Responses to Arizona Immigration Law

Entry by Jazmin Holmes

By a Stanford Professor....
Legalization must be part of immigration reform

A path to citizenship for those already here illegally is crucial.

Tomás R. Jiménez
April 29, 2010

Opponents of comprehensive immigration reform argue that legalization rewards bad behavior. They contend that illegal immigration is a crime that merits punishment and expulsion, not amnesty. The logic is that if we respond with tough enforcement, illegal immigrants will finally get that they aren't welcome here and go back to their home countries. This kind of reasoning is what's behind laws like the one recently passed in Arizona, which requires law enforcement personnel to determine whenever possible the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants.

But immigrants aren't going home. We know this from experience. Despite high-profile raids, beefed-up border enforcement and the worst economy since the Depression, the size of the illegal immigrant population has declined by only a small fraction. At this pace, the time it would take to realize the pipe dream of removing illegal immigrants through forced and voluntary deportations could be measured in light-years.


Given that immigrants are here to stay, it is in everyone's interest for them to assimilate — to learn English, embrace U.S. social and civic customs and become part of the economic fabric. And if that is the goal, we need to have immigration reform that goes beyond fences, high-tech surveillance, more Border Patrol officers and a guest worker program. We need a path to legalization for those who have built lives here.

Why? Because illegal status inhibits not only the assimilation of those who are here illegally but of future generations who are U.S.-born citizens. Research has consistently found that illegal immigrants and their descendants have a much tougher time gaining a social and economic foothold.

On the other hand, we know that legalization has a positive effect on assimilation. The legalization program contained in the last major immigration overhaul, the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, facilitated the assimilation of millions of immigrants and their children. A 2007 Merage Foundation report written by UC Irvine sociologists shows that the children of formerly illegal immigrants who obtain green cards face a brighter future and stand to contribute much more than those whose parents remain undocumented.

According to the study, U.S.-born Mexican Americans whose fathers came illegally but later obtained legal permanent residency were 25% less likely to drop out of high school, 70% more likely to graduate from college, 13% more likely to prefer English at home, and their earnings were 30% higher than those whose fathers were illegal at the time of the survey.

Part of what holds the children of illegal immigrants back is that they can never quite look forward. Parents cannot fully participate in their children's lives in ways that help them realize their full potential. As children enter adulthood, many have to take care of the financial needs of their immigrant parents, whose illegal status makes them extremely vulnerable to the vagaries of the job market, the healthcare system and housing. The situation is worse for those who were brought as young children to the United States without documentation. They suffer from the double penalty of their parents' and their own illegality.

As Congress drags its feet on immigration reform, illegal immigrants continue to put down roots and the ranks of children who suffer the penalties of their parents illegal status swells. According to a recent Pew Hispanic Center report, almost half of all illegal immigrant households are couples with children, and the overwhelming majority of the children — 73% — are U.S. citizens. The number of U.S.-born children with at least one illegal immigrant parent grew to 4 million in 2008 from 2.7 million in 2003, a 48% increase. Another 1.5 million children with at least one illegal immigrant parent are themselves illegal.

Withholding legalization imposes slow social and economic death on illegal immigrants and their children. Failure to implement comprehensive immigration reform leaves thousands of people who consider the United States their home in the shadows. It also deprives us of the opportunity to develop a better-trained workforce and to realize all the benefits, both social and economic, that a fully assimilated immigrant population can contribute. Legalization is the most crucial component of what Americans need and what they deserve: comprehensive immigration reform.

Tomás R. Jiménez is an assistant professor of sociology at Stanford University and an Irvine Fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the author of "Replenished Ethnicity: Mexican Americans, Immigration, and Identity."



also... on the other side of the argument... a stanford student...

Get it Right: “Undocumented” sounds nice–”Illegal” is accurate

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 | By Erica Morgan
Wall Street may enjoy a brief period of respite from the role of perfidious villain in the blame game propagated by the President in the coming weeks. The rules of this game are simple: assign culpability for the nation’s problems to some arch-nemesis. Previously, the position of Public Enemy No. 1 has been filled by President Bush (what can’t we blame on him), CIA interrogators (abusing helpless terrorists), health care insurance providers (greedy profit-seeking charlatans), Tea Partiers (raising Cain by quoting the Constitution…oh no!) and finally New York bankers (they single-handedly brought down the highly regulated “free” market…oxymoron?). However, the bankers may be able to continue their nefarious activities while their regulators watch porn at the taxpayers’ expense, at least for a short while, as a new blackguard threatens to wreak havoc on the greatness of our nation.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer had the audacity last Friday to sign into law a bill that reinforces federal illegal immigration laws. Having heard hysterical cries of “racism” and “apartheid” on the news waves, I decided to investigate the new law in an attempt to decipher how, in Obamaspeak, it threatens to “undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.”

The law prohibits Arizona officials from limiting “the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law.” It requires officials to determine immigration status if there is suspicion of illegality. It makes illegal immigration a state crime (note: it is already a federal crime). It prevents illegal immigrants from working in Arizona. For the record, under Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code, any citizen of any country who “(1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact” has committed a federal crime.

Given the existing federal statute, I wonder how exactly the “misguided” Arizona governor (along with the 70 percent of the “misguided” population that supported the bill) is violating American “notions of fairness?” Outraged predictions of racial profiling fly in from the left as commentators like Reverend Al Sharpton boldly declare, “we will bring freedom walkers to Arizona…we cannot sit by and allow people to be arbitrarily and unilaterally picked off as suspects because of the color of their skin.”

The race card has been played too many times. As Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce said, “illegal is not a race; it’s a crime.” Arizona shares a border with Mexico. Thus, it is not surprising that the majority of illegal border crossers are Mexican. Acknowledging this fact, and suggesting that the laws of our nation actually be enforced, is not a coordinated attack on people of Mexican heritage. It is an attempt to protect the rights of American citizens and legal immigrants.

According to ImmigrationCounters.com, the money wired to Mexico since January of 2006 amounts to more than $28.9 billion. There are approximately 22.7 million illegal aliens in the country, who have incurred social service costs of $397 billion since 1996. How is that demonstrating “fairness” to the American taxpayers providing these social services?

Small wonder that Mexico is displeased with the new law. The government of Mexico, in a two-page statement, laments that “legislators that approved this bill and the Governor of Arizona did not take into account the valuable contributions of [illegal] immigrants to the economy, society and culture of Arizona and the United States.”

Nobody is discounting the contributions of immigrants to the nation. How is it unjust to require that those who benefit from life in America do so legally? How is it racist to suggest that protecting the rights of American citizens trumps protecting non-citizens? It is ridiculous to claim that anti-illegal immigration laws are unconstitutional when, by definition, illegal aliens are not protected by the constitution.

Erica is equally displeased with illegal Canadian immigrants. Commiserate? Emorgan1@stanford.edu.