2008 Party Platforms on Immigration
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The Democratic and Republican parties just finished their conventions. With vice presidential announcements and hurricanes, the party platforms were widely ignored. These platforms are part of what the candidates from each party will try to uphold when they reach office. They can often have widespread impacts on Latinos in the United States and abroad.
In 1996, the winning GOP platform included a massive crackdown and assault on immigrants in the United States. As a result of that platform, laws were enacted that included provisions for retroactively looking at old crimes committed by immigrants in order to deport them. Legal immigrants who broke sometimes minor laws in their youth, found themselves fully reformed, employed and deported because of something they had paid their debt for many years ago. Many benefits of legal immigrants were also stripped. Many of the laws enacted from that platform and agenda were repealed as unconstitutional or recognized as inhumane, such as those that led to immigrant families being treated differently than American families when discussing compensation for victims of 9-11.
Below are excerpts from both the Democratic and Republican party platforms. The Republican Party platform is once again very alarming. While the Democratic Party includes their immigration policy in a section called "Renewing the American Community," the Republican Party groups immigration with crime and terrorism in a section called, "Immigration, National Security, and the Rule of Law."
This pretty much summarizes the known differences between the parties. The Democratic Party looks for a comprehensive change to immigration policy, one that regulates the border and immigrant rights at the same time, while the Republican platform treats it as a threat.
There are myths in both party platforms.
Taxes
The one I recognized in the Democratic Platform is the last statement about taxes. While I'm sure there are immigrants (documented and undocumented) not paying taxes (just like many American's dont'), it is extremely hard not to pay any taxes.
If you buy anything, you pay local sales taxes. If you live in a rented or owned residence, your money is going towards property taxes. I think most can agree that the typical immigrant buys things and pays rent somewhere.
I have worked in a human resources department where several employees complained of employees suspected of having forged documentation not paying taxes. I would look and see Social Security and Income Tax taken out and ask what they meant. The explanation was that a couple of employees had a lot of deductions taken out which minimized their income tax. The rest was paid and the rest of the employees paid. Of course, it's also known that those with false documentation can't collect Social Security once they put it in - and they do put it in. It's not that they don't pay any taxes - because all of them do in some form. The real complaint was that some didn't pay a particular tax - assuming of course, the deductions were false..
Code Words & Security
The Republican Platform adopted a host of myths. NCLR and the Anti-Defamation League have a great website called We Can Stop The Hate which I think is very important. They also have a video by the Anti-Defamation League detailing why language is important in protecting groups from demonization and other forms of attack - Code Words of Hate. The primary problem is that the Immigration section is coupled with crime and terrorism. The opening statement is : "Immigration policy is a national security issue."
As a reminder for those who don't know: the 9-11 terrorists had visas.
The first myth is immediately connecting immigration with terrorism. Oklahoma City, Anthrax and the first recognized terrorist group in this country, the Ku Klux Klan, have shown us domestic terrorism is also a vital threat.
Amnesty
Another myth is the use of the word amnesty. If I commit a crime, like forging my driver's license, I may pay a fine and lose the privilege to drive for a while. Nobody would call that amnesty. However, if you look at the Democratic Proposal for undocumented immigrants making it right: "We support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens." This is often called amnesty, even though there is a penalty paid and no special privilege afterwards.
English
I remember Al Gore, in a 2000 speech, saying something to the effect of "Our language is what united us." I thought, "what a shame." Hopefully, after traveling around the world and joining with people around the world to promote his agenda of climate change and seeing others do the same, he will realize a culture of positive values can also form a large community. The United States has also never been monolingual and English is not threatened.
The Democratic Party makes a nod to those who want immigrants to learn English by saying they should. This isn't really an issue because studies show immigrants are learning English at a similar rates as prior generations.
The Republican Party wants English to be the official language. This would be a change for our country from the past 200 years and our founding. Ironically, making English official is the beginning of their "Embracing Immigrant Communities" section. The bulk of that section has to do with immigrants learning English. Most immigrants do, the vast majority want to - and all of this without compulsory laws.
Rule of Law
One of the more disturbing statements in the GOP platform is: "Both government and the private sector must do more to foster legally present immigrants' integration into American life to advance respect for the rule of law and a common American identity."
This statement is made about legal immigrants.
Assimilation has absolutely nothing to do with an immigrant's ability to obey the law. They have laws in Latin America as well. As a matter of fact, if we were going to stereotype, the United States has the largest prison population per capita and by pure number in the world.
Local Law Enforcement
The Republican Platform also calls for allowing and encouraging local police departments to enforce immigration. After, 9-11 many local departments refused to obey Department of Justice mandates and requests for round ups and widespread questioning of immigrants. This was due to the knowledge and experience of those departments in knowing that if they are seen as a threat, crimes won't get reported. This will lead to a population that can be easily preyed on by criminals and where crime can prosper. Ther local police departments know the residents of that area need to be able to call the police without being threatened themselves. Even legal immigrants will hesitate to call if they think they will be questioned more than another person for reporting a crime. This is the same reason many police departments have had active outreach to African American communities as well.
Resources on Myths
The Republican platform freely uses the word "illegal alien" many times in their platform. Anti-Hispanic and anti-Immigrant groups insist people use this term. They do so because it endorses their position. I've always wondered why we don't refer to people with expired driver's licenses, or those caught speeding, as illegals.
The organized propagation of myths, disinformation and dehumanizing language are important tools for growing anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic sentiments.
Here are excellent web sites citing studies to debunk common myths on immigration.
Language Policy Web Site & Emporium
2008 Democratic Platform
III. Renewing the American Community (excerpt)
Immigration
America has always been a nation of immigrants. Over the years, millions of people have come here in the hope that in America, you can make it if you try. Each successive wave of immigrants has contributed to our country’s rich culture, economy and spirit. Like the immigrants that came before them, today’s immigrants will shape their own destinies and enrich our country.
Nonetheless, our current immigration system has been broken for far too long. We need comprehensive immigration reform, not just piecemeal efforts. We must work together to pass immigration reform in a way that unites this country, not in a way that divides us by playing on our worst instincts and fears. We are committed to pursuing tough, practical, and humane immigration reform in the first year of the next administration.
We cannot continue to allow people to enter the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked. The American people are a welcoming and generous people, but those who enter our country’s borders illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of the law. We need to secure our borders, and support additional personnel, infrastructure, and technology on the border and at our ports of entry. We need additional Customs and Border Protection agents equipped with better technology and real-time intelligence. We need to dismantle human smuggling organizations, combating the crime associated with this trade. We also need to do more to promote economic development in migrant-sending nations, to reduce incentives to come to the United States illegally. And we need to crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants. It’s a problem when we only enforce our laws against the immigrants themselves, with raids that are ineffective, tear apart families, and leave people detained without adequate access to counsel. We realize that employers need a method to verify whether their employees are legally eligible to work in the United States, and we will ensure that our system is accurate, fair to legal workers, safeguards people’s privacy, and cannot be used to discriminate against workers.
We must also improve the legal immigration system, and make our nation’s naturalization process fair and accessible to the thousands of legal permanent residents who are eager to become full Americans. We should fix the dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy that hampers family reunification, the cornerstone of our immigration policy for years. Given the importance of both keeping families together and supporting American businesses, we will increase the number of immigration visas for family members of people living here and for immigrants who meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill, as long as appropriate labor market protections and standards are in place. We will fight discrimination against Americans who have always played by our immigration rules but are sometimes treated as if they had not.
For the millions living here illegally but otherwise playing by the rules, we must require them to come out of the shadows and get right with the law. We support a system that requires undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, pay taxes, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens. They are our neighbors, and we can help them become full tax-paying, law-abiding, productive members of society.
2008 GOP Platform
Immigration, National Security, and the Rule of Law (excerpt)
Immigration policy is a national security issue, for which we have one test: Does it serve the national interest? By that standard, Republicans know America can have a strong immigration system without sacrificing the rule of law.
Enforcing the Rule of Law at the Border and Throughout the Nation
Border security is essential to national security. In an age of terrorism, drug cartels, and criminal gangs, allowing millions of unidentified persons to enter and remain in this country poses grave risks to the sovereignty of the United States and the security of its people. We simply must be able to track who is entering and leaving our country.
Our determination to uphold the rule of law begins with more effective enforcement, giving our agents the tools and resources they need to protect our sovereignty, completing the border fence quickly and securing the borders, and employing complementary strategies to secure our ports of entry. Experience shows that enforcement of existing laws is effective in reducing and reversing illegal immigration.
Our commitment to the rule of law means smarter enforcement at the workplace, against illegal workers and lawbreaking employers alike, along with those who practice identity theft and traffic in fraudulent documents. As long as jobs are available in the United States, economic incentives to enter illegally will persist. But we must empower employers so they can know with confidence that those they hire are permitted to work. That means that the E-Verify system—which is an internet-based system that verifies the employment authorization and identity of employees—must be reauthorized. A phased-in requirement that employers use the E-Verify system must be enacted.
The rule of law means guaranteeing to law enforcement the tools and coordination to deport criminal aliens without delay – and correcting court decisions that have made deportation so difficult. It means enforcing the law against those who overstay their visas, rather than letting millions flout the generosity that gave them temporary entry. It means imposing maximum penalties on those who smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S., both for their lawbreaking and for their cruel exploitation. It means requiring cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement and real consequences, including the denial of federal funds, for self-described sanctuary cities, which stand in open defiance of the federal and state statutes that expressly prohibit such sanctuary policies, and which endanger the lives of U.S. citizens. It does not mean driver's licenses for illegal aliens, nor does it mean that states should be allowed to flout the federal law barring them from giving in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens, nor does it mean that illegal aliens should receive social security benefits, or other public benefits, except as provided by federal law.
We oppose amnesty. The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity. The American people's rejection of en masse legalizations is especially appropriate given the federal government's past failures to enforce the law.
Embracing Immigrant Communities
Today's immigrants are walking in the steps of most other Americans' ancestors, seeking the American dream and contributing culturally and economically to our nation. We celebrate the industry and love of liberty of these fellow Americans.
Both government and the private sector must do more to foster legally present immigrants' integration into American life to advance respect for the rule of law and a common American identity. It is a national disgrace that the first experience most new Americans have is with a dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy defined by delay and confusion; we will no longer tolerate those failures.
In our multiethnic nation, everyone – immigrants and native-born alike – must embrace our core values of liberty, equality, meritocracy, and respect for human dignity and the rights of women.
One sign of our unity is our English language. For newcomers, it has always been the fastest route to prosperity in America. English empowers. We support English as the official language in our nation, while welcoming the ethnic diversity in the United States and the territories, including language. Immigrants should be encouraged to learn English. English is the accepted language of business, commerce, and legal proceedings, and it is essential as a unifying cultural force. It is also important, as part of cultural integration, that our schools provide better education in U.S. history and civics for all children, thereby fostering a commitment to our national motto, E Pluribus Unum.
We are grateful to the thousands of new immigrants, many of them not yet citizens, who are serving in the Armed Forces. Their patriotism is inspiring; it should remind the institutions of civil society of the need to embrace newcomers, assist their journey to full citizenship, and help their communities avoid patterns of isolation.
Welcoming Refugees
Our country continues to accept refugees from troubled lands all over the world. In some cases, these are people who stood with America in dangerous times, and they have first call on our hospitality. We oppose, however, the granting of refugee status on the basis of lifestyle or other non-political factors
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