Black’s Law Dictionary defines immigration as the “act of entering a country with the intention of settling there permanently” (Garner, 2006). An immigrant is the person who partakes in the action of immigration and is defined as a “person who arrives in a country to settle there permanently; a person who immigrates” (Garner, 2006). From the very beginning, America has been a land of immigrants, and I expect that it will remain that way.
When the word immigrant comes up in everyday language, especially for those of us who live along the border states, it may be common that the next thought may be the word illegal. Not because we believe that it is wrong or right, but because it exist, and it continues to be a sour subject for many Americans. Sometimes I wonder why this is. Have you or I personally been hurt by an illegal immigrant? Is your or my family going hungry because an illegal immigrant has our jobs? Or, is just the mere fact that illegal immigrants are here in America illegally? I guess questions like these would be answered differently by different people.
Ever since the eighties, when I started understanding the news and my parent’s conversations, I have heard the words immigration reform. Today, I still continue to hear the words immigration reform. Whether I am reading blogs, reading the paper, listening to the radio or television, people are urging for immigration reform. These two words not only have the ability to get people riled up when they are put together, they have the ability to put a wedge between friends. What is it about these two words that hold so much power, but seem to go nowhere? What is immigration reform and what does it mean to the masses?
For immigrants who have families abroad, immigration reform is about getting reunification benefits for their family members back home; so they too may come to America. For some, it might be that they are legal immigrants who followed the rules and have the expectation that others should do the same. For others, maybe it is about migrating here legally through an education visa knowing that a green card is not attached to their visa; so they too may enjoy the American dream. Lastly, immigration reform may be about rounding up the all the illegal’s and sending them back home because they broke America’s federal laws. In whichever way you or I view immigration reform, someone else will have the opposite view.
If you are a politician, the words immigration reform means talking about reform in the manner your constituents want to hear, but knowing that a stalemate exists in Congress that is almost impossible to break. Its okay, Joe can blame Fred when he has to explain his shortcomings his constituents. Who are the Democrats going to blame? They held the majority in the House and the Senate for a time with Obama at the helm most recently and did nothing. Now that the Republicans hold the majority in the Senate, the Democrats can blame the Republicans when reform does not happen in 2011. How much more can we take? Before we know it, it will be 2049 and immigration reform will still be two words that cannot find true meaning.
According to James Jasper, “emotions pervade all social life, social movements included” and are “as much a part of culture as cognitive understandings and moral visions are, and all social life occurs in and through culture” (Goodwin & Jasper, 2009, p.p. 175-176). But if our culture is so extremely divided on the issue of illegal immigration, then how does this work and where do we go from here? Each side of the issue continues to make a “concerted effort” to change the other side through social movement, but progress still looms with no end in sight (Goodwin & Jasper, 2009, p. 176). One may argue that it is critical to leave emotion out of the process and to just work off the law, but in reality, this type of action would be in favor of the anti-illegal immigration camp. With this being said, this would not be true reform; at least for those in favor of illegal immigrant rights. So where does that leave us? Back where we started—spewing out the words that we need immigration reform.
No comments:
Post a Comment