controversy that some fear could escalate into the kind of war over illegal immigration that has torn apart Prince William County. In the past month, the Frederick County sheriff has joined with federal authorities to identify and deport illegal immigrants, and county commissioners have proposed legislation to ban free translation of county business and require public schools to track down students who are in the United States illegally.

“The single biggest threat to our country is the immigration problem. We cannot continue to absorb this population or we will end up in collapse like a Third World country,” said Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, whose officers have identified 18 illegal immigrants in the past two weeks after traffic stops or other incidents. “We are not going out in a white van with a big net, but we are getting the criminal element of the illegal population out of Frederick County.”

Local opponents of the measures, including black, white and Hispanic residents, say the crackdown and other proposed actions smack of racism and political grandstanding.

Help Save Maryland, a rapidly growing citizens group that opposes illegal immigration, has supported the crackdown in group e-mails, radio interviews and newspaper columns. The coordinator of the Frederick chapter has accused opponents of “playing the race card.”

Frederick Police Chief Kim Dine, who is white, spent years in Washington’s Latino neighborhoods and is an advocate of police outreach in the community. County Board of Education Chairman Daryl Boffman, who is black, has worked to promote the kind of educational boosts for immigrant students that once helped him get ahead.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/05/AR2008050502405.html