Over the past decades, illegal immigration has been a political talking point, but just that. Little has been done one way or the other to address what one side sees as an economic crisis and the other as keeping the promise of the Statue of Liberty, to protect the tired and poor and let them share the American dream.
Now, after the election of a president who campaigned on building a $25 billion great wall across a 1,500 mile border and to deport and keep out illegal immigrants, the issue has come front and center. To say it’s a hot topic is an understatement.
Gilroy and California will be in the center of the debate. The city and state have come out in favor of helping and protecting undocumented workers—but the costs of bucking the new federal mandates could come home to roost. First up is the plans for high speed rail, which sources out of Washington say will no longer be funded as punishment for the state offering sanctuary.
We’d like to print your opinions on what is one of the most important issues of our time. Send them to
ed****@gi************.com
. Also, tell us your immigration story, where your family came from and how they got here.
Writer Bev Stenehjem contributed a powerful framing of the question printed below. What do you think?
To deport or exort?
Since the presidential election and all the swirling emotions and bitterness that I read about, I keep coming back to some basic questions and wonder why no one is writing or discussing them.
It seems that there is so much distress and debate about immigration. From everything I read (Gilroy Dispatch, San Jose Mercury News, NY Times, USA Today, countless other FB posts, etc.), very few people make the distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. I think most all of us, of course, welcome those who immigrate here legally. It’s the people who illegally cross the borders that are of concern for many of us.
My grandparents were immigrants—from Italy and Poland -—and they came through and were documented at Ellis Island. Now, of course, that is not the process any more.
Here are some of my questions that I would like to have thoughtful conversations and analysis about:
1. Why do we (and just about every other country) have immigration laws in the first place? What is the history of these laws? Are they still relevant?
2. If we, as a society, decide not to have immigration laws and decide that it is best to have open borders, then why aren’t people talking about changing the laws? I believe there are a few new laws about this—which ones are they? Can we/should we pass more laws?
3. Why is it permissible (according to illegal immigrants who protest in the streets and who are featured with their names on the front page of the SJ Mercury News) for people to break our immigration laws? Is it OK to break other laws, too?
4. What are the pros and cons of open borders?
5. What can illegal immigrants, who are already here, do to become legal (my understanding from talking to immigration attorneys is that there is no legal process for them—that if someone is here illegally, they must return to their country and then try to start a legal process—which can take up to 10 years and be very difficult to achieve.) This, to me, is a HUGE topic for discussion —because many illegal immigrants would LOVE to become legal if there was only a way that they could. Yet, I have never seen a story about this.
I appreciate your time and hope that I haven’t opened a can of worms. It’s just that I think these questions are important to talk about and would like to be better informed.
Do you think that any of this would be good for our newspaper? Do we have a reporter that could tackle some of these questions?
I look forward to your thoughts about this.
Bev
