http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a ... /OPINION02

Anti-immigrant push an affront to King's memory


By ARNIE ALPERT and HANNAH EL-SILIMY
For the Monitor


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January 16. 2006 8:00AM


Observance of the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marks the acceptance of civil rights and interracial understanding as shared national values. Sadly, intolerance is on the rise again, largely directed at America's most recent immigrants.

From the time the first European immigrants arrived on these shores, debate has been ongoing over what it means to be a real "American." Some have held the notion that those who are not white, Christian, English-speaking descendants of Europeans are somehow less American than those who are.

Hostility to immigrants is a persistent feature of our national culture, balanced at times by the demand for immigrant labor, such as the Canadians who left their farms to work in New Hampshire's mills.

Anti-immigrant sentiment is on the rise, with politicians and their allies trying to place blame for social problems onto the undocumented immigrant population. Many otherwise reasonable Americans now seem to accept the notion that immigrants are a threat to the country's national security, economy and culture.

By creating a common reference to undocumented immigrants as "illegals" or "illegal aliens," anti-immigrant leaders have dehumanized people whose concern for their families propelled them to give up their lives in their countries and seek opportunities in North America.

This hostility toward and scapegoating of immigrants is finding expression in movements such as the Minutemen, who have sought to spread their vigilante actions from Arizona to northern New England. It is expressed in the unconstitutional acts of some local police who charged immigrants with trespassing, a tactic rejected by a district court judge and the attorney general.
Anti-immigrant sentiment also threatens to find a home at the State House, where a disturbing number of bills have been introduced that target undocumented immigrants.

For example, House Bill 1318 would deny state-funded health services to undocumented immigrants except in emergencies. House Bill 1137 would authorize local police to charge people they suspect to be in the country without documentation with trespassing. House Bill 1642 would make it a felony, punishable by prison and the forfeiture of vehicles, for transporting, harboring or even encouraging the presence of undocumented immigrants in New Hampshire.

There are a number of problems with these bills, starting with the fact that many of them are unconstitutional. Others, such as the proposal to deny health services, are also a threat to our public health and safety.

Do we really want to deny preventive health services or treatment for contagious diseases based on immigration status?

Do we really want to criminalize contact with undocumented immigrants and send health-care and social workers to prison for doing their jobs?

The bigger problem is that the punitive approaches carried in these proposals are affronts to human dignity. Punishing those who gave up everything to escape poverty and violence in their home countries is inhumane and ineffective. It does nothing to address the push-pull factors that drive people to leave their homes and families to come to New Hampshire.

Passage of legislation that will further criminalize undocumented immigrants will heighten racial tensions and fears, and continue the erosion of the civil and human rights for U.S. citizens as well as immigrants.

As we celebrate the birth of Dr. King, who dedicated his life to freedom and opportunity for everyone, we should respond to his urging that we "build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear"and support immigrants in New Hampshire.

(Arnie Alpert and Hannah El-Silimy are on the staff of the New Hampshire Office of the American Friends Service Committee. Alpert is a member of the Monitor's board of contributors.)