Thread: Panel discusses issues of immigration

By Ginger Livingston
The Daily Reflector
Saturday, January 21, 2012

Whether undocumented or properly documented, immigrants battle to find their place in the American dream.

A five-person panel spoke about the nation’s immigration policies during a Thursday night forum sponsored by the Pitt County Coffee Party, an organization dedicated to discussing issues facing the nation and state, said organization Ray Sobel.

“Immigration is a big issue facing the United States,” Sobel said.

Panelists Josh Mariaga, Bryan Patonay and Javier Castillo started the event by describing how their families immigrated to the United States.

Patonay was born in Communist-run Hungary and came to the United States when his father pursued an advanced college degree.

He said he remembers the difficulties his family faced trying to obtain visas to come to the United States.

Then his maternal grandfather became terminally ill and his mother was unable to obtain the necessary paperwork to return to Hungary and then back to the United States.

Even today, Patonay, who became a naturalized citizen in 1996, said he still has “an extra layer of paperwork” when dealing with certain government entities that other Americans don’t face.

Castillo studied in the United States as a child and then in college.

He married a U.S. citizen, but they lived in his home country of Nicaragua until that nation became engulfed in civil war.

Josh Mariaga, a native of Honduras, first came to the United States on a student visa. However, when The Memorial Baptist Church sought a minister for an Hispanic congregation it was sponsoring, Mariaga’s parents moved stateside and his student visa was changed to a religious visa.

The downside is that while is legally documented, that visa prevents him from getting a job.

Dani Martinez Moore with the N.C. Justice Center, said the framework of the immigration debate needs to be changed, noting that the title for the forum “Immigration: is There a Solution?,” implied immigration issues are a problem.

“I don’t know if immigration is a problem, but it is a complex system we have to understand better,” she said.

North Carolina is new to the issue of immigration, she said, but discussions about the issue generate levels of malice that she has seen in few issues.

Moore urged the audience to follow a state legislative committee that is reviewing the immigration issue.

Members want to pass state immigration laws similar to the strict policies of Arizona and Alabama.

Immigration issues won’t be resolved until corporate America is made responsible for its involvement in the problem, said Justin Flores with the Farm Labor Organizing Committee.

Some farmers and agri-businesses want illegal immigration to continue because undocumented workers can be paid less and are unlikely to complain, Flores said. Corporations should be accountable for the actions of their suppliers, he said.

Castillo said that for too long immigration reform discussions have focused on two extremes: granting amnesty to people in the country illegally or sending all undocumented immigrants to their home countries with no consideration to their time in the country, their family status or their contributions to the community.

Instead of reform, he proposes “regularizing” undocumented workers so they can work legally and move back and forth between their home countries and the United States.

Contact Ginger Livingston at glivingston@reflector.com or 252-329-9570

The Daily Reflector

regularizing...What will they think of next?