Immigration rejuvenation

Back in 2006, over half a million people marched in downtown Los Angeles to protest potential immigration reform. Debates and roundtables on the issue peppered CNN and Fox News broadcasts daily. All this went on as both sides of the aisle fought about the right course of action. And finally … well, nothing really happened.

The immigration reform issue seemed to drop off the face of the earth for the last couple of years, but now, perhaps because of the recession, it is fixing to come back with a vengeance. Even during the most recent, and rather lengthy, presidential race, the immigration issue was largely absent. The issue went on the back burner near voting time and both candidates seemed content to let it stay there.

Perhaps the current recession is one of the reasons that the issue has come back up. Americans are looking for jobs and all the illegal immigrants have them, right? Well, not so much. According to employers, many out-of-work Americans, even in this bad economic climate, are still not willing to work as farm hands or do day-labor. So it seems not even to be an issue of “they took our jobs!” But rather, “They don’t belong here.”

Constant stalemating on the issue while more important and immediate issues arose is part of what helped caused the disappearance of the immigration reform issue. This is also what keeps it from getting solved.

The reason that this issue is such a difficult one is that both sides of the aisle cannot seem to agree on a given course of action. Those on the left are in favor of a reform that would give citizenship to illegal immigrants already in the country, whereas many on the right are only willing to consider reform once the border has been secured. Most on the left are willing to grant citizenship to illegal immigrants who already reside in the states, most on the right are not. Naturally, neither side is willing to compromise on the issue.

The fact is that immigrants, even illegal ones, are now a part of our society and infrastructure. Keeping these people, who work and live in our country every day, from becoming citizens only allows them to be exploited and take jobs for less pay, therefore possibly ousting a citizen from the same job.

Border security is not only difficult, it is nearly impossible. Stretching a gigantic wall from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico would be absurd and not even 100 percent effective. Policing every mile of the border would be inefficient, costly and time consuming. Refusing to work on immigration reform in our own country until this impossible task is completed is plain counter-productive.

News and controversy involving illegal immigrants has been slowly trickling back into the papers and nightly news. Just recently here in Oregon, a debate began over whether or not illegal immigrants should be able to pay in-state tuition for college. Apparently, someone cares about these issues and it is about time that we addressed them instead of waiting for them to go away again, which they probably will.

Those who are pro-immigration reform are often more apathetic about voting and voicing their opinions, or at least they just aren’t as loud as the opposition. This creates the illusion that anti-immigration reform is the more popular stance. Recent polls, however, have shown that only about 20 percent of the American population is against reform. Perhaps if the other 80 percent made their voices heard, things could be easier.

The Latino population grows every day, some illegal, some not. And as the immigrant population grows, so does its voice. How much longer can we afford to ignore it? Those that were born here in America to parents of illegal immigrants are now citizens—their parents should be too.