Re-Comprehending Immigration Issue

As President Bush calls for a ‘comprehensive” reform package on

immigration, we of the progressive mind set should in this issue, well
on every issue, see how the framing of the problem dictates the
solutions we can comprehend.

Taking from the
brilliant work of the Rockridge Institute, George Lakoff and Sam
Ferguson’s article on “The Framing of immigration” (link here:
http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/rockridge/immigration) this
summer, the outline of the problem according to Bush opens and closes
doors to reconciliation. As they point out, “’The Immigration Problem
Frame’ — a frame that imposes a structure on the current situation,
defines a set of ‘problems’ with that situation, and circumscribes the
possibility for ‘solutions.’” The solutions on the table only
“comprehend” what people in power wish to reform- security and law
enforcement.

Fortifying our southern border fits both a
misconception of US- Mexican migration and our general fears of our
enemies exploiting weaknesses. I believe people have no comprehension
of what entails “crossing the border.” It is an extremely dangerous
endeavor- at least 300 people have perished in the act since October.
Plus, sending troops and building walls to alleviate the “problem”
implies people are incited to cross because of its ease.

Next, the proposal of a guest worker program sets
out to bandage the “law enforcement” problem. By making it legal for
people to work in the US instructs us to see migrants as means of
production- inputs of labor only. Allowing these work-orientated people
work, and low wage employers exploit with ease is the only problem
involving labor and law people are interested in solving.

Liberals also maintain this labor centered frame
on immigrant lives, using the less surface offensive term undocumented
worker. However, as Lakoff and Ferguson point out, remains as
dehumanizing, “First, the negative “undocumented” suggests that they
should be documented – that there is something wrong with them if they
are not. Second, “worker” suggests that their function in America is
only to work, not to be educated, have families, form communities, have
lives — and vote!” Truly, jobs are a definite pull factor, yet I charge
even greater are the push factors in countries such as Mexico afflicted
by neo-liberal trade agreements like NAFTA that have destroyed local
business and agriculture. Over 2 million Mexican farmers have been
driven from their work because of flooding of US low priced food
products like corn in Mexico. This movement from farm work to
industrial has caused a boom in border towns and a large labor pool for
maquiladoras which pay 60 cents to a $1 an hour. Minimum wage or lower
paying jobs in the US are a lesser of two great evils.

Also, immigration has brought to light the way we
view social services. This July, Colorado lawmakers have outlawed
un-naturalized immigrants the access to non-emergency benefits or
getting professional licenses. Unable to receive welfare or practice a
trade, the US public sector is valued according to citizenship and not
human dignity. Social services meet needs every human being
experiences- sickness, financial struggles, and hunger. But this fits
along with the reference to migrants as “aliens” leeching on our
resources. However, migrants working in the US contribute to the social
safety net, over 7 billion to Social Security which none can collect.

To truly find a “comprehensive” solution we have
to see the interplay of foreign, economic, and domestic policy. Human
rights and dignity must translate across national borders. First we
ought to be passing laws like the Dream Act (allowing immigrant
students access to in-state college tuition and naturalization
http://www.nclr.org/content/policy/detail/1331/) that take a wider view
of the lives of immigrant families. The humanitarian crisis at the
border must be addressed. Lastly, we must advocate for fair trade and
policies that support economic development in Latin American. We must
purge our own biases embrace the full dignity of all people regardless
of national origin to be parents, siblings, schoolmates, community
members, organization participants, shoppers, and churchgoers.