Immigrant Experiences by Walter A. Ewing

Author:Walter A. Ewing [Ewing, Walter A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2018-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

Border Fence Separating Mexico and the United States

Image © iStock.com/Rex_Wholster

And it was fear and hate that went into three bills authored by nativist Republicans in Congress in 1996: the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). These bills made sweeping changes to immigration law, making it easier to deport or deny federal welfare benefits even to lawfully present immigrants. Much of the vitriol that went into the crafting of these provisions came from FAIR and one of its spin-offs, the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), as well as from a leading immigration restrictionist in Congress, Lamar Smith from Texas. In the end, the goal of the immigration provisions of these laws was to make life as difficult as possible not only for undocumented immigrants, but for green-card holders as well. As with Proposition 187, the 1996 laws forcefully persuaded large numbers of eligible immigrants to acquire U.S. citizenship and become Democratic voters.

There have been a couple of failed efforts since 1996 to enact immigration reform that actually makes sense; giving undocumented immigrants already in the country the chance to acquire legal status, while making channels of legal immigration more flexible and responsive to changing economic conditions. One such attempt came in 2001, when an immigration accord with Mexico seemed possible. Unfortunately, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 put a quick end to that.

Instead, the government swiftly switched gears from immigration reform to religious profiling. A “special registration” program was implemented that required male noncitizens from twenty-four primarily Muslim countries to register with the government and be photographed and fingerprinted.

Congress tried twice more, in 2006 and 2007, to pass a reform bill. Each time, the bills were ultimately derailed by restrictionist Republicans, supported by a web of nativist thinkers, anti-immigrant organizations, and right-wing media personalities. Economist George Borjas and political scientist Samuel Huntington provided intellectual arguments for restriction; the network of anti-immigrant groups created by John Tanton—particularly FAIR and CIS—organized their members to weigh in; and radio and TV personalities such as Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Ann Coulter whipped up nativist sentiment in their viewers and listeners. The Republican majority in Congress embraced these nativists wholeheartedly, hiding behind the fig leaf of national security to justify themselves, and spent the rest of the decade thinking of new ways to make life miserable for the foreign-born. After its efforts to support immigration reform failed, the Bush administration began ramping up immigration raids on worksites in search of undocumented immigrants.

As the federal government dawdled on immigration reform, state and local governments stepped in to fill the void. Some voted to prevent police from inquiring about someone’s immigration status, so that undocumented immigrants would feel free to report crimes. Others joined the 287(g) program, in which immigration enforcement agents train local police officers to act as immigration agents. Oakland, California, required all municipal departments to have bilingual employees on staff.

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