It always seems funny to me that the party that claims to be "of Jesus" is the party that shows the least compassion for its fellow man. When it comes to immigration policy, it's fairly obvious that this country is failing miserably. But it always has.
Immigration has been a problem here in the US since we declared Independence. It hasn't been a constant worry, but at times it has become a national obsession, as it has now. The most memorable time before now was the influx of the Irish coming into the US in the early 20th century. Boy did we hate them.
Now it's the people from Mexico and Central America. Believe it or not, those against immigration aren't usually doing so based on race. It may be the case now, but historically, race matters much less than culture when it comes to immigration. Natives, as they are called, are worried that the influx of people from another culture will ruin the nation's culture.
If that's the worry nowadays, it shouldn't be. What is America's culture? We don't have a single culture that anyone can point to. In the South there is a culture, in the North there is a different culture. Bringing in more people from other cultures is not going to ruin our national brand, because we don't have one.
So it has to be race this time, or some other obscure rationale for turning people away. We're not out of space. One of the prime reasons conservatives always give is that these foreigners will take away good paying American jobs. Of course that's not true. Immigrants come to this country and work in jobs most Americans are unwilling to do (like pick produce).
The question for we liberals, is what can we do about this? We elected a man in 2008 who promised that he could solve the immigration problem. In many ways, that pro-immigration political stance is what got him elected (Latinos went overwhelmingly for Obama in both 2008 and 2012) [Source]. Since then he hasn't done much.
Now it hasn't really been his fault. Our congress isn't what you'd call...good or productive or helpful. However, his rhetoric on the subject and his continued deportation efforts haven't exactly been as progressive as many of us had hoped. [Source] While I don't blame PBO for his stance (he has little choice if he wants to keep Congress off his back, he has to enforce the law as it stands), something has to be done.
There are rumors that he will finally address the problem with major executive action in the next few months. Here's hoping that what he comes up with will actually solve the problem and not add to the chaos.
photo credit: dim7chord via photopin cc
