In the wake of the biggest protests in U.S. History-for the human
and political rights of immigrant workers-Congress has been jolted
into a position of having to react directly to the actions of working
people. The response has fractured the political parties amongst their
traditional and sectional allegiances, but united those most committed
to Corporate America to work out a compromise; one that can unite
enough liberals and conservatives to pass an immigration bill they
hope will head off the immigrant rights movement.
The legislation in question, the "Hagel-Martinez Immigration
Bill," has become the best hope for a negotiated compromise, but also
shows just how out of touch the two parties are with working people in
this country. The Democrats have used their position-not to push for
legalization or amnesty-but to suffocate it within the movement
through their connections to moderate immigrant rights groups. On the
other hand, the right-wing of the Republican Party are going to the
wall to prevent any bill that includes a guest-worker, no matter how
much it criminalizes immigrant workers. Shrieking "amnesty" to
characterize any form of guest-worker program has become the standard
of the restrictionists in Congress, placing them far outside the orbit
of the mainstream. Reminiscent of the Alamo, they have vowed to take a
"last stand" in the House. As Anti-immigrant Congressman Tom Tancredo
promised, ""No plan with amnesty and a massive increase in foreign
workers will pass the House."
While the mega-marches have sunk the most harmful elements of
the Sensenbrenner Bill-making them politically impossible to implement
in the Senate-the discourse on immigration within the halls of
Congress is still narrowly focused on a debate that pits Corporate
American (guest-worker program) versus the Far Right
(criminalization). The current scramble in the senate is to come up
with a bill that is close enough to the Sensenbrenner Bill (that
already passed the House in December 2005) so that the two can be
reconciled and made into law. While the initial immigrant-rights
protests have put HR4437 on life support, the latest bi-partisan
effort is to transplant its vital organs into a new body. In other
words, while the mainstream of the Republican Party has been forced
to distance itself from its own far right-wing on their opposition the
guest-worker program, both they, the Democrats and the Bush
Administration have surged to the right on the question of
criminalization, adding reactionary clauses designed to attract their
reluctant support.
The Hagel-Martinez Bill-already a wish-list for business
interests and a major concession to the Right wing in its original
manifestation-increases border militarization, punishes employers who
hire undocumented workers, allows for the deportation of up to 30% of
undocumented workers immediately, and provides a maze of legal hurdles
and waiting periods that make citizenship virtually impossible for the
majority of the rest. In top of this the Senate has added clauses to
expand the border wall and make the nation "English only." Meanwhile
the Bush has taken the unprecedented step of mobilizing the US
military, in the form of federalized National Guard troops, to engage
in a domestic war against migration.
Shifting the Focus to the Border
The mass protests that stopped the Sensenbrenner Bill showed that
immigrant workers already in the country are ready to fight back. This
has led to a re-orientation of anti-immigrant politics to the border,
and potential "future crossers." This is also reflected in the fact
that the majority in both parties are moving towards a guest-worker
program. While a guest-worker would create a new segregated and
exploited class of "temporary" workers, it reflects the understanding
that criminalization alone will only produce more resistance. By
shifting to the border, the focus can be politicized by the "War on
Terror," where the Right has been able to strong-arm and silence any
opposition to border militarization on the grounds that it is
necessary "to secure our borders."
Evoking the phantom terrorist has become the standard practice to
silence discussion of what is actually happening on the border. Rather
than a haven for terrorists, border militarization has made the region
a killing field for migrants, where the death rate reaches over 400
per year. In discussion of the increase in border militarization, not
one mainstream commentator or politician has acknowledged this
reality-ignoring a death toll that amounts to the World Trade Center
attack every nine years. It is for the political capital and the grand
prize-a guest-worker program-that the Senate and George Bush so
callously pushed to increased border militarization last week.
On May 17th the Senate voted overwhelmingly to build at least
370 miles of double and triple layered fencing along the US-Mexico
border, as well as reinforcing existing barriers along common crossing
points in Arizona. Furthermore, it gives carte blanche for any further
construction-to be determined as needed-and extends 500 miles of
"vehicle barriers" to ensure crossers remain on foot. The bill passed
by an 83-16 vote and was supported by all Republicans and 28
Democrats, including California Senators Diane Feinstein and Barbara
Boxer, and New York’s Hilary Clinton. At a projected cost of one
billion dollars, this incremental expansion of the border wall will
ultimately achieve what the Sensenbrenner-King Bill promised but could
not deliver, a contiguous border wall between the US and Mexico. As
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) recognized, the proposal is "a down
payment for a fence of 2,000 miles," the length of the U.S.-Mexico
border. "That would be the end result."
Bush added his support by announcing his plan to deploy 6,000
National Guard troops to the four Southwestern Border States to aid in
immigration enforcement. In what amounts to an entreaty to the
right-wing in the House, Bush hopes this will seal a compromise deal.
Acting as a point man for the bill, Arizona Republican Senator John
McCain goaded the obstructionists and appealed for them to recognize
the urgency from the point of view of trying to stave off a new
radicalization, "I think many of my colleagues in the House recognize
that this is something we need to do from a standpoint of resolving
this issue one way or the other."
Criminalizing Culture
In another twist on criminalization, the Senate agreed to an
amendment that would make English the "national language" of the
United States. Instead of the emphasis on the economic impact of
immigration, this panders to the racist idea that immigration
"degrades American culture." While packaged as a means to "unify the
nation" this amendment is less about promoting English and more about
criminalizing Spanish. As a May 19th press release of the National
Council of La Raza points out, "The fact is, more than 90% of
Americans already speak English. This amendment is so poorly conceived
that it would cause serious harm to millions of Americans while not
helping a single person to learn English."
While the amendment does not specifically mention Spanish, It is
clear that it is directed at the nation’s Latino, Spanish-speaking
population (with or without papers). The language amendment-from
Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma-states that "unless otherwise
authorized or provided by law," the government has no obligation to
provide any services or information in any language except in English.
"The real muscle of it is that it clarifies that there is not an
entitlement to receive federal documents and services" in anything but
English, said Inhofe spokesman Ryan Thompson.
In other words, the amendment can be used to deny voter
materials, legal documents, educational materials and other essential
information in Spanish and other languages. It could be used as a
means to punish Spanish-speakers in the classroom, in the workplace
and even in public places. It could effectively end all remaining
bilingual education programs, and used as a means to track
monolingual, Spanish-speaking children into remedial courses,
reminiscent of the practices of the Jim Crow era. The criminalization
of Spanish language is a foreseeable consequence of the racism
embodied in the "illegalization" of human beings, the construction of
border walls, and the climate of fear and ignorance generated by
desperate politicians and vigilantes.
The new round of attacks on immigrants—ostensibly to produce a
"compromise" immigration bill—is in fact an attempt to recover the
main objectives of the Sensenbrenner Bill. In other words,
policy-makers are determined to push through some form of legislation
that both criminalizes immigrant workers and provides cheap,
segregated labor to big business. Rather than this being a "backlash"
to the immigrant rights protests, it is the new mass movement taking
shape in the streets that is the backlash to a decades’ long war on
working people. While Congress arrogantly decides the fate of millions
in Washington-for the benefit of the very few-so too are immigrant
workers and rights activists across the country planning their next
move...for the benefit of all working people.
