More than just Latinos wait for immigration law:
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And Stall of Reform Dimming Dreams:
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More than just Latinos wait for immigration law
Like the other 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, Frank is eager to see an overhaul of immigration policy.
But unlike the majority of them, Frank's home country isn't south of the border.
He emigrated from Kenya in 2001 and overstayed his student visa. About half of undocumented immigrants didn't hop the border illegally, but let their student, work or travel visas lapse.
Now Frank, 36, whose last name The News Journal withheld because of his expired visa status, is waiting on Congress' next move so he can finish his doctorate at the University of Delaware.
Frank is part of the often-overlooked minority of non-Spanish-speaking immigrants who are hoping the Latino-led push for legal status will benefit them, too. The question is whether a one-size-fits-all immigration policy will equally impact immigrants from all regions of the world.
"The face of undocumented immigrants has become Latino," said Jocelyn McCalla, interim executive director of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network. "That does tend to hide the fact that you've got immigrants from other countries equally concerned about this issue."
The Senate resumed debate Monday on a fragile bipartisan bill that would provide a way for undocumented immigrants to legalize their status.
The Senate bill would require heads of households to return home to apply for residency -- "touchback" in immigration parlance. Many say the provision favors immigrants from nearby Mexico and Central America, and discounts the difficulty of those who would have to return to China or South Africa.
A flight to Africa could cost upwards of $1,500, requiring three or four months of savings, pushing legalization out of range for many immigrants who are working minimum-wage jobs, said Erastus Mong'are, president of the Delaware Kenya Association.
"Some people say they would rather continue with their current status than accept the bill, because what gives them faith that once they go back, they will be able to come back to the United States?" he said.
As many as 35,000 undocumented immigrants live in Delaware, and Mong'are estimates that about 3,000 are Kenyan, most of whom entered on student or work visas that since have lapsed. That includes Frank, who lives with his brother in Newark.
Many African immigrants are fleeing countries economically drained by corrupt regimes, where getting a job is more about who you know than what you know, he said. A U.S. education and job are seen as a way out. That's why once their studies are finished, they don't want to leave, Frank said.
Job skills over family ties
The proposed Senate bill also would exchange a decades-old policy that prioritized family connections for one that more heavily weighs education and job skills, which has immigrants from India applauding, and those from Korea and other Asian Pacific countries, which rely on family-based immigration paths, cringing.
"From the Indian perspective, this is positive," said Vishal Tandon, an executive director of the Indo-American Association of Delaware who came to the U.S. in 1994 on an H-1B visa for high-skill workers.
Increased waits for becoming legal permanent residents, and a decrease in the number of H-1B visas, would be a detriment, he said. The country would miss out on high-tech workers from India coming to help the economy.
"So many people are illegally crossing the border the U.S. government is being forced to come out with a general immigration policy that might be most effective for immigrants illegally crossing the border and might not be good for immigrants from other parts of the world," he said.
Debate in Congress has focused on legalization and overlooked how the immigration system will impact the Asian immigrant community, said Son Ah Yun, co-director of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement.
Changing to a merit-based immigration system would adversely affect Asian immigrants, most of whom come to the U.S. because of family sponsorship, she said.
"Most people come here because they see this as a place of opportunity, and by closing the door on that, we're perpetuating an elitist system," she said.
'Power in participation'
All communities have a stake in immigration reform, said Gladys Crespo, director of Service for Foreign Born, a division of the Attorney General's Office, which helps immigrants navigate the legal system.
The immigrant groups vocal in the debate -- namely the Latinos -- are helping pave the way for other communities, said Meredith Rapkin of the Pennsylvania office of the Coalition for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.
"It's important for all immigrants to realize there is power in voting and in participation," she said.
Latin American immigration flows aren't as new as those from Africa, Mong'are said, so other immigrants should look to the Latinos as examples.
"They have a voice, and that's what other groups need," he said. "Instead of sitting on the sidelines, they need to let policymakers know others are here and need to be considered, too."
Editor's note: As Congress debates what to do about an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., this News Journal series examines the factors shaping the debate, the legislation and the effect on Delaware. This is the sixth installment. Contact Summer Harlow at 324-2794 or sharlow@delawareonline.com.
Stall of reform dimming dreams
Immigrant groups say state of fear will persist
Juan was counting on immigration reform.
He had hoped this would be the year he and many of his fellow laborers in Pennsylvania's mushroom farms could stop looking over their shoulders, stop using false names.
They had hoped this would be the year they'd finally be able to gain some sort of legal status.
"We're working hard and paying taxes, just like people who are from this country," said Juan, who illegally crossed the border from Mexico in 2001. The News Journal is withholding his last name because of his status. "We came here for a new life, and to provide a future for our families."
But that future, by many accounts, seems to be slipping away, as the Senate's delicate bipartisan compromise for immigration reform began to unravel last week, when supporters couldn't muster the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and move the bill toward passage.
Both of Delaware's senators voted to limit debate on the contentious bill that would tighten border security and provide a path to legalization for the country's 12 million undocumented immigrants, as many as 35,000 of whom live in Delaware.
President Bush intends to meet with Republican senators today in a last-ditch effort to persuade them to support the measure. The House has said it is waiting on approval of a Senate bill before it moves forward. A lack of reform now keeps the divisive immigration issue alive for the 2008 elections.
Activists and experts on both sides of the debate say a failed measure could mean an increase in local laws aimed at curbing illegal immigration -- as Hazleton, Pa. enacted -- and they are speculating whether recent deportations and work-site raids will continue at their ratcheted-up levels.
They are wondering whether smaller provisions within the mammoth bill -- such as legalizing students who graduated from U.S. high schools and enroll in college or the military -- might move forward separately.
'Not going to solve anything'
But while anti-illegal immigration groups applaud the possible demise of what they call an amnesty bill, pro-immigrant groups are concerned that no reform will mean more fear and more exploitation for people like Juan and other undocumented workers.
Immigrants "are not going to disappear, so not solving the solution is the worst possible scenario for the country, the state and them," said Guillermina Gonzalez, executive director of Voices Without Borders in Wilmington. "Just ignoring the problem is not going to solve anything."
If the bill fails, the status quo -- which many have dubbed a de facto amnesty -- will continue, and that's unacceptable to most Americans who, polls show, want some sort of immigration reform, said Matthew Hirsch, adjunct professor of immigration law at Widener University and long-time immigration attorney.
"Americans are served by a system that screens people, identifies people, and provides those people with protection of wage and hour laws, protection of health and safety laws, and brings them out of the shadows of the hypocrisy of a secondary economy," he said.
Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors immigration restrictions, said no legislation is needed, as laws already exist to manage immigration flows, they just haven't been enforced.
"There are laws against hiring illegal aliens, laws to protect our borders," he said. "What we need is attrition through enforcement. We need to make it very clear to people that you're not going to benefit from remaining here illegally."
Ridding the country of 12 million undocumented immigrants won't happen overnight, he said.
More local laws predicted
That is why John Jaremchuk, who founded Delaware Citizens for Immigration Control after he lost his bid for state representative, said groups like his will continue gaining momentum across the country. Jaremchuk also unsuccessfully pushed for an ordinance in Elsmere, where he is a councilman, that would have fined employers and landlords for hiring or renting to undocumented immigrants.
Elected officials don't have their "fingers on the pulse of America," he said. If they did, the federal government would enforce immigration laws, instead of abdicating that role to local and state governments, which have approved their own ordinances to fight illegal immigration, he said.
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative immigration-restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies, said that as long as the federal government doesn't enforce current immigration laws, more towns will follow the lead of Hazleton, which passed a law fining landlords and companies that rent to or employ undocumented immigrants. A judge has temporarily forbidden enforcement of the ordinance.
"When there's no direction from Washington, states and cities and towns that bear most of the costs of illegal immigration, in the form of school expenses and criminal justice, are going to conclude they have to do something on their own," Krikorian said. "Cities and states are left holding the bag, and at some point they have to decide to act."
If the Senate doesn't act now, the country will be left with a patchwork of ineffective laws, said Kevin Appleby, director of Migration and Refugee Policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
"The federal government is at risk of ceding authority to state and local governments," he said. "We'll see more state and local ordinances, more vigilante groups and more chaos. They have to fill this vacuum."
Still 'in the shadows'
Meanwhile, undocumented immigrants will continue to live in limbo, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrants-rights organization.
"They'll still be in the shadows, subject to deportations and raids," she said, adding that deaths in the desert by border crossers will increase. "These people come here to work and feed their families," and they're not going anywhere, she said.
Smaller provisions within the Senate bill, such as the Dream Act for high school students or another measure dealing with agricultural workers, might have a better shot at survival on their own, Hirsch said.
But that still doesn't do enough to address the broken immigration system, he said.
"We're saying on one side of our mouths that we want to stop undocumented immigration, while on the other side, we're implicitly recognizing that without them, entire industries would grind to a halt, like agriculture, hospitality, construction, seasonal jobs, landscaping," Hirsch said.
Edilberto Marquez, a cook in Rehoboth Beach who in 1994 fled the destruction of an earthquake that devastated El Salvador, said every orange or apple you eat probably was picked by someone who crossed the border illegally. Without immigrant labor, he said, the United States couldn't survive.
And that's why the government has got to move forward with reform -- including legalization, he said.
"All [immigrants] are thinking about is how to survive, and about caring for their children," said Marquez, who has work papers. "They're not doing harm to this country, they're helping it."
Contact Summer Harlow at 324-2794 or sharlow@delawareonline.com.
In light of Congress' debate over what to do about an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., this News Journal series examines the factors shaping the debate, the legislation and the effect on Delaware. This is the seventh installment.
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