Over the last decade, the hot button issue of illegal immigration heated up to an all time high in 2010 with the current debates about how to handle America’s illegal immigration problem. According to a TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence (TIPP) poll, published in the July 12, 2010, edition of the Christian Science Monitor, 51 percent of Americans support the new illegal immigration law in Arizona.
What does it say when the percentage of Americans that support tough immigration laws exceeds those who approve of the job President Obama is doing? A Reuters-Ipsos poll from October 13, 2010, found that President Obama has a 43 percent approval rating. Looking at the state of Arizona specifically, that number dropped from the 51 percent approval rating in 2008, to 28 percent in July of 2010. It is clear that Americans want tough immigration laws enforced.
Illegal immigration is a huge and complicated problem. Lawmakers have the challenge of trying to figure out how to secure the border, stop the flow of illegals from entering the country, as well as determining how to deal with the nearly 11 million illegal immigrants that currently reside in the U.S. This debate is creating a large division among the minority community in America, and not in ways that people might think.
For example, the position of the African-American community varies widely. Many in the black community share the position of the people in Arizona. According to Najee Ali, an activist based in Chicago and Los Angeles, illegal immigration is causing a rift among minorities. He warns that, “unless we address illegal immigration and secure the border, we will continue to see clashes between the Latino and Black communities.”
“Undocumented immigration that is taking jobs from blacks is the number one issue nationwide. Unless we address it, the same kind of eruptions we see in Los Angeles will jump to other cities as the Latino populations increase,” Ali says in a May 25, 2006 article in the Christian Science
Monitor.
In the same article, Johnny Blair Vaughn, a 20-year veteran of the construction industry in southern California says, “If you drive across this city, you will see 99 percent of all construction is being done by Hispanics.” While there is no way to determine the immigration status of Hispanics simply by looking at them, it is safe to assume that at least some of those employed in “day labor” positions are illegals. Most day labors are paid cash on a daily basis, allowing illegals to work for less than the federal minimum wage and pay no taxes, which is the heart of many arguments over illegal immigration.
Unemployment among African-Americans is extremely high according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to The Pew Research Center, “For blacks, the growing presence of immigrant workers adds to the formidable obstacles they face in finding a job.” More than 70 percent of blacks agree.
In contrast, the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and other leaders support the illegal immigrants and believe that giving amnesty to the illegal immigrants already in the country is akin to the black community winning civil rights in the 1950s and 60s.
According to the same May 25 article in the Christian Science Monitor, the feeling is that since they fought hard and won their civil rights, then illegal immigrants can do the same. The elephant in the room is that blacks did not violate the laws of a sovereign country to enter that country. No one is faulting immigrants for wanting to attain the American dream, instead people are faulting they way in which they choose to go about attaining it.
Tens of thousands of legal immigrants enter the U.S. each year, and many of them are beginning to resent those who come here illegally. So much attention focuses on stemming illegal immigration, and those who came to the country legally now feel like they are being forgotten, and that their voices are not being heard.
Carlos Carbonell, a legal immigrant from Venezuela, says, “They are putting illegal immigration as a priority, while the legal immigrants are left out of the loop. It is the curse of doing things the right way.” In a May 2006 article in the Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ, he says that sometimes he thinks it might be easier to purchase a fake green card.
An article published May 5, 2010 on FoxNews.com, Boris Epshteyn, a legal immigrant from Russia, agrees with lawmakers in Arizona. In the opinion piece, he says “When confronted by critics of this legislation, who have urged me to empathize with illegal immigrants, I draw the fol
lowing comparison: When a person goes into a bank with a check and receives cash for it, that person follows the legal and proper procedure for obtaining money. However, when a person robs a bank with a gun, that person too, has received cash, but by way of committing an illegal act. Both individuals leave the bank with money, however, one is a law abiding citizen while the other is a criminal.”
On July 28, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton issued an order blocking the most controversial part of S.B. 1070, commonly known as The Arizona Illegal Immigration Law, which would require law enforcement officers to verify the immigration status of anyone they encounter during their normal duties whom they suspect of being in the country illegally. The court battles continue over the law, with no less than seven suits filed with the court, and the same judge hearing at least six of those cases.
The issue that a lot of pundits and lawmakers avoid is the fact that Arizona residents voted for this law. This is a group of people fed up with the crime and cost associated with illegal immigration, and the Federal government does little to enforce the current Federal immigration law, say Arizona lawmakers. According to an April 2010 poll by Rasmussen Reports, an overwhelming majority of 70 percent of Arizonans favor this law. By challenging this law passed lawfully by the people, it creates a slippery slope of governing from the bench that could eventually rob the American people of their voice. One thing is clear; immigration is a great thing, as long as it is done legally.
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