Republican Boycott of Immigration Reform

The 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States will continue living in shadows, as it is said, only now they will be searched for with a magnifying glass in order to process them and deport them. That is, if the House of Representatives approves the different measures that it is discussing.

The Senate’s proposal, which was seen as limited by many, is actually very generous when compared with what is spreading through the other chamber, where Republicans hold the majority; the speaker of the house has near absolute power in deciding what measures are discussed and which are frozen.

The division and the polarization of politics in the United States are much deeper than the traditional tension between Democrats and Republicans, between liberals and conservatives. Now, with immigration reform, a profound division is apparent between the Senate and the House. Adding wood to the fire, there is a permanent tension between the White House and Congress. But not even the Republicans can come to an agreement; the tea party faction has divided them internally. To top it off, the people of the United States are fed up with Washington and sick of the politicians.

The proposal for complete and bipartisan immigration reform from the Senate has been torn apart by the lower chamber into five areas. There is nothing “complete” left to it. The subjects to be discussed are: border security, the temporary worker program, verification and control within the U.S. work market (E-Verify), internal controls (persecution of undocumented immigrants) and visas for highly skilled professionals.

Even though it seems like a replay, the subject of legal status for the 11 million undocumented immigrants isn’t even a subject that has a place on the House’s agenda. And if there is no road toward legalizing these people’s status, there is no reason to talk about their integration into American society, a main point in the Senate’s proposal.

The concession made by the Democrats at the last minute to gain approval of the proposal in the Senate, finishing the wall and doubling the number of border patrol agents, didn’t cause the slightest stir in the House of Representatives. Their position continues to be to not discuss any kind of legal status until it has been shown and proven that the border has been completely sealed. To top it off, it is no longer about verifying and proving to Congress the absolute control of illegal crossing of immigrants, but also those crossings used for drug trafficking, which are much more difficult to stop, if not impossible.

It is about advancing the agenda. First, the subject of internal repression and second, only opening the doors to those migrants who are necessary and wanted: the agricultural workers (they need to eat something besides junk food) and the highly skilled professionals.

For the first step they increase the penalties on the transgressor, the fines and the jail times for the undocumented immigrants and their employers. The labor control system, E-Verify, will be mandatory for everyone who wants to work; they will have to provide biometric information. With the pretext of the undocumented immigrant worker, the agenda of general control of the population advances where the country and the people have resisted having an official identity card for centuries.

As to the immigrants who will be welcomed, two clear and differentiated policies are established. Agricultural workers will not have any path to become residents or citizens. A classic migrant worker program will be established.

Those who are already there will be able to gain legal status if they leave the country and apply for an H2A visa or whatever will replace it. That is to say, the old formula used on other occasions of drying off the wetbacks: I deport you and then I contract you under other conditions.

However, 85 percent of agricultural workers are from Mexico; they only compete in this market with a handful of Hondurans and Guatemalans. Now, not even the Haitians want to work in the harvests, or as Fox would say … This program is designed for the Mesoamerican labor force; now it is time that we start setting the conditions or dictating some measures.

As far as the professionals go, it is about pure and tough global piracy. The best professionals and scientists from around the world will be able to enter with their families, stay permanently and live the American dream. Moreover, the foreign students from the best American universities could become residents once they have finished and paid for their educations. After having CONACYT (a financial support program for Mexican students) pay for their studies and room and board for five years, the brand new doctors would have the doors open to work and stay in the United States.

It is no longer politically correct to talk about the brain drain; now it is called winnings, with the win-win formula or the lost circulation of brains. But in practice it isn’t anything more than piracy sanctioned by law.

Not even the case of the Dreamers is dealt with the same way as the Senate’s proposal. To start with, it talks about young people; it’s the same but different. They want to take away the political connotation of the student movement. It seems as if they would give them a special status, but the path to citizenship would be much more arduous and complicated.

Anyway, the House and Speaker John Boehner have to give a signal that they are interested in the problems of the country and that they worry about the issues and demands of the Latin minority. It does not help them to be labeled as obstructionists and inflexible. They will have to discuss and approve something. They no longer pursue the majority because they have it. The path that they have chosen while facing the internal division of the Republicans is to pick the majority of the majority; only in this situation would they be able to debate the subject and vote.

But they are running out of time. They are now in recess, but in September they could debate some issues separately. In October they will debate the budget. November will be the last opportunity to vote on some issues or to combine various and make an ad hoc bill that would give the impression that their work is for comprehensive reform. Later, a commission formed from both chambers will try to come to an agreement. In 2014 the window will have closed.