Immigration and poverty: Why Congress must reform our immigration laws now

Whenever I write about the need for immigration reform, someone inevitably posts the statement:

What part of “illegal” don’t you understand?

My response is another question:

What part of “poverty” don’t you understand?

It’s no accident first-world nations have serious immigration problems. Their own policies caused the problem in the first place. For centuries, European nations stole resources from their colonies, then left native populations in poverty with few resources to build a vital economy.

Historically, European nations milked considerable resources from poor countries around the world. Foreign occupiers in third-world countries forced natives to do the hardest jobs: felling trees in thick forests, farming, mining, reaping riches and shipping them to world markets. With few exceptions, profits went to European coffers.

European expatriates established privileged societies, relying on native servants for the smallest chores. They called exploited nations “colonies.” It’s no coincidence that most natives in these far-flung lands were dark-skinned.

Pale-skinned occupiers justified disreputable policies by claiming superiority based on superficial details:

● their light skin made them superior to people of color;
● Christianity was the “true religion,” the religion of “peace”;
● theirs was the “one true God”;
● European languages were easier to understand than those of native populations;
● European culture was “civilized”; native cultures were “savage.”

Occupiers controlled subject natives by:

● suppressing native languages, cultures, and religions;
● controlling native education;
● limiting native employment opportunities, pay, and benefits.

These policies doomed most native people to a life of poverty. Finally, with the dawn of the 20th century, the winds of independence--spawned on the American continent and blowing across Europe throughout the 1800s--began to infect the colonies. Native leaders marshaled their countrymen to wage decades-long struggles against colonialism.

Though most of these campaigns were eventually successful, as Mohandas Gandhi warned his fellow Indians, gaining freedom was just the first step. Overcoming poverty is a harder and longer battle. Moreover, they had to deal with anger against their departing white occupiers and traditional rivalries, such as the conflict between Hindus and Muslims.

With negative emotions clouding judgment, people at every social level had difficulty learning the high art of self-government, no easy trick to master. They had to establish an effective educational system to train down-trodden citizens for jobs they’d previously been barred from. They had to develop skills and raise capital to build businesses, small and large, to employ workers yearning to improve their economic status. And they had to build a political system that serves citizens at every social level while dealing with other countries in the international arena.

Success at self-government and building a new economy proved a more daunting task than exiling their old masters. Some countries have done better than others. India, for example, has developed thriving 21st century industries, from manufacturing electronic products to operating call centers for first-world corporations.

Though it’s one of the more successful of former European colonies, India’s economy is hampered by a huge population wallowing in abject poverty, and Hindu India has long been locked in a virtual struggle with neighboring Muslim Pakistan over the region of Kashmir. The traditionally Indian territory has a Muslim majority but a significant Hindu population.

Gaining independence doesn’t automatically confer peace or prosperity on any political entity, no matter how long they’ve enjoyed independence. That’s why inhabitants of former colonies often relocate to a country where they have a better chance of improving their economic condition. Many move to Europe, but more view America as a place of greater opportunities.

Unfortunately, U.S. immigration authorities often set higher immigration quotas for countries where citizens enjoy greater educational and economic advantages at home. That means people from poorer countries find it harder to obtain legal permission to immigrate here. Since most who “yearn to breathe free” have trouble entering the U.S. legally, many people manage to come in “under the radar.” They don’t do this to break the law but so they can feed their families.

The long-term solution would be for wealthy nations to take a proactive approach to ending poverty throughout the world, especially in countries that were historically plundered by greedy colonizers. In the short run, ending the expensive war on illegal immigration would save billions in enforcement costs, and putting everyone to work would enhance market capital and raise tax revenues.

These steps would go a long way toward ending the current economic crisis. That’s why passing humane immigration laws would be a win-win step for all concerned.

Welcome to the Arizona Gestapo

As I begin this post, my TV is tuned to CNN so I can watch Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signing SB 1070 into law, giving law enforcement agents in the state the power to arrest anyone they suspect to be in the country illegally. Supporters say the law is necessary because of the violence of the Mexican cartels that is spilling over into our state. But one terrible reality is that this is going to make it easier for criminals to prey on otherwise law-abiding people whose only crime is that they don't have a green card. And because of the possibility of undue harassment, it will make a lot more people, especially Latinos, hesitate even more than in the past before they report a crime that's been committed against them.

When a Latino woman is raped, she's going to be even more afraid to report the crime now than she was before this law goes into effect. Even minor crimes are going to increase in immigrant communities, while any semblance of law enforcement will virtually disappear, because so many people will be afraid to report it to the authorities, if not for themselves, then at least for their friends and neighbors.

In fact, I know personally of at least one person, and possibly more, who work in a public service agency and have taken financial advantage of Latino clients, including a couple of friends of mine. Even though one of the victims I know is a citizen, born in Casa Grande (yes, we're part of the United States, albeit a mere 60 miles from the border!), the other is a legal immigrant who was raised in California and Arizona and has been married to a citizen for more than a decade. They're perfectly legal residents, yet they're still afraid to speak up for themselves, despite the fact that they know for sure that others like them have also been taken advantage of--all of them for several thousand dollars apiece, and all of them Hispanic, with at least one non-citizen in each family!

And remember, all this criminal activity committed against Latino victims took place a couple of years before SB 1070. This new law is just going to add a new layer of fear to all the residents of minority communities, even among people who are citizens or at least are in this country legally. Another effect will probably be a diaspora of workers out of Arizona, again, not all of whom are in this country illegally. In fact, Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico warned Brewer against signing the bill, in part because of the number of people who would flee her state and settle in his, just east of Arizona.

And if Arizonans think that's a good thing, they should look at the example of Prince William County, Virginia, which for a couple of months in 2007 had a similarly tough law to fight their "illegal problem." When all the Hispanics left the county as a result, the economic impact was immediate and widespread. That's why the law lasted only two months, taking an edge off the economic brunt of the legal battle that is also being threatened by activists here in Arizona.

It's interesting to note one more factor that's received bare mention during the runup to this bill becoming law: Anti-immigration laws are generally being passed and signed by members of the party that has vehemently opposed national legislation that would solve the immigration problem, illegal and otherwise. Republicans aren't willing to admit that the upper class that is their mainstay is the same class that makes illegal immigration possible and gets the most economic benefit from the practice. And as experiences in Prince William County and elsewhere demonstrate, the overall economic impact of immigrants, whether legal or otherwise, benefits everyone. Running all the Latinos out of town--or in the case of SB 1070, out of the state--is counterproductive to improving the economy during a severe recession.

And since one more argument for SB 1070 has been that state officials don't believe federal authorities are doing a good enough job harassing the Hispanic population, consider one more experience related to me by a couple of my Latino friends: The man was born in Mexico but raised in the states, his wife is a natural-born citizen whose parents were born in Mexico, and like their mother, both their children were born here in Arizona. The wife and kids all had their passports, and she had her Arizona commercial driver license, while the man had his Arizona commercial driver license, his green card, and a legally obtained visa for their trip to Mexico to visit his parents for several weeks.

On the way back to their home in Arizona, they were stopped by the Border Patrol and questioned. In spite of all the documentation that proved their legal status, they were held for over two hours and threats were made that they might not be able to stay together as a family. The wife told me later that she feared they could at least deport her husband and possibly even take away her children as well. In the end, the family were allowed to continue on their way, very much the worse for their experience!

If the immigrant-haters don't believe members of the Border Patrol are doing their job of harassing legal residents who "look like" "illegal" immigrants, they should take this story to heart. Instead, the state will have to cut even more money from "unnecessary" services like education and health care for poor children, because it's going to cost them a packet of money defending this immoral law in the federal courts!

Meanwhile, laws like SB 1070 just inspire me to keep writing about why we need to find win-win-win solutions to the situations that lead to such horrendous statutes. In the end, I always return to the premise that the root cause of all these problems is poverty. If we would do what is necessary to end poverty, not only in our country but throughout the world, poor people would not have to leave their home countries and move to places where they can earn enough money to buy the basic goods and services their families need to enjoy a dignified existence. In the long run, ending poverty would benefit us all. The only thing we need is the social, moral, and political will to accomplish the task. Until then, I'll keep on writing about the possibilities.