On immigration, we must move from symbolism and promises to action

For years, the issue of immigration reform has become little more than empty talk in the State of the Union speeches. On Tuesday night, President Joe Biden, in his second status address, asked Republicans to make the issue bipartisan, as it has been before.

Anticipating that this would be an impossible task, he added: “If we don’t get through my comprehensive immigration reform, at least get through my plan to provide equipment and officers to secure the border and the path to citizenship for the ‘Dreamers’, those who are about temporary status, agricultural workers and essential workers”. However, the mention of the immigration problem was extremely brief and rather empty.

Democrats keep saying this reform is urgent, fair, and necessary; and the Republicans keep saying that without border control there will be no reform. In the end, nothing happens.

But within this concept of “nothing passes,” there are the lives of millions of people who, by the power of their labor, are the engine of hundreds of communities across the country, keeping schools, businesses and hospitals running, and also guaranteeing the care that this aging immigrant nation needs for generations.

Of course, we must not ignore the reasons for this impasse, and also that the Republicans were the main obstacle to reform. But this does not justify inaction or unwillingness to invest political capital in some kind of progress.

Tuesday night, as on previous occasions, the speech was not without symbolism, as was Mitzi Colin Lopez, a DACA beneficiary and activist from West Chester, Pennsylvania, invited by First Lady Jill Biden. We are talking about US citizens who see the faces of those who will benefit from the elusive legalization. On previous occasions, Republicans have also used symbolism, but of an anti-immigrant nature, such as inviting those who have lost a loved one at the hands of an undocumented immigrant, as if the violence was exclusively for undocumented people.

In principle, at this stage, the symbolism should have already turned into concrete actions on the issue of immigration. We have seen this film before, especially those who have been directly affected and need an answer that would enable them to benefit from the fullness of this country they have chosen for themselves and their families.

Unfortunately, the reality is not very encouraging. The Republicans control the House of Representatives and their agenda is focused on spreading conspiracy theories promoted by white nationalists who say we are “invaded” and that the Mexican border is “out of control” or that liberals want to “replace” Anglo-Americans . -Saxon people with minorities to accumulate political power.

In fact, one of their main goals is to impeach the Cuban-American secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mallorcas. And while poll after poll, like the latest NBC poll, shows that a majority of U.S. citizens support the legalization of the undocumented people who live among us and are an integral and vital part of our economy, Republicans only want to anger their MAGA base with dangerous invasion and replacement theories. . That is, they want to impeach Majorcas not because of the border problems that have always existed, but because the leader is an immigrant, and the idea of ​​a Latin American immigrant heading one of the most important official institutions in the entire Cabinet simply does not fit into the heads of the most extreme Republicans.

To this we must add the fact that everyone is already in campaign mode, with an eye on the general election in 2024, and there are issues that politicians consider “uncomfortable”. Immigration is no exception.

Biden is between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, most of the issues he tries to resolve through administrative and executive action are related to the courts, as in the case of Section 42. Meanwhile, his policies are not successful among many pro-immigrants, who see them as an extension of the nefarious policy his anti-immigrant predecessor Donald Trump. The recently announced humanitarian parole program for citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua, which is supposed to control the flow of migrants seeking asylum, has reduced unauthorized crossings by 97% (according to the president). However, twenty Republican-run states want to block him in court.

This shows once again that Republicans will not stop their efforts to eliminate any program or policy that benefits immigrants, even though it might work. Or perhaps they oppose it precisely because it works. It seems that their goal is division, not just confrontation.

Biden is no stranger to immigration matters, having spent nearly four decades in Congress and eight years as vice president under Barack Obama, who pushed for reform that never materialized. Although he was pressured to create DACA, only 600,000 people have taken advantage of it to date. So many years have passed, with a new reality and other challenges for the Dreamers, the current situation seems like weak tea.

Symbolism and immigration promises must be translated into action. Biden is asking for cooperation and bipartisanship from the extremist Republican Party, which wants to bury him. It is better to invest political capital in something that can be achieved at the legislative level, such as the legalization of Dreamers, or at the executive level, like the TPS for Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. Actions that pave the way for this elusive reform.

To read the Spanish version of this article, click here.

*Maribel Hastings and David Torres/VOA in Spanish

Author: Maribel Hastings and David Torres*
Source: La Opinion

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