The United States is a country founded on the premise of supporting immigration.  Beginning in the 1700s, waves of primarily English immigrants flooded into the country, starting a trend that has continued until today.  By 1900, the country’s population had reached 96 million.  In 1914, after the events of WWI, feelings of anti-immigration began to emerge among many American citizens, catalyzing sentiments that would never completely disappear from within our borders.

During his campaign, Obama promised substantial support and immediate action to the Latino community’s immigration reform efforts.  In an April 2009 article written by The New York Time’s Julia Preston, it’s noted that Obama had plans to make headway in comprehensive immigration reform within a couple of months, or by the summer of last year.  According to Preston, Obama said he planned to give 12 million illegal immigrants full citizen status during his presidency.  Preston also voiced the doubts of lawmakers and citizens everywhere, many of whom claimed that other political issues would end up forcing immigration into the backseat.  And although they didn’t know for sure at the time that that would happen, they turned out to be right.

Eugene resident, Mexican immigrant and immigration reform activist Guadalupe Quinn said in an interview that Obama’s involvement in immigration reform has been a real disappointment for the American Latino community.  While Quinn and fellow immigrants (illegal and citizen) and activists are thrilled that the Dream Act has been getting legislative attention, they know that it’s just a tiny step in comparison to what needs to take place in the long run.  According to Quinn, the Dream Act will only help high school and college students… and while the likely implementation of the Dream Act is a very important, exciting change, there are countless other people within the realm of immigration reform who need help.  To use Oregon as an example, there are countless organizations in place to lend a hand to those in the Latino community who need to be helped, such as UNETE, CAUSA, Amigos, etc.  These groups and organizations are dedicated to helping Oregon’s Latino communities in many ways, such as finding housing and employment, putting children in school and establishing social outlets.

Setting aside the fact that the comprehensive immigration reform issue has barely been touched on lately, it’s going to be a hard battle for the Latino community to fight.  There are a substantial number of people who don’t want immigration reform to occur, as well as an even larger group that wants to tighten our borders and reform immigration so that illegal immigrants are denied the possibility of citizenship completely.  These sentiments come from a variety of places, such as somewhat misplaced assumptions concerning the needs, wants and abilities of illegal residents.

What many don’t think about is how beneficial legalizing immigrants will be to our economy.  Of course, there’s the reasonable concern that our currently low employment rate will be hit even harder by more people wanting jobs, and that’s definitely worth considering.  However, giving currently illegal immigrants their citizenships will not only increase our country’s tax revenues but it will also put an end (or at least move closer towards putting an end) to residents working and getting by without paying taxes.  Additionally, putting forward the Dream Act would give students with illegal immigrant statuses the chance to seek higher education and inevitably earn more money, which would feed right back into the economy.  The sacrifice of allowing these students to pay in-state tuition will most definitely end up being worth it, but until then, it’s going to be a struggle for them to even graduate from high school, as evidenced in this New York Times article.

There are also those who believe that there are other, more prevalent issues right now than immigration reform, such as healthcare, foreign affairs, etc., and the American people should be more understanding about that.  To be fair, the world is unpredictable and it’s illogical to assume that the agenda of the President of the United States isn’t going to change throughout his or her presidency.  To blatantly make promises and then pretend like they were never made, however, is a completely different story.

While I would love nothing more than to see our country begin taking historical strides toward equality and fairness, I think it will be at least a few more years before comprehensive immigration reform is put in the driver’s seat.  Many feel that immigration reform is more focused on non-citizens of the United States, and that issues that directly affect current citizens (such as healthcare and education reform) should hold higher priority.  While these concerns are certainly reasonable, I believe that putting immigration reform on the backburner time after time is hypocritical (in a manner of speaking, because we were all immigrants once, weren’t we?), unfair (it is truly un-American to promise a community of people that they’ll be helped and then fail to follow through) and could end up being horribly catastrophic.  I’m not saying that the other political issues on President Obama’s agenda aren’t important, because they of course are- but the time has come to put immigration reform on the same pedestal, and hopefully it’s only a matter of time before President Obama and his administration see and adhere to that.

[**Note: Info on sources will be posted shortly. -Shana]

1. Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national nonprofit organization that believes it is in Americans’ best interests to reform the nation’s immigration policies.  Amongst other things, they seek to put a stop to illegal immigration, improve border security and promote smaller immigration levels.  Serving in the interests of people in every political party, the institutional source has more than 250,000 members nationwide.  Learning more about this organization and what it stands for will be helpful to my research because it portrays a controversial, widely-backed perspective on immigration reform that many immigrants would argue against.

2. ‘Porous Border Not So Scary’ – The Chicago Tribune

Written by Steve Chapman, this article was featured in The Chicago Tribune on Sunday, February 21^st, 2010.  Using Chicago as an example, Chapman makes a case study arguing against a widely-believed theory: that illegal immigration and increases of immigrant residency affect violent crime rates.  His evidence actually shows that crime rates have plunged downward since 1986, “the year of the infamous amnesty for illegal immigrants”.  Although it’s an opinion piece, the source of the article is a newspaper, making it a journalistic source- and while it doesn’t directly affect Eugene’s immigrant community, Chapman’s piece gives insight into how many people view immigrants everywhere.

3. CAUSA Blog

While CAUSA, “Oregon’s statewide, grassroots immigrant rights coalition,” serves as a resource to Lane County community members in many ways, the organization communicates most effectively through its blog.  Covering events in and around Eugene, the CAUSA blog is updated on a frequent basis and provides information about events and different options in ways to get involved.  The visually appealing site features pictures, videos and even live streams from events, allowing for community members to participate in any way they can.  The citizen/institutional source helps to give a clearer understanding of the different ways in which Oregon’s immigrant community comes together.

4. UNETE website

When researching an issue as widespread as immigration, it’s necessary (not to mention incredibly useful) to get perspectives from those of different ages and backgrounds.  For instance, high-school students and their families are going to care a great deal about the getting the Dream Act passed, but migrant workers who spend their days towing the land aren’t going to be affected by such legislation.  Led by Latinos and made up entirely of volunteers, UNETE (Center for Farmworker Advocacy- Southern Oregon) is a movement that specifically serves Southern Oregon’s farmworkers and immigrants.  This institutional source gives a fresh, local perspective and shines a light on a different side of immigration.

5. Progressive States Network

A liberal organization, The Progressive States Network educates its website readers in a large assortment of issues, ranging from healthcare to immigration to economic reform.  In the immigration section of the institutional site is a piece titled, “State Policymakers Need to Respond to Growing Clout of Latino Voters Nationwide.”  This particular article discusses how much power Latino voters have (and are gaining more of), and that state policymakers need to understand that and respond to it.  Locally, there recently have been marches led by the Latino immigrant communities, allying against a select few state politicians who either have ignored or disagreed with what it is that they stand for.

6. Dream Activist- Undocumented Students Action and Resource Network

The Dream Activist Network is a student-led, national organization that focuses on getting the Dream Act passed.  If approved, the Dream Act will ensure citizenship for noncitizen, immigrant high-school graduates upon completing two years of college or military service.  Based on the layout of the institutional website, it is a locale at which one can learn about the Dream Act, the rights for immigrant youth, and the different ways to get involved and take action.  With the growing number of Latino students in Eugene’s public school districts, the Dream Act is something of high value to the local community.

7. Amigos Multicultural Services Center

The Amigos Multicultural Services Center is a small, Eugene-based volunteer organization that focuses on youth leadership development and advocacy of immigrant rights within the Lane County community.  The Amigos Youth Program is particularly important, training Latino youth from 14 to 24 to become human rights advocates.  Collaborating with allies to educate people on immigration reform, the Amigos Immigrant Rights Advocacy Program plays a major role within the organization as well.  The institutional source provides a variety of resources to the local Latino population, such as links to the  Catholic Community Services, Eugene Human Rights Commission and Sexual Assault Support Services, to name a few.

8. MEChA

MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán) is a nationwide, student organization that pushes Latino students (many of whom are immigrants) in college to become educated and politically involved while still maintaining a sense of self.  Found on campuses all over the country, MEChA (an institutional source) “is often the only group on campus… that seeks to open the doors of higher education and strives… for a society free of imperialism, racism, sexism, and homophobia.”  University of Oregon’s MEChA is active and has a small but secure membership.  Having a clear understanding of what Latino immigrants at this particular age stand for is important, because they’re the ones who will be soon be leading and advocating for their communities.

9. “Graduation Dreams” –New York Times

Appearing in the New York Times- a journalistic source- in June of 2009, “Graduation Dreams” tells the true story of 500 students at their graduation ceremony- diploma-less.  Because all the students were in the country illegally, it didn’t matter that many of them had graduated with honors or that some of them could go on to be truly spectacular in their fields of engineering or political science or journalism.  Since the Dream Act was on hold (as it still is), there was little for these young Latinos to do other than wait.  Eight months later, younger batches of students from all over the country (including Eugene) are awaiting their own graduation ceremonies, at which they too will receive virtually nothing for the hard work they’ve put in.

10.  Latino Neighbors

This institutional source gives really basic yet factual information regarding Lane County’s immigrant population.  Using statistics ranging from how many Latinos reside in Eugene to what types of problems the Latino youth are facing, this is a good place to go for an unbiased account of Eugene’s Latino community.  The site also discusses health care, education, barriers and needs, and offers a number of sources for people to contact if necessary.  The report was compiled by the League of Women Voters of Lane County.

source: http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20100219/NEWS/100219761/1078&ParentProfile=1055

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http://news.feetintwoworlds.org/2010/01/27/a-year-later-no-love-lost-between-obama-pro-immigration-reform-camp/

The image above comes from a blog called Feet in Two Worlds, in which professional reporters (most of whom are immigrants themselves) update readers on recent happenings in the “immigration world.”  This photo was taken on Tuesday, January 26^th, when approximately 150 pro-immigrant activists rallied together outside the Department of Homeland Security in Washington D.C.  They wanted to remind President Obama, whose State of the Union Address is approaching, of his intentions to push immigration reform in his first year of office.  A racially diverse group sits at the front of the sizable demonstration, implying that this is an issue affecting people of all backgrounds.  The photo’s seemingly cool temperature combined with the demonstrators’ warm clothing tell us that it was a cold day on which they were protesting, which makes me see that basic comforts weren’t as high of a priority to them as was getting their voices heard.

http://charleston.thedigitel.com/politics/south-carolina-latinos-gather-rally-support-immigr-18379-0125

This photo, taken at an immigration reform protest in South Carolina, appeared in a Digitel Charleston article on January 25^th, 2010.  According to the article, the protest was led by South Carolina’s Latino community.  The community has been shaken up ever since an immigration law, cracking down on businesses that had hired undocumented workers, was created.  What’s interesting about this picture is that the photographer didn’t capture the sign-holder’s face.  It seems to be conveying the message that while individual protesters aren’t going to make much of a difference, the message they’re trying to get across- and the means by which they’re conveying that message (holding signs, leading protests, etc.) – just might.

1700-1766: First major wave of immigration to America, an entirely European (and mainlyEnglish) occurance

1808:  Congress makes it illegal to bring slaves into the US

1875-1892:  Variety of immigration laws passed which make it harder for immigrants to come to the US.

1892: Immigration screening station is opened on Ellis Island
1900: US population reaches 76 million

1914: Anti-immigration feelings within the US strengthened by events of World War I

1952: Immigration and Nationality Act created as the basic structure of immigration law

1986: Immigration Reform and Control Act increases border restrictions and makes it illegal for employers to hire undocumented workers

1996:

• Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act puts an end to the several forms of cash and medical assistance that legal immigrants and low-income workers were receiving.
• Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) makes it more difficult for immigrants to legalize their status

2008: In his presidential campaign, Obama says that immigration reform will be a top priority during his first year in office, and that he intends to create a plan in which 12 million immigrants can achieve legal status.

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Five Helpful Links:

Immigration Reform: 2010 Could See Overhaul-This story sheds some light upon those against deportation and the pressure they’re putting on Obama, who has promised to tackle the immigration “issue” after he spends some more time in the healthcare arena.

Tackle Immigration Reform in 2010-This article is really interesting because the author calls for everyone, from Republicans and Democrats to xenophobes and immigrants alike, to have a reasonable, compromising attitude concerning the immigration reform issue that Obama intends to tackle soon.  I like that there’s a real lack of bias, and I think that articles like this one will help me put my own feelings on the issue into some perspective.

History Repeated?-This article is helpful because it makes ties between the history of US immigration and what’s been happening lately.

Arizona Has Become “Ground Zero” of Immigration Fight-This story, which introduces Joe Arpaio (the Maricopa County Sheriff who refers to himself as the “poster boy” of what immigrant rights movements are against), is helpful because it addresses those who are anti-immigration.

Irish American Community Leaders Push for New Immigration BillThis article is particularly helpful and interesting because it addresses how the government has been calling in community leaders of all kinds (from Irish American communities, for instance) to receive input on the immigration issue. Stories like this show how truly affected so many people are by potential immigration reform.

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To conclude…

Since this blog is going to be focused on what kind of immigration reform should take place under Obama’s administration, hearing all sides of “the story” is going to be a crucial factor here.  The current immigration issue is so heated (and has been for so long) that having all the facts is more important than ever, and being well informed on the history as well as current events, such as the steps President Obama is taking or various rallies protesters are having, is an absolute must.  I believe that the timeline I’ve made and the news articles I’ve found are going to be great starting points for me, and as someone who doesn’t know very much about the subject, I’m already feeling more confident in my knowledge of the issue.

That being said, there are many today who feel as though our immigration process is fractured, that there are too many illegal residents living within our borders, or even that there are just too many people in this country.

There are several questions to be considered regarding the issue of immigration, but one is especially pressing: should the United States government make it more difficult for non-US citizens to gain US citizenships?

http://www.democrats.org/a/national/american_community/immigration/