why is immigration policymaking is so politically divisive?

1. why is immigrationpolicymaking is so politically divisive?

2. [R]eforms targeting illegal immigration have inspired polarizing conflicts, raised unpopular policy alternatives opposed by powerful organized interests and mass publics alike, highlighted chronic government inefficacy at the border, and been enacted only by very narrow bipartisan majorities willing to accept unpalatable compromises. • Tichenor, “Navigating an American Minefield” (2009), 1.

3. Obama administration • Obama has backpedaled on his campaign pledge to make comprehensive immigration legislation a priority. (Tichenor, 1) • Health care reform: some opponents claim that undocumented immigrants would richly benefit from the president’s proposals

4. The notion that undocumented aliens have much of anything to do with the nation’s health care challenges is only the latest hyperbole in a long tradition of blaming illegal immigrants for everything from unemployment in the Great Depression, to disease and criminality in the 1950s, to an overtaxed welfare state in the 1980s and 1990s, to terror threats before and after 9/11. (Tichenor, 2)

5. Political Cacophony • Immigration: a potent cross-cutting issue in American national politics • defies the standard liberal-conservative divide • often polarizes major party coalitions (Tichenor, 2) • Left: • cosmopolitans versus economic protectionists • Right: • pro-business expansionists versus cultural protectionists and border hawks on the Right

6. Cosmopolitans • problem is not the presence of millions of undocumented aliens in the United States but rather their status as vulnerable, second-class persons. • chief imperative: to make the estimated 12 million unauthorized migrants living in the country eligible for legal membership.

7. “What we want…is a pathway to their legalization,” Representative Luis Guiterrez (D-IL) explains, “so that they can come out of the shadows of darkness, of discrimination, of bigotry, of exploitation, and join us fully.” Quoted in Tichenor, p. 3

8. Hispanics have proven their loyalty to the nation in countless ways, including joining the military at higher rates than most groups, which “means that we have earned our say over the direction of the country…and what we do on immigration.” Edward Schumacher-Matos, journalist and scholar

9. “all American employers, consumers, and lawmakers – all of us – share the ‘blame’ for undocumented migration.” • Marc Rosenblum, Migration Policy Institute • Support legalization or “earned citizenship” initiatives (Tichenor, 3)

10. Economic protectionists • hostile toward illegal immigration • enhances the wealth of corporate and professional America • has serious consequences for blue-collar workers or the unemployed

11. Carol Swain recently pointed to the deleterious “impact that high levels of illegal immigration [are] having in the communities when it comes to jobs, when it comes to education, when it comes to health care.” (Tichenor, 3)

12. endorse employer sanctions against unscrupulous employers who knowingly hire undocumented aliens • oppose guest worker programs • create a captive workforce subject to exploitation, abuse, and permanent marginalization.

14. Pro-business expansionists • devoted to free markets and business growth • U.S. economy has grown dependent on supply of cheap, unskilled immigrant labor • chief problem: • existing federal policies fail to address “the reality that there are many people on the other side of our border who will do anything to come to America to work.” (George W. Bush, quoted in Tichenor, 4)

15. http://uclast203-2010.wikispaces.com/International+Migrationshttp://uclast203-2010.wikispaces.com/International+Migrations

16. The solution: • regularizing employers’ access to vital foreign labor • If back door of illegal immigration is to be closed, labor supply must be secured through • temporary-worker programs • expansion of employment-based legal immigration. • Employer sanctions are not the solution: • pose an unwelcome and unfair regulatory burden placed on American businesses large and small

17. Cultural protectionists and border hawks • Border hawks • illegal immigration problem is “an unprecedented breakdown of American sovereignty” • compromises “national security, the rule of law, job opportunities for citizens, public education, and social services”

18. Border Hawks: Enforcement must come first • strengthened Border Patrol • tougher security measures along the nation’s borders • crackdowns on unauthorized immigrants and their employers within U.S. territory • targeted deportation efforts • Workplace enforcement • denial of social services and other public benefits to unauthorized immigrants

19. Building majority support for legislation involving tough choices is always challenging, but it is especially so amidst ideological disorientation and intra-party warfare. Tichenor, 5.

20. Obama on immigration reform • The President plans to create a 21st century immigration system by:  • Continuing to fulfill the federal government’s responsibility to securing our borders; • Demanding accountability for businesses that break the law by undermining American workers and exploiting undocumented workers; • Strengthening our economic competiveness by creating a legal immigration system that reflects our values and diverse needs; and • Requiring responsibility from people who are living in the United States illegally. (www.whitehouse.gov, accessed 11/21/11)