In anticipation of a U.S. Senate vote regarding comprehensive
immigration reform, thousands of Greater Boston immigrants and their allies are set to participate in a National Day of Action joining 30
cities across America in a public show of strength and power. Â Set to
convene on Monday, April 10, 2006 at the Boston Common at 4:00 PM, a diverse group of speakers will greet the gathering and setoff a 3-hour program of music and celebration. Â Immigrants and their supporters will wear white shirts as a sign of peaceful protest, carry American flags and serve as a personal reminder to Massachusetts why
immigration reform is incredibly important. Â This event is being
coordinated by a vast coalition of organizations, churches, leaders and businesses known as the April 10th Committee.
Unless I’m held late at work, as I was for the march two weeks ago, I’ll be there! I didn’t weigh in on it, but I was honestly dismayed to see that when I posted on this topic last week, many people were not supportive. (I also asked if there were any prominent Dems there, and no one mentioned any–also a disappointment.)
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I think that this is a crucial issue that Dems need to support. As sharpchick described in great detail there, it’s simply incorrect to say, as many do, that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes–they pay millions into the system that they can’t take back in benefits.
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Others point out that undocumented immigrants broke the law, and yes, that’s generally true. But there’s a reason why breaking immigration law is a civil offense, not a criminal one. Most people who come to this country without papers do so to escape violence, political repression, and/or extreme poverty. When those factors are in play, is it any surprise that people don’t worry about having their documents in order, particularly considering that ICE (the Dept of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which replaced the INS) is a byzantine bureaucracy whose speed can charitably be called glacial? Based on family stories, I suspect that at least one or two of my ancestors didn’t come into the country legally when they wer fleeing the czar. I suspect that’s true of many of those reading this, too.
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And then there’s the argument that undocumented immigrants bring down wages. There may be some truth to it, though I frankly suspect that an economic analysis would find that the impact is dwarfed by the impact of outsourcing, welfare reform, the rise of temp labor, and other trends that have eaten away good jobs over the last 30 years. But more importantly, undocumented immigrants are most likely to bring down wages when employers can easily exploit them. The current system makes that fabulously easy for employers–the fear of deportation keeps workers from speaking out against low pay, dangerous conditons, sexual harassment, etc. If undocumented immigrants aren’t forced to live in the shadows, they’re harder to bully and more on a par with citizens and green-card holders.
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So I hope that people reading this, along with Democratic leaders, will turn out this Monday. We’re getting to an historical moment on this issue, and I hope that the Dems know which side they’re on.
And I do hope some Democrats come out to the rally. The Mass Democratic Party should do more on this, I think the only thing they did for the in-state tuition debate was make fun of Kerry Healy with the whole Marie Antoinette thing which was hilarious but completely useless.
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It’s mostly our fault that “illegal immigration” has swelled to such numbers. It’s our trade policies stupid. What we do around the world does have an impact outside of our own benefits. To make matters worse, we’ve closed our borders like never before to legal immigrants, limiting the people who can become legal. Did you know that if you are a Mexican immigrant and crossed the border without a passport, even if you marry a US citizen you cannot get a green card? Thank IIRIRA in 1996. In contrast, if you overstayed your student visa and marry a US citizen, it takes you a year or so of paperwork to get your green card … guess who is in each category most of the time?
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In simple terms, here’s part of the explanation:
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I hope that many of you will consider joining this rally.
As a progressive I don’t think we do any favors to working people by rewarding folks who break the law, drive up taxes to cover their social services and drive down wages for working people. This is just a give away to big business who just want to exploit cheap labor.
Bman, I think that I’ve addressed most of this, but just to be clear, let’s pick apart your argument.
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As I said above, violating immigration laws is a civil offense which is generally dwarfed by the circumstances people are escaping from. Moreover, I’ve skimmed through your other comments, and I can’t see other places where you even mention your apparent passion for making sure that no one breaks the law. Could it be that you’re a bit selective in your application of this principle?
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Huh? As both I and sharpchick have described, undocumented immigrants do pay taxes. Moreover, they’re not able to access most social services. Food stamps? No. Welfare? No. Mass Health? Not even for many “legal” immigrants. So where’s this drain on service budgets coming from? Undocumented immigrants tend to take far less in services than citizens of their same income level.
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Moreover, this whole “driving up taxes to cover their social services” line sounds a lot like attacks on “welfare queens.” Let’s leave the Reaganite scapegoating out, shall we? If you want to talk about the tax burden, let’s look at the things that have really had an impact–estate tax repeal, corporate tax loopholes, and this war that’s costing just a bit of money over in Iraq.
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Undocumented immigrants ARE working people. Some of the hardest working people in society today. Fortunately, many people recognize this, including organized labor, which has backed immigrant struggles here in Massachusetts and nationally. As I mentioned in my previous post, any downward effect on wages from immigrants is dwarfed by the impact of outsourcing, union-busting, and general corporate greed. Moreover, if you don’t want immigrant workers to be easy to exploit and pay low wages, let them step out of the shadows and have legal status!
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The best thing for big businesses who want cheap labor is to maintain the status quo, with millions of undocumented workers who are afriad of deportation and thus afriad to stand up for better wages and working conditions. With a path to citizenship and work protections, they become a whole lot harder to exploit. Which do you want?