{"id":2473,"date":"2013-06-03T12:43:06","date_gmt":"2013-06-03T11:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?p=2473"},"modified":"2013-06-03T12:43:06","modified_gmt":"2013-06-03T11:43:06","slug":"toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html","title":{"rendered":"Toward a Buddhist policy on Immigration Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

For the first time since 1964, the US immigration system could undergo a shift away from a preference to unite families and toward a system that favors foreigners based on their skill and merit. Both houses of Congress are currently debating bills that could make their way to President Obama before August.<\/p>\n

What would a\u00a0Buddhist\u00a0immigration policy look like for the US (or UK)?\u00a0Obviously such notions as generosity (dana<\/em>) and nonviolence (ahimsa<\/em>) should come to mind. Or perhaps we should look to Shantideva\u2019s\u00a0simile of the hand and the foot: urging us to reach out and help others because we are all ultimately interconnected. People may also like to stretch analogies regarding the Buddha as one who broke down barriers such as caste and gender, teaching openly to all and proclaiming the same spiritual potential in all beings.<\/p>\n

It seems that little will be found in the early Buddhist sources to condone exclusionary practices of any kind.\u00a0<\/strong>If anything, it may be the strategy of the\u00a0anti-immigration Buddhist\u00a0to say that the Buddha was a bit naive in regards to these issues, and that immigration represents a special case in which it really would be better for everyone (thus an act of compassion) if big walls and even bigger prisons were\u00a0erected\u00a0in wait for those \u2018huddled masses\u2019.<\/p>\n

Amy\u00a0Chua, a Yale Law\u00a0professor famous (or infamous) for her book\u00a0Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother<\/a>, wrote a 2007 article on US immigration worth revisiting<\/a>. It contains five recommendations (read the article for details):<\/p>\n

1 Overhaul admission priorities \u2013 skills not family-ties should come first.<\/em>
\n2 Make English the official national language.<\/em>
\n3 Immigrants must embrace the nation\u2019s civic virtues.<\/em>
\n4 Enforce the law.
\n<\/em>5 Make the United States an equal-opportunity immigration magnet.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These are interesting suggestions and deserve some thought:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Focusing more on skilled workers sounds good, but I wonder if this wouldn\u2019t actually dissuade many skilled\u00a0workers\u00a0from coming here in the first place.\u00a0Americans are famous for geographic mobility: families\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0stick together in the US. This is not the case most places. A brilliant computer scientist in India is more likely to choose to languish there in a sub-par job rather than travel half-way around the world with little or no chance of bringing his (extended) family with him \u2013 family is simply a stronger deciding factor. I agree with\u00a0Chua\u00a0that more attention to job-skills should be made, but I think it goes too far to say \u2018the immigration system should reward ability and be keyed to the country\u2019s labor needs \u2014 skilled or unskilled, technological or agricultural.\u2019 Focusing too much on these people as \u2018skilled or unskilled\u2019 etc. risks losing sight of their humanity.<\/strong> Non-Americans, like Americans, should not be thought of simply as workers or laborers. Along with continuing to help keep families intact, we should be looking at ways to open borders more for community activists and others whose value cannot be so easily monetized.<\/li>\n
  2. Adopting an official language seems absurd to me.\u00a0English is already\u00a0de\u00a0facto<\/em>\u00a0our country\u2019s language, but ever since its inception our nation has been a host to countless other non-native languages (and of course a whole host of Native American ones!). The Buddha, in sending out his students to teach others, told them to teach in the language common to each area. This is in direct opposition to the Brahmans, who taught and preserved their scriptures\u00a0only in Sanskrit.\u00a0Thus a Buddhist\u00a0policy would:\n
      \n
    1. Inspire, not legislate, others to learn English.<\/strong>\u00a0This once-great language seems to be producing more trashy pop-music than classical literature today. Learning English as a second language is hard; I\u2019d rather we focus on incentives (carrots) than punishments (the stick). This means greater funding for higher education<\/a>, arts, and humanities<\/a>.<\/li>\n
    2. Learn more languages ourselves!\u00a0Sure, English will stand as the most common language, but as the\u00a0ACLU argues<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t make sense to limit the use of other languages. I think the great French Philosopher\u00a0Merleau-Ponty<\/a>\u00a0was right in suggesting that the language must be correct to express the life of the speaker.<\/strong> Languages change with history, some simply die out as speakers adopt a more dominant or useful language.\u00a0I say: bring on the Spanish, bring on the Chinese (Mandarin)! Let them shape a stronger English,\u00a0or replace it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    3. Chua\u00a0states that\u00a0\u2018It\u2019s up to each immigrant community to fight off an enclave mentality and give back to their new country.\u2019\u00a0I fully agree. But I think the job isn\u2019t just for them. Americans need to make a habit of reaching out to people outside the mainstream. We, too, should\u00a0go into the enclave as much as they should come out!\u00a0Not to mention the Americans who are rapidly building enclaves of their own (gated communities) to keep new immigrants\u00a0out.<\/li>\n
    4. It\u2019s hard to argue against enforcing the law.\u00a0However, we should also be looking at what\u00a0compels\u00a0many people to risk their lives and freedom crossing into the US illegally.<\/strong> Could it be that our own economic policies perpetuate injustice and poverty\u00a0in their countries? Could our political and military actions be undercutting democratic movements and propping up unpopular and oppressive dictators?\u00a0\u2026. Where ever that is the case, we should work hard to reverse it, ensuring better lives to people in those countries.\u00a0If their lives are better in their home country, then I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll be more patient with the legalities of proper immigration.<\/li>\n
    5. Finally,\u00a0Chua\u00a0suggests equal-opportunity immigration, stating that \u2018The starkly disproportionate ratio of Latinos \u2014 reflecting geographical fortuity and a large measure of law-breaking \u2014 is inconsistent with this principle.\u2019 \u00a0I\u2019m all for equal opportunity, but I think \u2018geographical\u00a0fortuity\u2019 should be given more credit.\u00a0Practically speaking, I think it just makes more sense that we have disproportionate numbers of Latinos.\u00a0<\/strong>All things considered, if I were, say, an English-speaking political exile from Burma in search of new opportunity, I\u2019d probably want to go to India or Australia. There would have to be some special reason for me to want to go\u00a0all the way\u00a0to America. Likewise a Romanian student would feel more\u00a0geographically compelled\u00a0to study in England over the US.\u00a0Just as in point one where I\u2019d say that \u2018family matters,\u2019 here also I would say that \u2018geography matters. \u2018That is not to say that we shouldn\u2019t reach out to our brothers and sisters in Burma and elsewhere.\u00a0But perhaps we can stretch Shantideva\u2019s simile a bit and say that there are many thorns in the body, and unless one in the foot is particularly bad, it\u00a0just makes more sense\u00a0to pull out those that are nearest. In practical terms if we can reduce more suffering in Honduras than Burma simply because it is nearer, we should.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      As with most things in politics, the immigration debate sparks many emotions and far more complex than a few paragraphs can give justice to. One of my favorite statements on the topic came from a cartoon on a professor\u2019s door near mine back at The University of Montana (where I did my BA and some MA work in Philosophy). It featured a pair of Native Americans outside a colonists\u2019 fort:<\/p>\n

      \"native<\/a><\/p>\n

      Right\u2026<\/p>\n

      To me one of the greatest\u00a0American values\u00a0has been the value of opportunity for everyone here.<\/strong> The opportunity to make something of their lives, to create new community, and to pass that forward to the next generation. Perhaps, contra Buddhism<\/a>, that value has been translated into commercialism and greed.\u00a0But it could also be translated into deeper opportunities for service, for realizing our interconnectedness, for overcoming ignorance.<\/p>\n

      It is a fact that some amount of material sustenance is necessary for spiritual development. It is also taught by the Buddha that attachment to material possessions will hamper that development. A vast number of Americans today suffer not from too little material wealth (and\u00a0hence\u00a0real fear of immigrants taking it away), but instead from\u00a0too much.\u00a0It is much of the rest of the world that has too little. It seems obvious that a Buddhist immigration policy would look to eliminate this imbalance.<\/p>\n

      *This is a revised edition of a 2007 post, but worth re-working, I think, based on current discussions\/debates in both the US and the UK.<\/p>\n

      Read E.F. Schumacher\u2019s \u201cBuddhist Economics<\/a>,\u201d first published in\u00a0\u00a0Asia: A Handbook, edited by Guy Wint, published by Anthony Blond Ltd., London, 1966.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      For the first time since 1964, the US immigration system could undergo a shift away from a preference to unite families and toward a system that favors foreigners based on their skill and merit. Both houses of Congress are currently debating bills that could make their way to President Obama before August. What would a\u00a0Buddhist\u00a0immigration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism"],"yoast_head":"\nToward a Buddhist policy on Immigration Reform<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For the first time since 1964, the US immigration system could undergo a shift away from a preference to unite families and toward a system that favors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toward a Buddhist policy on Immigration Reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the first time since 1964, the US immigration system could undergo a shift away from a preference to unite families and toward a system that favors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Buddhist Perspectives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-03T11:43:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/files\/2013\/06\/native-americans-to-kick-out-illegals.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Justin Whitaker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html\",\"name\":\"Toward a Buddhist policy on Immigration Reform\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-03T11:43:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-06-03T11:43:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\"},\"description\":\"For the first time since 1964, the US immigration system could undergo a shift away from a preference to unite families and toward a system that favors\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/2013\/06\/toward-a-buddhist-policy-on-immigration-reform.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Toward a Buddhist policy on Immigration Reform\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/\",\"name\":\"American Buddhist Perspectives\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/abfb8f851f671638c4c7536b963f9da9\",\"name\":\"Justin Whitaker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/americanbuddhist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/817b6fba8ae056aaff4f9bdc84347d72?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Justin Whitaker\"},\"description\":\"I am an almost-life-long Montanan; 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