In the launching of “VOXXI Connects” — a series of online discussions — two prominent Latino journalists delved into an hour-long online dialogue Tuesday about one of the most contentious issues for Hispanics this presidential election year: immigration.
VOXXI National Political Editor Carlos Sánchez moderated the discussion titled “Dissecting Immigration,” in which national syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette and Pilar Marrero, whose new book examines immigration, joined in. It went beyond the sound bites and explored the social, historical and political implications of immigration.
Marrero began the conversation explaining that immigration has become so personal to Latinos because “there are family ties and friendship ties that Latinos have with Latinos who are affected.”
She pointed to recent numbers that show 53 percent of the Latino voters know at least someone who is undocumented while 25 percent of them know someone who is facing deportation or has been deported.
With such strong ties, it is no wonder why Latinos are often offended by the hurtful remarks made by nativists and anti-immigrants to address undocumented immigrants.
Navarrette, who contributes content to VOXXI, said that for years, it has been difficult to take out from the immigration debate the derogatory terms used by nativists and anti-immigrant groups. He said such groups have driven others to believe that immigrants are “inferior” as well as “a burden to the U.S. economy.”
Marrero, who’s book “El Despertar del Sueño Americano” was recently released, said this anti-immigrant sentiment is “nothing new.” She said it was first seen when Irish and Chinese immigrants moved in to California during the late 1800s. The demand for labor during that time — which was mostly due to the construction of the transcontinental railroads and the Gold mining in California — attracted many immigrants to come to the U.S.
Similar to how Latino immigrants are viewed now, Irish and Chinese immigrants were seen as stealing the jobs of Americans. The were accused of bringing in diseases, lacking education and criticized for bringing in new cultures.
“That’s exactly some of the same things we’re hearing today,” Marrero said.
With the baby boomer population now beginning to retire and the expected labor shortages that will soon follow that, Navarrette said that instead of spreading this anti-immigrant sentiment “the U.S. needs to come to the realization that we really need these folks.”
He added, “By the time that realization hits most Americans, it will be too late because Mexico, for instance, will find itself with a shortage of workers. It’s already sending less people to the north as it used to do.”
Though both Marrero and Navarrette said the hurtful rhetoric has prolonged the passage of an immigration reform that would legalize some of the 11 million undocumented immigrants, Democrats and Republicans alike share the blame.
Marrero said that bad immigration policies pushed by both parties have contributed to the problem. She said that Republican President Ronald Reagan’s 1986 immigration reform, for instance, legalized 3 million immigrants, but it didn’t stop the flow of immigrants coming in illegally. Also, President Bill Clinton’s 1994 Operation Gatekeeper militarized the San Diego border. But like Reagan’s immigration reform, it didn’t stop the flow of undocumented immigrants. She said it simply changed the route in which they traveled.
“You need to regulate the future flow of immigrants,” Marrero said. “You need to figure out what the country needs for the future and it needs to be flexible, but we don’t have that flexibility.”
As Latinos look to elect the nation’s next president, Navarrette said “the choice for Latinos in this election is between bad and worse.”
Mitt Romney has been pushing for “self-deportation” of undocumented immigrants and has said that he would veto the DREAM Act, legislation that would pave a path to citizenship for undocumented young immigrants. Meanwhile, Barack Obama has deported more immigrants than George W. Bush ever did during his two terms as president.
Navarrette said this shows neither candidate understand the urgency to address the issue of immigration or why it is so personal to Latinos.
“They really don’t get us … and that’s unfortunately showed up in the way they approach this issue, which is in a very deceptive way,” he said.
Marrero said that though Latinos have the potential to drive home the importance of immigration during November’s election, “we still haven’t gotten to the point where we can drive the conversation at a presidential level.”
To change that, she said more Latinos will have to become citizens and vote in the numbers that will drive change.
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