Obama and Immigration Reform: A Lack of Leadership

On March 21^st, 2010, I joined
over 200,000 others and marched on Washington
to pressure President Obama to make good on his promise to pass comprehensive
immigration reform that would create an earned path to citizenship for
undocumented immigrants. I could detect a change in the air. The immigration reform
movement had, up until then, been very hopeful of the new President and trusted
that the machinery of democracy would lead to a positive outcome. But I could
tell that there was more anger, militancy and disillusionment with Obama. For
good reason.

The Deporter-in-Chief

It’s early 2012, and not only has the
administration failed to live up to its promise, but it has deported over one
million people in its first three years. In comparison, the Bush administration
deported 1.57 million people in its two full terms. There is no denying it:
Barack Obama has been an utter disappointment on immigration reform. On this,
as well as many other issues, he has used the same playbook: kowtowing to right
wing pressure in the hopes that his political opponents would eventually
concede to modest legislative change. As a result, he has alienated both his
base and a Republican Party that stonewalls at every turn.

Nowhere is
this more apparent than in the immigration reform struggle. The right wing has
done a masterful job of stirring up racial and class anxiety, and linking
immigration to the already toxic debate of “The War on Terror.” Thus, in the
mainstream media, the term “illegal alien” has morphed into “potential
terrorist.” Additionally, conservatives have drummed up false fears about “lack
of security at the border” despite the fact that, according to the nonpartisan
Bureau of Justice Statistics, crime rates in the Mexican border states are actually lower than in the
inland states. Finally, “illegal aliens” have become the perfect scapegoats for
an economy that has been rigged for the 1 percent for at least 30 years of
voodoo, “trickle down” economics.

The results
on the ground have been devastating. Immigration raids have continued in
workplaces and homes, expanding the war on civil liberties. We’ve seen an
exponential increase in deportations, separating families without due process
or judicial review. Increased militarization of the border has included the
hiring of private military contractors and the use of unmanned drones.
Meanwhile, Republicans have pushed for more stringent laws, such as Arizona’s
SB1070, which urges law enforcement to apprehend anyone who “looks like an
illegal alien,” Alabama’s HB 56, which would deny public utility access to
undocumented people, and Georgia’s HB 87, which would make it illegal for
citizens to give undocumented people rides.

Immigrants for Sale

The immigration detention network is
essentially the newest face of the prison industrial complex. In the wake of Arizona’s SB1070, NPR
reported on the collusion between legislators and corporate interests to write
the law. The story detailed meetings between Arizona State Senator Russell
Pearce (among others), the prime sponsor of SB1070, and a secretive industry
group called ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) which includes
the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group, both large
private corrections industry players. The bill provides a steady flow of
undocumented immigrants to CCA and other detention corporations, leading to
high profits. This law and similar state laws are broadening the definition of
“criminal immigrant,” leading to record numbers of detentions, to the corporate
glee of the corrections industry.

Glimmers of Hope

The administration’s current failure on
immigration is due to its unwillingness to separate the immigration issue from
the national security issue and its inability to re-frame immigration in terms
of the humanitarian crisis created by repeatedly breaking up families and wasting
the energy and potential of undocumented youth who want nothing more than to
contribute to this country. However, immigration proposals being pushed by the
Democrats (like the DREAM Act and an earned, arduous path to citizenship for
the undocumented) are actually supported by the majority of US citizens. Thus,
the legislative impasse is mostly due to political timidity, a lack of vision
from the Democratic Party and the recalcitrance of the Republican Party.

Thankfully,
unrelenting pressure from grassroots activists like the young DREAMers and the
reality of growing Latino voting power has pushed the administration to move in
the right direction. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security declared
that it would engage in deportation case reviews with the goal of nullifying
deportation orders of undocumented immigrants with family ties and no criminal
records. Young people who would be eligible for the DREAM Act would also
qualify for cancellation of removal. These moves give slight hope to the
immigration reform movement that bolder steps might be forthcoming.

Aly is a Senegalese immigrant activist and member of the Peace Newsletter editorial
committee.