Immigration, Immigration

1
Immigration, Immigration Reform, and the
Restructuring of Mexican American Politics

• Mexican Americans and Politics
• Lecture 16
• March 7, 2006

2
Organizational Matters

• No class on Thursday, March 9
• Essay 2 returned today
• Midterm returned next Tuesday
• Essay 3 due next Tuesday, March 14
• You may turn in the essay anytime next week by
  5 pm Friday, March 17 and I will count it as on
  time
• Final quiz Thursday, March 16
• It should take about 15 minutes

3
Immigration ReformHistorical Perspectives

• Periods of Congressional reform
• 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts
• 1850s the Know Nothings
• 1880s Chinese exclusion
• 1880s-1910s Excluding categories of immigrants
  and narrowing naturalization
• 1910s-1920s Literacy tests and National Origin
  Quotas
• 1965 Ended national origin quotas
• 1986 Employer sanctions and legalization
• 1990s Limiting rights of immigrants and more
  rapid exclusion

4
What do These Periods of Reform Have in Common?

• Generally, they narrowed, rather than expanded
  immigration opportunities
• Exceptions 1850s (no change), 1965 (ended
  National Origin quotas), and, possibly, 1986
• Responded to period of mass organizing and state
  efforts to change (restrict) immigration
• Ongoing tension in American politics Economic
  and ethnic interests seeking immigrants and
  cultural conservatives and organized labor
  fearing the changes they bring
• Reform generally took a number of years because
  of competing societal interests

5
Reform in Current Era Focus Unauthorized
Immigrants

• 1986 (Immigration Reform and Control Act)
• Legalization
• Employer sanctions
• 1990s / 2000s
• Expanded border enforcement
• 1996 (Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
  Responsibility Act)
• Expanded deportation of legal immigrants
• 2001 (Patriot Act)
• Indefinite detention of immigrants
• Modern era no cap on legal immigration

6
Expansion of Federal Immigrant/ Immigration
Regulation

• Yet, call for more control
• Why?
• Surge in both legal and unauthorized migration
• Wide-spread perception that federal
  regulation/controls are ineffective
• Diversity of immigrants (origins and
  destinations)
• Fears of economic consequences of immigrants
  (lowering wage rates) and immigration (using
  benefits)
• Similar concerns and demands for federal action
  have appeared in previous phases of reform

7
(No Transcript)
8
Class Activity

• Lets assume for a minute that some reform is
  needed and that reform means reform a
  comprehensive solution to the problem
• What parts of our our current immigration policy
  needs to be changed and why?
• What will have to be part of a comprehensive
  solution?
• In other words, what will have to be part of a
  compromise immigration bill?

9
Whats Being Proposed? 1

• Bush proposal (2004)
• Guest workers
• House bill (passed 2005)
• Fence
• Unauthorized status a felony
• Employer penalties
• Authorizes use of the military to enforce
  immigration law
• No guest worker program
• No legalization

10
Whats Being Proposed? 2 (Senate)

• All call for added enforcement and some guest
  worker authorization
• Specter (R-PA)
• Permanent work visitor (blue card)
• Cornyn (R-TX) / Kyl (R-AZ)
• Short guest worker period (2 yrs), with return in
  between renewals
• Current undocumented must return to home country
  get guest worker visa
• Kennedy (D-MA) / McCain (R-AZ)
• Longer guest worker period (3 yrs) / can apply
  from U.S.
• Opportunity to legalize

11
Can Compromise Be Reached?

• Eventually, yes
• Concerns in the electorate will keep the issue on
  the table
• Some new members of Congress will owe their
  elections to popular immigration concerns
• This year? Seems unlikely
• Senate Judiciary Committee needs to develop a
  consensus position
• Key is Senator Cornyn (R-TX)
• Then, it must compromise with House
• Senate less restrictive than House (more
  sympathetic to business/ethnic lobby position)
• Hard and harder

12
Immigration Reform and Mexican American Politics

• Mexican American community divided (patterns
  weve seen throughout course)
• Sensitivity to needs of immigrants/family members
• Concern about competition for jobs, housing, and
  other services and about majority stereotypes
• Perhaps of more concern
• Little Mexican American/Latino voice in the
  debate
• Mexican American/Latino organizations not
  mobilizing on immigration issues
• Mexican American/Latino legislators not key
  players in Congressional debates

13
Consequences are Quite Large for the Community

• Positive Legalization
• Engine of empowerment and electoral growth
• Provides added protections for U.S.-born family
  members
• Negative Legally recognized temporary status
• The longer it continues, the more it creates a
  legal underclass that becomes central to the
  economy (and shifts the position of capital in
  immigration debates)
• The more it is likely to divide Mexican
  America/Latino communities internally

14
For Next Class

• When do Mexican Americans (and other Latinos)
  join in multi-racial coalitions?
• Why?