An American in Lima

President-elect Barack Obama campaigned on a promise to grant amnesty to the 12 million undocumented aliens living in the United States. Now many wonder if he will live up to that promise.

A recent news item from the Andina news agency, summarized by Living in Peru staffers, reports:

Peruvians living in the United States hope that America’s next president Barack Obama will grant amnesty for undocumented immigrants, as part of a new immigration policy that would benefit millions of immigrants.

”This would help to legalize the immigration status of some 12 million undocumented aliens living in the United States”, said July Rojas, president of the Consultative Council of Peruvians in New York, where about 600,000 Peruvians live.

In a phone interview with Andina news agency, Rojas pointed out that the whole Latino community in the U.S. expects that Democrat Obama will keep his promise to put law I-245 into force again.

Through this law, which was rendered no longer valid at the end of Bill Clinton’s administration, any immigrant can become a resident only at the request of a relative living legally in the United States.

In addition, she said it is necessary that illegal immigrants have some basic benefits such as access to health insurance and education in public universities, where they are still not admitted because of their illegal immigration status.

Judging by reader comments on the Living in Peru site, many observers doubt Obama will push the bill through. Pessimists argue that the labor unions, who influence Democratic politics, are opposed to amnesty, and that support from Congress is divided.

“mucho confundo” notes:

 Congress is divided on immigration reform, and not along party lines either. President Bush, John McCain, Ted Kennedy and Barack Obama all supported citizenship path for illegal immigrants but couldnt get it through because states with strong organized labor factions opposed it.

“David N” adds:

No matter the pros and cons, amnesty for illegals remains political suicide. It won’t happen anytime soon, if ever.

But “bob ward” offers a different twist:

You are all forgetting the first rule of politics: Get the tough stuff out of the way EARLY, so people will forget before the next election.  That is why an immigration bill will be passed soon within a few months.

Observers’ comments on Living in Peru and other sites showcase the passions and deep divisions that immigration reform inspires. As I listen to the opinions of both those who support and those who oppose immigration reform, I am struck by two facts: (1) most of us in the world work for a living and therefore have many of the same needs; and (2) the way that the immigration debate is framed in the U.S. obscures the underlying causes of the immigration crisis and therefore prevents many people from recognizing how we might solve it.

After more than two decades of stagnant wages, the exportation of key industries (manufacturing, steel) overseas, and the loss of millions of blue-collar and now white-collar jobs, American workers are in deep trouble. Fair working conditions, steady employment and true living wages should be the rights of every working person in the United States. However, no large-scale political movement has coalesced around these issues to effectively sway legislation. 

The corporations who slash their workforces, outsource jobs overseas and cut U.S. workers’ wages have not been held accountable by the government, which has refused to interfere with business. For two decades, that’s just been “business as usual.” The declining living standards and hardships endured by American workers have been considered “unavoidable” casualties of the free market system, which is enshrined in US economic policy.

 The mantra of “low wages for workers” and “high dividends for stockholders” is rarely challenged.

 Corporations whine that they cannot afford to pay workers more (while they pay out million-dollar bonuses to their CEOs). Instead, many have built their businesses on the backs of illegal immigrants, who are easily exploited because of their undocumented status.

Both U.S. citizens and illegal immigrants are abused by corporate practices and the government’s “hands-off” policies, but American citizens rarely blame these entities. Instead, they tend to misdirect their anger at the immigrants. And this anger is growing at a frighteningly exponential rate.

If Americans would band together around their common needs — for good-paying secure jobs, affordable housing and healthcare — and demand that these basics be recognized as rights, you’d have a platform for instituting true change in the U.S.

But as long as Americans remain enslaved to the ideology that the market determines corporate and government policies, they will never solve the underlying problems that have created the illegal immigrant crisis.

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