Thread: Alaskans bear heavy costs of holes in immigration laws

Bleeding Heart Op-Ed in Anchorage Daily News
Alaskans bear heavy costs of holes in immigration laws

By ROBIN BRONEN
http://www.adn.com/opinion/compass/stor ... 5344c.html
(Published: August 14, 2007)

Now that the dust has settled from an extremely rancorous Congressional debate on comprehensive immigration reform, it is time to examine fundamental principles that should guide any future discussion.

National security has guided our nation's immigration laws for decades. That focus diverts our attention from addressing the root causes that drive people to come to the U.S. In the most recent debate, Congress once again was ready to enact a patchwork of complicated laws that would have further complicated our immigration dilemma.

The United States needs to radically transform its immigration policies to better respond to the globalizing economy, ongoing refugee crises erupting in different parts of the world and the changing demographics of our nation.

Three principles must guide the transformation.

Most important is providing sanctuary to those fleeing persecution and torture. U.S. refugee policy is woefully inadequate. The multi-year crises in Darfur and Iraq are glaring examples of how we neglect those most in need. Despite these crises, and despite the need for sanctuary, refugee admissions to the US have plummeted since September 11, 2001.

Next, the U.S. must create a better immigration system for families. In Alaska, this is the single most critical immigration issue. Hundreds of Alaskans live in fear that their husband or wife or mother or father will be deported and they will never see them again. They are living the tragedy of our nation's immigration laws. All Alaskans pay the price when families are torn apart.

The third, and most difficult, reform is to create a fair and just employment-based immigration system. That system should not displace U.S. workers, while allowing immigrants working in our economy to receive the documentation they need so that they will not be exploited.

Failure to create a just employment-based immigration system directly creates the conditions for human trafficking. The Bush administration is spending millions of dollars raising public awareness about the horror of human trafficking, yet it has failed to address the underlying factors that allow immigrants to be victimized. Business leaders, unions and immigrant rights organizations need to be brought together to resolve this issue.

The most recent congressional debate did not resolve any of these issues but aggravated them. Instead of creating a family reunification system, the Senate proposal would have made it more difficult for United States citizens to be with their parents, siblings and children in this country.

The legislation offered no hope to Alaskans, like Sara. She married her husband, who is from Mexico, five years ago. They are the parents of a 2-year-old child. He was required to return to Mexico to complete immigration paperwork. He left Alaska thinking he would be separated from his family for a couple of months. But when he returned to Mexico, the U.S. embassy told him that he is permanently barred from returning because long ago he entered the United States without a visa.

Now Sara is left with a choice. Does she stay in the United States with their 2-year-old daughter and raise her alone without her father? Does she move herself and her child to a country where she has never been and where she does not speak the language so that her child can know her dad? What would you do?

Similarly, the various proposals floated by the Senate regarding guest workers and amnesty would not have protected immigrant workers from exploitation.

In Alaska, the human consequences of our inability to resolve our nation's immigration laws are heartbreaking. As one Alaska Native woman recently said to me after her husband was deported, "I did not check my husband's immigration status before I fell in love with him. Who is now going to help me take care of our three U.S. citizen children?"
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Robin Bronen is executive director of the Alaska Immigration Justice Project in Anchorage.

That's because it's too darn cold in Alaska for illegal aliens from warm southern climates to move there. They don't have a problem, so they don't get it!

Dixie