Our guest speaker on Wednesday was a self-identified Undocumented Immigrant and as we noted in class, he rather passionately blamed the GOP for blocking various measures to create immigration reform on a national scale. For example, a recently proposed bill was defeated in the House of Representatives that would allow illegal immigrants that came to this country under the age of 15 to gain citizenship through military service. Personally I find this to be an excellent solution that increases our national security, allows for amnesty in a method that benefits all parties and generally is supported by most of America, therefore I can completely understand the frustration of our guest. The Republicans’ main priority is to shrink spending and reduce the size of the government, thus any immigration reform that requires taxpayer dollars is immediately met with hesitation or straight up denial. I don’t feel this method of governing to be effective and Congress’ 12% approval rating demonstrates this. The reality of the situation is illegal immigration will not go away on its own. Constructing a fence along our Mexican border does not prevent people from overstaying their visas, however allowing citizenship through honorable military service is more than fair I believe. As a fiscally conservative, socially liberal, libertarian but not really, type of person, I value issues based on what I think, not on the mantra or rhetoric of our main two parties. Some common complaints against our undocumented immigrants include that they take our jobs and don’t contribute to our economy. However citizenship through education or military service clearly demonstrate a desire to succeed, assimilate, and thrive as an American. It benefits neither party to stalemate the issue.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2014/04/05/gop-immigration-supporters-see-military-service-as-path-to-citizenship/
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/04/04/house-conservatives-block-modest-gop-immigration-proposal/
Photo Credit: David Maung
“Broken Lives of Immigrants Deported from US to Mexico” is a short, seven-minute film documentary by Franz Strasser that captures the predicament of US deportees in Tijuana, Mexico. We discussed in class the difficulties deportees face as they return to their home countries, as they often either came to or were born in the United States at a young age. This documentary captures numerous first person accounts of deportees that both illustrate the aforementioned points and also illuminate specific experiences and challenges they face.
Rosario Vásquez, a US border patrol of the San Diego sector, describes an interesting practice in the process of deportation. He mentions how they often repatriate deportees at places different from where they originally crossed, a practice that prevents re-entry by effectively separating the deportee from smuggling organizations and their reentry points. While this practice separates the deportee from the organizations, it has various negative consequences, as repatriating immigrants at different places may increase their feelings of alienation as well as the difficulties they may have readjusting. This creates a situation that is compounded by the fact many have not returned or revisited their home country and have no family there to aid their resettlement. A deportee identified as Jose who came to the United States at the age of three describes the cultural and social challenges he experiences as he speaks broken Spanish and doesn’t know anyone there.
The documentary also mentions an area between the US-Mexico border and the outskirts of Tijuana named “El Bordo”, a dried riverbed where many deportees live in makeshift homes that range from tents to tunnel-like holes. The deportees are often blamed by local authorities for the rise in local crime. The secretary of public security of Tijuana, Alejandro Lares Valladares, captures this sentiment as he describes how the deportees engage in a “vicious cycle” of drug abuse and robbery. Activists such as Ernesto Hernandez Ruiz argue against this stigma, arguing that the local authorities either do not understand or do not want to understand the predicament of the deportees, who cross over with little to no belongings, remaining undocumented in their home country and becoming exposed to risks of gang violence, drug addiction. The CNN article “Stuck Between Two Countries” by Rosalina Nieves captures the conditions at El Border in greater detail, emphasizing how the police in Tijuana assume these deportees are criminals and drug abusers, harassing them for no reason.
Strasser’s documentary mentions that the Mexican government does help some of the deportees that are returning citizens, providing them with health insurance, an opportunity to contact relatives, a meal, and sometimes travel tickets to other parts of Mexico. However, those deported without relations or documentation struggle to restart their lives as they are met with stigmas and difficulties of readjusting, as illustrated by the documentary’s first person accounts and El Bordo. The only perspective that the documentary seems to be missing are deportees who successfully readjust after deportation. The lack of this perspective, intentional or unintentional, undoubtedly illuminates the rarity of that phenomenon, and serves to reaffirm the myriad challenges that deportees are faced with after the return to their country.
Article Links:
Documentary by Franz Strasser — http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26533046
Article by Rosalina Nieves — http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/21/us/u-s-mexico-border-purgatory/
Erik Grimmelmann, CEO of NY Tech Council, speaks about the need for immigration reform concerning the admission of professionals in the technology industry to sustain its development in New York. In the article, entitled “Why New York’s Technology Sector Needs Immigration Reform”, Grimmelmann argues that New York’s immigration laws for giving out work visas are antiquated and will not be able to accommodate the growing need for professionals in what is now the second largest driver of New York’s economy. In just five years, the number of jobs grew 11%, which added $5.8 billion in wages to NY’s economy. While he acknowledges that further growth could be supported by better education in the native population, he claims that attracting immigrants to these jobs could spur economic growth, at least on a short-term level.
The existing immigration laws have been in place since 1990, just before this sector came to be so significant with the explosion of technological advancement. Grimmelmann claims that with a projected gap of 200,000 workers by 2018, we need to make visas more easily available to professionals with advanced degrees, students seeking professional degrees in these fields, and entrepreneurs (who are significantly more likely to start businesses than native-born residents) involved in these fields.
Hello! My name is Marielle Ray. I am undecided in my major, but I will probably be pursuing English and/or Psychology, and I am thinking about exploring Spanish or Human Rights as a minor. Outside of school, I love music, but my lack of actual talent makes me more of an appreciator than a musician; I love going to live music shows. I also enjoy reading. I am the third of four children, and my family lives on Long Island.
My great-great-grandparents on my mother’s side were an English (or Welsh) stage actress and a Polish Jew, who had emigrated from Poland in about 1880 to Australia and then to the United States around the turn of the century. Their son, my grandfather, and my mother each married a 100% Irish Catholic (descended from those who came over during the Great Potato Famine), so I am of predominantly Irish descent. I was born on Long Island but lived in Manhattan until I was five; my family then moved to Connecticut for a few years before finally settling on Long Island.
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