Ruben Navarrette Jr.: Immigrants and their supporters may be taking on too many issues

05/04/2008

SAN DIEGO - A lot of Americans can't get their head around the concept of illegal immigrants demanding civil rights from a country whose laws they've broken. After all, these are people who have - by virtue of not following the rules to get here, live here, work here - chosen to live outside our system. And now they want to come inside, but only to ask for this and demand that, without admitting they did wrong or acknowledging their responsibility to make it right.

First of all, many of those who marched recently in demonstrations - smaller than in previous years - aren't illegal immigrants. They're U.S. citizens and legal residents - including the children of immigrants - who think the immigration debate has been too one-sided. People like Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights organization in Milwaukee.

It's good that immigrants and their advocates are expressing themselves, even if marches may not be the best way to do it. For 364 days a year, we have a volatile debate over illegal immigrants. This is one day a year when they talk back - if not directly, then through their actions.

Here's what some of them are saying to me and other members of the media - that what matters most isn't how they got into this country but what they've done with their lives since they arrived. If they've worked hard at jobs Americans won't do, started businesses, paid taxes and raised good kids, then they've earned a shot at legalization and the right to be free of harassment, hatred and hysteria. That's how they see it.

Because immigrants and their supporters put so much emphasis on work, it was predictable that - sooner or later - this movement would morph into a broader crusade for all workers.

In the mega-marches of 2006 - in some cities, hundreds of thousands of people turned out - the demands were simple: a path to legalization for illegal immigrants and the defeat of heavy-handed enforcement legislation in Congress.

This year, the major demands are an end to workplace raids by federal authorities and a commitment from whomever is elected president that he or she will support comprehensive immigration reform in the first 100 days of the new administration.

Immigration reform is essential, but workplace raids are a part of it. We need more deportations to show the country that we're serious about enforcing our laws. This will help generate enough good will so that more Americans will go along with something that now seems out of reach: a conditional path to legalization for millions of illegal immigrants.

The new round of demands also includes, according to Neumann-Ortiz, the liberal boilerplate of "access to health care for all and good jobs." And, oh yes, an end to the war in Iraq.

Oh dear. You can see where this is headed. And it's a dead end. It's understandable that immigration activists would want to reach outside their comfort zone and broaden their base of support, and that they would buddy up with organized labor and the anti-war movement to make that happen.

But it's also a mistake. The conflicting goals will catch up with them. In fact, they already have. The only way to get a comprehensive bill through Congress is with support from Republican moderates who will go along only if the package includes guest workers for their pals in the business community. Organized labor considers that a deal-breaker. It worries that guest workers will hurt American workers, not to mention undermine the unions that represent them.

Those on the far left want legalization but they're not willing to go along with guest workers to get it, while those on the far right want guest workers but not if it means supporting legalization. The extremes never want to negotiate.

So expect nothing to happen in Congress on immigration for a while, no matter who gets elected president. Expect more frustration and more marches. This tradition will continue.

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_9149285