but our President and Congress will probably avoid addressing the situation until after the mid term elections.
I have no problem with immigration from Cuba, Mexico or anywhere else. For many years I lived in a neighborhood in Tampa with neighbors from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Columbia and El Salvador. All were hard working people and good neighbors.
Our current immigration policy is tragically flawed and many people from Mexico enter our country illegally to find low paying jobs. They have become the modern equivalent of slaves, underpaid and oppressed by the companies and individuals that hire them.
The fear of seeking help is even greater for illegal immigrants, said Maureen Rowley Barnett, a Chicago psychologist that specializes in immigration issues. They live in a constant state of anxiety and are often targeted by criminals and other offenders because they won’t approach the police, she said.
“The fear of the price that they would pay is great enough to keep them away from the police and anything to do with the law,” she said.
Hanus agreed. Though without visas they do not necessarily have the right to stay here, illegal immigrants do have the constitutional rights to safety and property just like any American, he said.
***snip***
Wage theft, discrimination and abuse are the main problems seen at Interfaith Worker Justice, Enriquez said.
She has heard stories of employees not allowed to use the restroom or being forced to relieve themselves outside. Construction, restaurant and domestic workers most often face these situations, she said.
Elena, who also didn’t want her real name used, is an illegal immigrant who was taken advantage of in the restaurant and domestic industries.
She is fighting wage theft against two previous employers with the help of ARISE Chicago Worker Center. The organization provided her with the knowledge of her rights that gave her the confidence to fight, she said.
“I didn’t have any fear,” she said. “If they’re going to deport me they will.”
A job at a local restaurant promised her $300 for 12 hours a day, six days a week. The boss began assigning her tasks outside of her job description and refused her pay for six months.
Paid in cash and no paperwork means Elena doesn’t have proof to support her case.
***snip***
While unemployed, Elena worked a few side jobs, including a cleaning job where she encountered another wage theft situation. Her cases are being reviewed by the Department of Labor, a process she calls slow and costly.
She suggests uniting with other coworkers when a case against an employer occurs.
“I think unfortunately Hispanics are fearful and we’re ignorant in terms our rights,” she said. “Hopefully those who’ve been through similar circumstances will share with others the knowledge they’ve acquired so that there is less injustice in the community.”
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=164931 In many cases these people pay enormous sums of money to risk their lives crossing our border in areas that are extremely hostile.
Each year there are several hundred migrant deaths along the Mexico-U.S. border of those attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico without authorization from the Federal government of the United States.<1> The number of deaths has steadily increased since the middle 1990s with exposure (including heat stroke, dehydration, and hyperthermia) being the leading cause.<2>
According to the United States Border Patrol, 1,954 people died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between the years 1998-2004.<3> In the fiscal year ending September 29, 2004, 460 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.<4> In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.-Mexico border.<5> The number of yearly border crossing deaths has doubled since 1995.<6> Yet the statistics cited by scholars and the media are merely the number of known deaths and do not include those who have never been found, grossly underestimating the actual number of migrants that have died attempting unauthorized border crossings.<7>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migrant_deaths_along_the_Mexico_%E2%80%93_United_States_border Perhaps I have a higher vision of what this nation should be. I think because we have ignored passing a rational and fair immigration policy for many years, we have failed to live up to what our country should be.
Both John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan spoke of a "shining city" or "city on a hill".
On 9 January 1961, President-Elect John F. Kennedy returned the phrase to prominence during an address delivered to the General Court of Massachusetts:
...I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arbella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. "We must always consider," he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us." Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill — constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities. For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arabella in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was then by terror without and disorder within. History will not judge our endeavors—and a government cannot be selected—merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these. For of those to whom much is given, much is required.<2>
President Ronald Reagan used the image as well, in his 1984 acceptance of the Republican Party nomination<3> and in his January 11, 1989 farewell speech to the nation:
I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it and see it still.<4>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_upon_a_Hill We must welcome immigration as it serves to make our country stronger in the long run. We must provide the opportunity for citizens to leave their poor and oppressive homelands and find opportunity and freedom in our nation.
Hopefully, Obama will push for immigration reform after the mid term elections. It will be a hard fight, but would be a significant part of Obama's legacy.
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