1. The Immigration Debate
Study Theme 3C
The Immigration Debate
All countries have immigration policies. The debate in the USA is not about whether to have any immigration or to have no controls. Just about everyone accepts there should be some controls and limits on new entrants to the country. The debate is about who should be allowed, how many should be allowed and on what basis.
The facts of the matter are simple: roughly half of Mexico's population lives on less than $5 a day, according to government figures. The US minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. Annual Mexican Gross Domestic Product per capita is just under $7,000. It is almost $44,000 in the US.
And as the lure of the border has loomed in the minds of more and more people from Mexico and other Latin American countries, they have settled in more US cities and states than ever. In 1990, almost half lived in California. By 2004, California's share had dropped to about a quarter, even though the state's illegal population had grown from 1.48 million to about 2.45 million.
They are now moving to states such as North Carolina, Iowa, Ohio and Georgia, as they seek jobs and establish communities.
North Carolina has nearly 16 times the number of illegal immigrants it had in Such illegal workers make up about 5 per cent of the US labour force.
Given that the USA has been unable to effectively seal its border with Mexico and that thee are large numbers of illegal immigrants in the US already, President Bush is attempting to solve the issue. Xenophobia from 9/11 has added extra passion to the debate.

2. Operation Jumpstart
“There's an important debate facing our nation, and the debate is, can we secure this border and, at the same time, honor our history of being a land of immigrants? And the answer is, absolutely, we can do both. And we will do both”.
President Bush, 3 August 2006
Illegal immigration is a deeply divisive issue in the United States, and a hot political topic ahead of the November mid-term elections. As Congress remains deadlocked over plans to reform immigration law, pro-immigration groups are stepping up their protests against a proposed toughening of the rules.
On August , President Bush announced Operation Jumpstart, his plan to solve the immigration problem.
President Bush urged lCongress to reform the country's immigration laws, calling for a guest-worker programme to allow people with needed skills to live and work in the country temporarily.
President Bush also backed the suggestion that illegal immigrants who already in the country should have a way to become citizens.
This faces stiff opposition from some in his own Republican party who see it as being too soft on lawbreakers.
The Senate is considering such a proposal, but the House of Representatives has already passed a much more punitive bill with neither of the measures the president seeks.
The issue is politically awkward for Mr Bush's party, because it brings into conflict two of its core supporters - the business lobby and social conservatives.
Mr Bush has said he wanted a bill that would "secure our borders" and "cause the people in the interior of this country to recognise and enforce the law".
He has also said it is important that the immigration system "treat people with dignity".

3. A Day without Immigrants
Polls suggest that a majority of Americans see illegal immigration as a very serious problem for the US, and it is likely to be one of the key issues on which the public will judge politicians running for office in the November mid-term elections.
Strength of feeling on the issue was illustrated in March 2006 when hundreds of thousands of activists marched in California to protest against plans to criminalise undocumented workers.
After the protests of May 1st a group of American citizens lead by the Minutemen declared a boycott of Mexican-related goods and services, to be held on May 5 and June 30. On those days anti-illegal immigration activists were asked to not visit Mexican restaurants, not shop at stores that supported the May 1st boycott and not use public transportation.

4. Anti-illegals
"I think it is very important to have a secure border right now anyone can cross our borders and just come right in. How secure are we from 9/11 type attack if anyone can just walk over? If it keeps up we will not be Americans, but part of Mexico in the not too distant future."
It has also been reflected in the rise of Minutemen groups - citizens who have taken it upon themselves to patrol the US borders and to confront illegal workers in cities around the US.

5. The language debate Language Issues
It is not uncommon to walk down the streets of an American city today and hear Spanish spoken. In 1950 fewer than 4 million U.S. residents were from Spanish-speaking countries. Today that number is about 27 million. About 50 percent of Hispanics in the United States have origins in Mexico. The other 50 percent come from a variety of countries, including El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia. Thirty-six percent of the Hispanics in the United States live in California. Several other states have large Hispanic populations, including Texas, New York, Illinois, and Florida, where hundreds of thousands of Cubans fleeing the Castro regime have settled. There are so many Cuban Americans in Miami that the Miami Herald, the city's largest newspaper, publishes separate editions in English and Spanish.
The widespread use of Spanish in American cities has generated a public debate over language. Some English speakers point to Canada, where the existence of two languages (English and French) has been accompanied by a secessionist movement. To head off such a development in the United States, some citizens are calling for a law declaring English the official American language.
Others consider such a law unnecessary and likely to cause harm. They point to differences between America and Canada (in Canada, for example, most speakers of French live in one locale, the province of Quebec, whereas speakers of Spanish are dispersed throughout much of the United States) and cite Switzerland as a place where the existence of multiple languages does not undermine national unity. Recognition of English as the official language, they argue, would stigmatize speakers of other languages and make it difficult for them to live their daily lives.

6. A drain on resources
The debates bring alive the arguments for and against immigration to the USA. Let us look at some of the key arguments against immigration.
Its is argued that Immigrants drain scarce resources. A study in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons concluded that the burden of illegal immigrants on the health care system in the US forced many hospitals to close due to unpaid bills. Between 1993 and 2003, 60 hospitals in California alone were forced to close, and many others had to reduce staff or implement other procedures which reduced the level of service they could provide.
Children of illegal immigrants also present a serious burden on education systems. According to Federation for American Immigration Reform, California's education system spends $7.7 billion each year caring for the children of illegal immigrants. The study did not include property taxes paid, directly or indirectly, by illegal immigrants, nor did it estimate how many of the children were citizens

7. Crime
Crime
Opponents of immigration allege that immigrants, because they are poor, are more likely to be involved with crime.

8. Immigrants Enrichen America
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. The Statue of Liberty, on New York harbour famously declares
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
It is argued that Immigrants enrich American communities by bringing aspects of their native cultures with them. Many black Americans now celebrate both Christmas and Kwanzaa, a festival drawn from African rituals.
Hispanic Americans celebrate their traditions with street fairs and other festivities on Cinco de Mayo (May 5). You don’t have to look very far in the USA to find evidence of Scottish immigration.
President John F. Kennedy, himself the grandson of Irish immigrants, summed up this blend of the old and the new when he called America "a society of immigrants, each of whom had begun life anew, on an equal footing. This is the secret of America: a nation of people with the fresh memory of old traditions who dare to explore new frontiers...."

9. Necessary for economy
It is highly unlikely that many businesses in Southern california, especially, could cope without immigrants. That was the esetial message of the Day without Immigrants protest. Vineyards, restaurants, housemaids, cleaners, low paid, insecure jobs are carried out by illegal immigrants, often paid less than minimum wage, with no holiday or sick pay. Ken Loach’s 2000 film “Bread and Roses” is about the janitors strike in Los Angeles for health care for immigrant workers. A “15” it is well worth seeing, but a word of warning on some strong, emotive language!

10. Human rights
In 1996, Bruce Springsteen dedicated an album to the plight of illegal Hispanic immigrants to the USA. Using the analogy of the character Tom Joad, in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, who travelled to California seeking his fortune, Springsteen describes the illegals as “America’s new slaves”.
Often the victims of people smugglers, the so-called “coyotes”, human rights groups have been pressuring the US congress for more human immigration policies.
Lyrics
Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks Goin' someplace there's no goin' back Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge Shelter line stretchin' round the corner Welcome to the new world order Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest No home no job no peace no rest The highway is alive tonight But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass Got a one-way ticket to the promised land You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock Bathin' in the city aqueduct The highway is alive tonight But where it's headed everybody knows I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light Waitin' on the ghost of Tom Joad Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air Look for me Mom I'll be there Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand Or decent job or a helpin' hand Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me." The highway is alive tonight But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes I'm sittin' downhere in the campfire light With the ghost of old Tom Joad
Defending the rights of immigrants was one of the founding principles of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).