Some Thoughts on the Future of Immigration Reform

Official Photo of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

U.S. immigration law is at a crossroads.  Virtually all Americans agree that reform is desperately needed to address the nation’s pressing immigration needs.  Unfortunately, rather than pursuing real policy reform, stunts for political purposes have become the norm.  Donald Trump, with his advocacy of the border wall, Muslim ban, zero tolerance policy, and more, exemplified this approach. 

Unfortunately, immigration reform is not furthered by meaningless, and often heartless, political ploys.  Until we move beyond soundbites and partisan politics, the nation will remain stuck with an immigration system that is ill-suited for the humane treatment of people.

In recent weeks, migrant dumping has returned to the news headlines.  Previously, Martha’s Vineyard was a destination for migrants, transported by a publicity-seeking Florida governor.  In the last few weeks, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for President, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have transported migrants to California.  The plain-and-simple goal is to score political points.  Governor DeSantis apparently is attempting to establish himself as more devoted to immigration enforcement than Republican frontrunner former President Donald Trump.  Governor Abbott declared that “Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border.”  Governor Abbott Announces First Bus Of Migrants Arrives In Los Angeles.

Sadly, the political stunts have used vulnerable migrants as no less than stage props.  The good news is that Californians have warmly embraced the migrants, providing food, shelter, and other support.  The bad news is that the political equivalent of a hissy fit has done nothing to move the nation toward immigration reform.

Much can be said about the immorality of treating vulnerable people, who have fled to the United States out of fear for their lives, as pawns in a cynical political chess game.  Sadly, the nation has a long history of capitalizing on popular fears of immigrants for political gain.  Antipathy toward the Chinese in the late 1800s led to violence, anti-Chinese immigration, and other laws, and in effect an ethnic cleansing of Chinese people from parts of the west.  Similarly, anti-Mexican sentiment led to many discriminatory atrocities, including but not limited to the mass removal of persons of Mexican ancestry (including U.S. citizens) during the Great Depression in what was known as the Mexican repatriation, the mass deportation campaign dubbed Operation Wetback by the U.S. government in 1954, racial profiling of persons who “look Mexican” in the U.S./Mexican border region (which continues today), and the Trump administration’s mean-spirited separation of Central American children from their parents.

While some political leaders seek to capitalize on immigration as a political issue, real immigration challenges with real immigration consequences in fact face the nation today.  Desperate migrants fleeing crime and persecution, as well as economic and political turmoil, will continue to come to this land of opportunity.  Recognizing that fact is necessary to putting together reforms that effectively, efficiently, and fairly manage the flows of vulnerable people.  In that vein, the U.S. asylum system, immigration courts, and immigration enforcement deserve serious attention.  The approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States require some kind of relief, if not only because it simply is not possible to remove them all from our communities.  Moreover, the rules for legal immigration must be reformed to match the nation’s economic needs, reduce incentives for undocumented immigration, and provide realistic avenues for lawful immigration to the United States.

Sadly, with political stunts like transporting migrants to Democratic states, the political status quo fails migrants and treats them with impunity rather than humanity.  It also fails the nation by leaving a broken system in place without much-needed reform that would benefit us all.

Time will tell when the nation will in fact address the issues and move away from the political stunts on immigration that we see regularly today.  For now, there is no end in sight.  Immigration reform has been needed for decades.  Unfortunately, political leaders do not appear ready and willing to do the hard work to make it a reality.

KJ