Congressional Hearing Explores How We Talk About the Immigration Debate
July 14, 2010
By Maureen Wood
Today the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law held a hearing on “the Ethical Imperative for Reform of our Immigration System.” Many important points were made, but one really stood out: illegal immigration is not a racial issue.
This point was not brought up by someone considered “anti-immigrant,” or any other slanderous term being thrown out in the blogosphere. The point was made by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL). Gutierrez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, is lauded by many as a champion of immigrants’ rights.
Gutierrez was the one to ask a room full of his colleagues in Congress, religious leaders and immigration activists why people always focus on Latinos when discussing immigration.
“This is not a fight between the United States and Mexico,” Gutierrez said. He also brought up the statistical fact that 40 percent of illegal immigrants are not of Latino descent.
Immigration reform and illegal immigration are not racial issues. Arguments can be made to call the debates surrounding immigration political or moral, but no credible argument can be formed to call them racial. People from around the world reside within American borders illegally and no one nationality is responsible for the problems illegal immigration is causing our nation.
It is obvious that Hispanic and Latino groups have been extremely powerful and effective in mobilizing their constituents and having their voices heard. This does not mean that Latinos are the only ethnic group concerned with immigration. This point is largely overlooked by the media, thus wrongly simplifying immigration into a racial debate, rather than the multi-faceted, complex debate it really is.
It is time for the media to focus on all groups involved in the immigration debate, rather than simply gratifying the most vocal. The immigration debate must be transformed into a productive and fair conversation, not simply an argument in which people point fingers and choose scapegoats.
“Illegal alien” is not a race or ethnic group. “Illegal alien” is a term that refers to anyone who enters the United States without waiting for authorization such as a visa, lawful resident status or citizenship. Illegal aliens take the jobs of hardworking American citizens and legal residents without participating in the process of the American immigration system.
It is time to remove the racial taint from the immigration debate and see the reality of illegal immigration in the United States.
