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I am sure you all remember this: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! ” This is from the poem, “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, and emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty pedestal. That sounds compassionate.
What does that mean, “compassionate”? There has been criticism of late of “empathy.” Empathy is actually feeling another’s pain; in some ways it can be disabling if constantly bombarded with so much suffering. Compassion is recognizing another’s pain and acting on trying to mitigate it. Lack of empathy and compassion are attributes of a sociopath (other attributes include: deceitfulness, manipulative behavior, impulsive or erratic actions, lack of remorse, aggression, violation of norms and superficial charm). I am sure we all know someone like that. If you feel that compassion and empathy are signs of weakness, you can stop reading and go back to watching macho BS and bullying anyone that threatens your fragile ego. Actually, I can empathize with you if that is the case…I have been guilty of such.
OK. Enough of that. Let me get to it.
Is there anything about our current “policy” of immigration that reeks of compassion? We detained citizens of Japanese ancestry in WWII at Manzanar and other camps, much to our shame as a nation. We have a history of attacking immigrants (Italians, Germans, Jews, Puerto Ricans, Polish, Syrian, Irish, etc.). Who among us is not descended from immigrants? Even Native Americans from across the Behring Straits! My ancestors came from Oberhuninen Switzerland, fleeing religious persecution. But I guess it’s OK to be descended from Indo-European/Aryan immigrants. And now we are putting folks from south of the border in “detention camps.” That is a euphemism for “prisons” run for considerable profit. And not just latinos (See Rumeysa Ozturk). We have done the same for Blacks in this country; I recommend How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith. But that’s a topic for another time.
What are the key issues surrounding immigration policy? Well, of course, it depends on who you ask. We can start with a look at the history of policies in the US. Read about it. I think it is a history of failure to do the right/compassionate thing, even though there have been numerous opportunities lost in this regard. The Jordan Commission in the ’90’s laid out a path; it was ignored. The IIRIAA of 1996 was passed but underfunded. Multiple amnesty policies were enacted but poorly administered. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Acts of 2006 and 2007 never made it out of Congressional reconciliation. the 2013 bipartisan modernization Act passed in the Senate, but not the House. DAPA was rescinded and DACA has been held up in lawsuits for years. The majority of Americans voted for hard-line policies espoused by the Trump Administrations.
Both legal and illegal immigration are currently under assault. Even legal immigrants have been detained and deported. Visa programs for skilled health care workers are threatened. A recent article by Jon Gruber documents the effects of immigration on health care, particularly for the elderly. The loss of immigrant workers deals major blows to the agribusiness and commercial construction industries. Also, the deportations of immigrants does not benefit the non-immigrant workforce, as addressed in a recent Forbes article (requires subscription).
No one is winning under our current policies and many are suffering needlessly. There are solutions to the complex issues regarding both legal and illegal immigration. As a nation, we have not been willing to devote resources to these solutions out of anger, greed, lack of compassion, confirmation bias, and adverse economic conditions for many Americans who are seeking redress. And yet, we have and are spending millions of taxpayer dollars to fund an expansion of a national militia (ICE) and detention prisons when that money could go into administering a reasonable and compassionate immigration management program, as historically envisioned. We can blame Congress and Trump, but it is we Americans who have failed to embrace the benefits of appropriate and compassionate immigration practices as envisioned in our national values at the Statue of Liberty. The budget for ICE is $85 billion ($45 billion for detention, $35.8 billion for converting warehouses for detention, $30 billion for enforcement operations). The total immigration package exceeds $170 billion. We are creating a deportation-industrial complex, similar to the military-industrial complex we now have and about which Eisenhower warned us decades ago. Hiring additional immigration enforcement judges would be a fraction of this egregious cost. Other administrative and enforcement costs would also be minimal in comparison. And we would not have a nation at war with itself, for Pete’s sake!!
All things are related. Refer back to my blog on conceptual solutions for marginalized groups. Investment in a national recovery project as laid out would speak to many of the objections of the disenfranchised to immigration.
Controlled immigration is very important. Our workforce cannot meet the needs of the Country going forward with contracted population predictions. Healthcare, agribusiness, construction and other industries depend on immigrant labor. We are in an access crisis in rural America with regard to health care workers and doctors, especially as scare tactics are keeping skilled workers away. Immigration has always been a driver of economic progress in this country, for both indigenous and immigrant populations.
The compassionate approach would be to adequately fund immigration administration and appropriate enforcement and take care of one another regardless of race, place of origin, and ancestry. Value one another and find ways to reduce suffering rather than increase it. Seek fairness rather than retribution. I am not calling for open borders, but rather for proper protection of those borders in the context of being a receptive nation that values those less fortunate (both native and immigrant) and uses its extensive resources wisely rather than meanly!
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