I am a 4th generation Norwegian immigrant on my Mom’s side. Her maternal grandparents came here from Norway. I can’t trace the rest as precisely, but I do know this. If you go back enough generations, my ancestors weren’t born on this land. They all came over from Europe. And, I’m a total mutt at this point so I don’t call myself a Norwegian American or a German American, or whatever else might be in me. I just call myself an American. It’s all sort of blended together, or melted. Kind of like a melting pot.
What makes me proud to be an American can be summed up in one word: welcome. The Statue of Liberty could just as easily and naturally be referred to as the Mother of Exiles. This is the land we came to for an opportunity at enlightenment, improvement, advancement, and freedom from oppression. This is the land we came to in order to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
What makes me proud to be a follower of Christ can also be summed up in one word: one. That’s the word. As in, we are all one. How I treat my neighbor is how I treat myself.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the tempest-tost to me.”
“For when I was hungry, you gave me something to eat. When I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was a prisoner and you came to visit me.”
One of these quotes comes from the plaque upon the Statue of Liberty, Mother of Exiles. The other comes from the mouth of Jesus. Both contribute to how I strive to treat others and how I believe our laws should strive to treat others.
The topic of immigration reform is expensive and exhausting. I’ve been researching it for a while now and feel like I have barely scratched the surface. Like many complex issues, there is no way to really simplify it and do it justice at the same time. But, if I had to, it comes down to finding a compromise between a path to citizenship for well-intended individuals and families while securing borders from actual threats. Additionally, the system has lacked reform for such a long time, that the pathway to citizenship is wrought with roadblocks forcing many into undocumented status not because they want to be, but because there is no other option. Millions are contributing positively to society and the economy and may even have family members with that are legal citizens, but fear being sent back and having their family torn apart because the pathway to citizenship is so broken.
Here is one example of the broken system. Let’s say you are here as an undocumented immigrant. Maybe you came here legally as a tourist or on a temporary visa, and didn’t leave. Or maybe you’re on the waitlist due to annual limits and your parents or children are legal, but you’re not. Or, maybe you even came here illegally to escape danger in your own country. You may have relatives with legal status or even want to marry a U.S. citizen. One way or another, you are illegally here. Well, in order to apply for a green card, you have to leave the country. And, once you do, you are banned from returning to the country for 3 to 10 years because you were previously in the U.S. illegally. So, you stay...illegally.
Here is what I have discovered. It is universally agreed upon that our immigration system is broken. There is a lot of fear and ignorance around who immigrants are, why they are here, and how they contribute to society and one of our presidential candidates is doing a tremendous job of playing on those fears and that ignorance. There is just as much fear and ignorance around who refugees are, why they are here, and how they contribute to society. I did find this Myths vs. Facts sheet helpful in debunking some of those damaging falsehoods such as, “They’re taking our jobs,” “They drain our economy,” “They don’t pay taxes,” “They take advantage of our welfare system,” and “They’re criminals.” I think that is a good starting point for anyone who wants to understand the facts about immigrants. If you don’t want to read the 20 pages though, let me give you the short version: those are myths perpetuated to keep “others” out.
Does this mean, let anyone and everyone in, no questions ask? Of course not. Granted, Jesus might say yes, but is we were all so Christ-like, we probably wouldn’t need to have this conversation in the first place. There are criminals out there. There are terrorists out there. Security matters. We can be welcoming and secure at the same time.
Here are some key historical efforts before we go on that show how complicated it is to pass immigration reform. All had the basic foundation of providing a path to citizenship and securing our borders.
Secure American and Orderly Immigration Act: Introduced to the Senate by John McCain (R-AZ) & Ted Kennedy (D-MA) in 2005. Never voted on but led to the following bills.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006: Introduced the Senate by Arlen Specter (R-PA*) and co-sponsored by McCain, Kennedy, & 4 others. Passed the Senate but the House & Senate could not come to an agreement so it never became law.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007: This was another bipartisan compromise between providing a path to citizenship and increased border enforcement. It also failed.
DREAM Act: (Development, Relief, & Education for Alien Minors) First introduced by Dick Durbin (D-IL) & Orrin Hatch (R-UT) in 2001. This was essentially a path to citizenship bill if a candidate meets the requirements. Supporters argue numerous social and economic benefits. Critics argue that it rewards the undocumented and encourages more immigration. It has been introduced numerous times since then but has yet to be passed.
Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013: This is a bill written and negotiated by the “Gang of Eight” which includes 4 democrat senators and 4 republican senators. It passed the Senate, but has not been acted up in the House. It was another blend of path to citizenship and border security. In addition, it was predicted to reduce the deficit by raising more revenue than it would cost.
DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals): DACA was started by the Obama administration in June of 2012 as a way to allow undocumented immigrants that entered before their 16th birthday and before June of 2007 to receive a renewable two year work permit and exemption from deportation. By June of 2007, it had granted DACA status to 581,000 and denied it to 24,000. This was an executive action in response to the failure of the DREAM Act. It currently stands, but expansions of the program proposed in November 2014 are currently blocked due to lawsuits (recently heard by the Supreme Court).
DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Immigrants): This was another executive action announced in November 2014 to grant deferred action status to certain undocumented immigrants who have children who are American citizens or lawful permanent residents. Deferred action is not full legal status, but it does come with a three year renewable work permit and exemption from deportation. This is currently blocked due to lawsuits that have reached the Supreme Court.
Here is where the candidates stand.
Clinton: Clinton’s plan is extensive. This is just a portion of it. Clinton supported all of the above bills that she was a Senator for and supports Obama’s executive actions, DACA & DAPA. She says she will fight for comprehensive reform that provides a full and equal path to citizenship, treats every person with dignity, upholds the rule of law, protects our borders and national security, and brings millions of hardworking people into the formal economy. Clinton wants to end the 3 to 10 year bans for re-entry.
She proposes creating a National Office of Immigrant Affairs to ensure successful immigrant and refugee integration in every community. She believes that families who want to purchase health insurance should be able to do so and should be able to buy into the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Concerning immigration enforcement, she believes it should be humane and targeted. She will focus enforcement resources on detaining and deporting those individuals who pose a violent threat to public safety, and work to ensure refugees who seek asylum in the U.S. have a fair chance to tell their stories. Hillary believes we should end family detention for parents and children who arrive at our border in desperate situations. She says we have alternatives to detention for those who pose no flight or public safety risk, such as supervised release, that have proved effective and cost a fraction of what it takes to keep families in detention. She will end private immigrant detention centers. She believes we should move away from contracting out this critical government function to private corporations and private industry incentives that may contribute—or have the appearance of contributing—to over-incarceration.
Trump: This is probably the most central issue of Donald Trump’s platform. This is what he is running on, and this is why his followers love him. This is what they chant about at his rallies. Donald Trump wants to build a wall along the Mexican border and he wants Mexico to pay for it. He is serious about this. Of the seven positions he outlines on his website (to Clinton’s 32), “Pay for the Wall” and “Immigration Reform” are 2 of them. He has an elaborate plan to make Mexico pay for the wall.
He was against the bill written by the Gang of Eight and outlines three core principles in his immigration reform: physical borders including a physical wall between Mexico & the US, enforcement of current laws, and improvement of jobs, wages, and security for legal Americans.
He wants to triple the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. He supports detention centers at our borders, enacting stricter penalties for those overstaying their visas, and an end birthright citizenship.
I can’t even bring myself to outline the rest of his program. It plays on every single immigrant myth there is (which he calls aliens, by the way). It paints them as criminals, welfare abusers, and essentially the cause of every problem in our country real or imagined. If his claims were true, who wouldn’t vote for him? But, their not. Politifact has rated him “pants on fire” more than any other candidate. 78% of what he has said has been proven false. He is doing a tremendous job on playing on imaginary fears.
Here are those excessively false statements (just the extreme ones) on immigration. Click on them to find out the truth:
"Look, we are at war with these people and they don't wear uniforms. … This is a war against people that are vicious, violent people, that we have no idea who they are, where they come from. We are allowing tens of thousands of them into our country now." Again, if that were true, it would be cause for concern, but it is not true.
Here’s another: “The 2016 federal omnibus spending bill "funds illegal immigrants coming in and through your border, right through Phoenix."
From a Trump ad that shows footage from Morocco instead of Mexico: A Trump television ad shows Mexicans swarming over "our southern border."
Not even decided by the government: The federal government is sending refugees to states with governors who are "Republicans, not to the Democrats."
These go together: "The Mexican government ... they send the bad ones over."
Researchers say it is ⅓ of this: The number of illegal immigrants in the United States is "30 million, it could be 34 million."
When you put all of these together, it sounds like pretty dire situation and he is getting a lot of traction by creating these fears and then pandering to them. But, they are completely false. Completely.
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