Resources / Ripples & Wipeouts

Immigration is a polarizing subject.  It’s one where people tend to feel strongly one way or the other, and are absolutely unwilling to take steps towards reaching middle ground.  I recently attended a panel discussion at The New School that focused specifically on immigration policy between the U.S. and Mexico.  The panel featured individuals who had both conservative and liberal perspectives, and three panelists were immigrants themselves.  Despite nearly two hours of debate and discussion, that panel did not yield any fresh ideas about immigration policy or offer much in the way of new insight into conservative and liberal points of view.  In contrast, the panel highlighted the fact that reaching any sort of an agreement about how to tackle current immigration policy is virtually impossible.

I concede that when it comes to immigration, I am a member of the polarized population.  I think that there are major wrongdoings happening along the nearly 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexico border and I fear that there are many instances of severe human rights violations that we do not ever hear about on the news.  Because there are so many moving parts that influence the nearly constant migration of people back and forth across the border, there are simply no easy answers about how to curtail undocumented immigration, create greater economic opportunity in Mexico, create better legal avenues for immigration into the U.S., offer guest worker programs, etc. 

Conservatives often say that Mexicans who do not follow legal channels to enter the U.S. should not have access to the same rights as legal immigrants.  On one hand, this is an easy statement to agree with.  It seems straightforward that people who follow rules should be rewarded, while those who do not should be punished.  Black and white. However, my own experiences in Mexico have taught me that applying for a visa is not a black and white process.  A low-income Mexican who submits all the proper forms, pays all the fees, and even provides proof of financial sponsorship in the U.S. will likely not be granted a visa to enter the country.  The justification offered by the U.S. is this: Mexicans who have been granted visas in the past have overstayed their visas.  Therefore, it is assumed that other Mexicans without significant financial securities in Mexico will also overstay their visas.  As a result, the majority of low-income Mexicans will not be granted legal entry into the U.S.

If the legal channels into the U.S. were open to all people, perhaps the immigration debate could become black and white.  However, the U.S. does not seem likely to address the broken visa application system anytime soon. As Americans, we have grown accustomed to lives of privilege.  We demand access to fresh food, we expect to be granted entry into any country, and we revel in the convenience of being able to buy almost anything at anytime, be it a product or service.  Many of these conveniences are made possible by the hard work of the 12 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the U.S. Until we as Americans are ready to kiss convenience goodbye, is it really so unreasonable to extend a helping hand to our Mexican neighbors?

--AMI