It’s the stuff of fiction. A vigilante group with a vaguely patriotic name creates a list with the help of someone—perhaps a disgruntled government-employee/mole—who is fed up with the system (think Michael Douglas in Falling Down). The list contains the names, social security numbers and other private information of hundreds of people whom the vigilantes deem “undesirable.” The list even identifies pregnant women and their due dates and recommends that they be first on the list for “elimination.” The list is delivered to a wide range of government, law enforcement and media groups, accompanied by a letter insisting action be taken to remove the undesirables.

Unfortunately, this bizarre tale is not the plot of a new movie or a New York Times bestseller, but a real drama which just happened in Utah. An anonymous group called “The Concerned Citizens of the United States” compiled a list of 1,300 alleged unauthorized immigrants—including birth dates, workplaces, and social security numbers—accompanied by a letter instructing government agencies to “begin deportation now.” They write:

Some of the women on this list are pregnant at this time and steps should be taken for immediate deportation.” They also promise to continue sending “new lists on a continual basis.

The list (which appears to contain a mix of accurate and inaccurate information) is outrageous, but sadly not at all surprising, given the downward spiral of anti-immigration tactics and antics of other “concerned citizens” who have taken up the restrictionist cause. Utah has a mixed record on immigration, but, unfortunately, is home to a growing number of hate groups and is not immune to efforts advocating the adoption of “show me your papers” legislation. However, despite the outrage around this list, some Utah state legislators are pressing forward on their work on SB1070 style legislation.

In their rush to look tough on immigration, Utah legislators should proceed with caution. Charles Kuck writes on the ILW blog:

A bigger concern for Utah has to be the fallout and consequences of “The List” and prospective state legislation on immigration. If Utah politicians ignore not only the political consequences, but their own heritage in moving forward toward passing an Arizona style “show me your papers” type of law, Utah will become, like Arizona, an economic pariah. Utah will be faced with declining foreign and domestic investment as the result of efforts to isolate those states that pursue legislation that serves no legitimate law enforcement, drives immigrants further into the shadows and away from the police, and deepens the divide in the United States over what is good for the future of America. Fifty different state laws on immigration policy is not a way to effectively run a country.

Utah, a state with a $700 million budget shortfall, certainly can’t afford to become the next Arizona by alienating its immigrant and Latino populations. IPC research shows:

Mexican immigrants in Utah “own property valued at $984 million,” have more than $1.0 billion in purchasing power, and paid more than $67 million in state and local taxes: $7.5 million in income tax; $52.2 million in sales tax; and $7.6 million in property tax.

There are other famous examples of “list building” that put a chill in the spines of most Americans. From the bygone days of McCarthyism to the historic Salem Witch Trials, the idea of a private group building a list of names and handing it over to government officials to be investigated just seems archaic and out of line. It is, alas, just one more example that screams out the need for immigration reform in Congress. It also begs the question: how much worse will it have to get before it gets better?

Photo by dhammza.

Americans are frustrated by a lot of things these days and immigration is no exception. What specifically annoys people about immigration is different depending on their vantage point. Those who are caught up in the labyrinth of immigration processing and the complicated inner-workings of the immigration agency are frustrated. Those who can’t even get their foot in the agencies door because they have no way to legalize are stuck in limbo. Then there are those who may have no personal connection to immigration and have never dealt with the difficult process of legalization, but are concerned about the all too common stories about the havoc born from our broken immigration system. So it isn’t at all surprising that many Americans are looking high and low for solutions.

What’s disturbing, however, is that the space left open by federal inaction on immigration has been seized on by harsh, restrictionist, anti-immigrant groups who are creating a franchise of anti-immigrant legislation that they hope to duplicate across the nation. You don’t have to search very far to find the groups behind this law who were launched and funded by John Tanton (the notorious Michigan opthamologist who has long funded anti-immigration groups). It also takes minimal digging to see these groups’ connections and the tactics they use to spread SB1070 style legislation.

So if these bad guys and their intolerant “throw them all out” approach won’t work, what can states do? Finding the solutions that will satisfy different group lies in understanding what frustrates them about our immigration problems. While a big bill in Congress is a good start, it won’t be the end-all-be-all for managing frustration levels. As Congress lags, how can states respond to federal inaction without having to get into bed with the “send them all home” crowd?

While some of the traditional gateway states may be better at integrating immigrants than others, there are still many states engineering programs that bring immigrants into the fold and making them part of the growth and rebirth of some communities. A mix of integration programming gets immigrants acclimated, learning English and adapting to the new culture might be the solution in some places. Certainly individuals pressing members of their congressional delegations to get off the fence and finally enact reform would help, too. Thinking and talking about what can be done—and doing so with intellectual honesty—is critical. However, it’s also important that in devising solutions, we stick to the basic American principals and ideals: fairness, due process and equal opportunity. When we start from this place, we can devise solutions that are right for our communities without buying into the punitive anti-immigrant franchise.

Photo by sc1malcomxracematters.

Today in Politico, hard right, conservative Gary Bauer continues the restrictionist tradition of blaming immigrants for everything from pot holes to climate change. In his editorial, Bauer cites a 2008 report by the restrictionist group Center for Immigration Studies and seeks to link climate change legislation and immigration reform legislation (and a half dozen other ideas for which he advocates) to make the wholly unclear point the immigrants are once again to blame for our environmental problems.

Bauer cites a 2008 CIS report which identified immigrants as the cause of global warming:

Immigrants would ultimately produce less CO2 if they just remained in their “less-consuming, less-industrialized, and less CO2 emitting” home countries.

Bauer then goes on to write:

As a conservative, I maintain a healthy skepticism of the theory of man-made global warming. I also believe that more people enjoying the fruits of modernity and economic development is a good thing — as long as those people arrived legally and obey the law.

In other words, he doesn’t believe in global warming, but we should stop immigration because immigrants are a huge contributor to the factors that cause it. Besides being a ridiculous argument, Bauer seems to contradict himself—wouldn’t immigrants still be the cause of global warming even if they came here legally?

As the IPC previously stated:

When it comes to the environment, immigrants are not the problem—the US lifestyle , our systems of production and consumption and the policies that shape them are. We need real, rational solutions and leadership on environmental issues, not scapegoats. CIS assumes that we are in a lifeboat with limited resources , and with too many people, we’ll all sink. Yet when it comes to the global warming crisis , we’ll all sink or swim together.

The number of strange correlations Bauer attempts to draw in this piece is confounding. One thing, however, is clear: Bauer and CIS’s intent isn’t environmentalism. They’re only politicizing and exploiting the issue—and highlighting shoddy research—in order to continue a crusade to tar immigrants (and liberals).

The only thing Bauer and his friends at CIS are doing when it comes to these two critical issues is attempting to distract attention from the real solutions to immigration and the global warming crisis. We do need a better, more regulated approach to immigration and the environment, but wishing away immigrants and blaming them for climate change does nothing to that end.

Photo by \<.

President Calderón’s visit to the United States yesterday continues to highlight issues of immigration, border control and crime. Presidents Calderón and Obama made the important point that we should address, not conflate, these two important issues. Judging from President Obama’s remarks yesterday, he seems to understand that the horrific violence which currently afflicts our southern neighbor is a complex problem that requires a multi-faceted solution—that the violence is not about immigration but about the flow of guns, drugs and money across the borders. President Obama reaffirmed his administration’s commitment “to stem the southbound flow of American guns and money” and to develop “new approaches to reducing the demand for drugs in our country,” pledging to keep up law-enforcement pressure on the criminal gangs that “traffic in drugs, guns, and people.”

A notable aspect of President Obama’s remarks is that his discussion of violence in Mexico was separate and distinct from his discussion of comprehensive immigration reform and the need to create a pathway to legal status for unauthorized immigrants already living in the United States. The distinction reflects the fact that unauthorized immigrants are not the cause of the violence which plagues so many communities in Mexico. This distinction stands in marked contrast to the supporters of “get tough” anti-immigrant laws, such as Arizona’s SB 1070, who frequently cite scattered episodes of violence spilling over the border from Mexico as a justification for their legislation. But cracking down on unauthorized immigrants in the United States is not going to diminish violence in border communities because unauthorized immigrants aren’t the perpetrators, criminal cartels are.

In fact, unauthorized immigrants tend to be the victims of violence at the hands of unscrupulous smugglers who all too often hold them hostage in “safe houses” in Phoenix and other border cities until they pay whatever amount of money the smugglers demand. Ending this sort of violence involves not only cracking down on the human smugglers who inflict it, but drying up the flow of unauthorized immigrants by creating sufficient avenues for legal immigration that accommodate actual demand.

However, Obama’s rhetoric and his agencies’ actions may be at odds. Recent reports show that DHS prosecutions of drug and gun violations are down while low level immigration violators are being prosecuted at record levels. A Warren Institute report highlighted the impact of Operation Streamline (a program that focuses on prosecuting border crossers) on immigration enforcement highlights how increased focus on nonviolent border crossers has taken resources away from investigating smuggling operations. A TRAC report shows that federal immigration prosecutions rose to record levels during fiscal year 2009 and that a shift in priorities has created the largest number of federal immigration prosecutions of non-violent border crossers ever. The trade-off is while the federal government spends billions of dollars prosecuting non-violent immigration violators, more serious criminals involved in drugs, weapons, and organized crime face a lower probability of prosecution.

This seems like the opposite of what America should be doing. Our resources must be focused on the most dangerous criminals and the people running the smuggling cartels and not on first time border crossers. We need to ask whether increased numbers of deportations and prosecutions are really solving the problem, or whether we should focus on quality, not quantity, and spend critical resources on those who are creating the violence along the border.

Photo by womenofcaliber.

It’s hard not to draw parallels between the two biggest stories in today’s headlines—a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a punitive new immigration law in Arizona. While on some basic level most Americans care about the environment and immigration, it’s not until something really goes wrong that most people begin to pay attention and ask questions. Do we really have to see the smoke to realize something’s on fire?

The daily images and stories depicting fast moving oil leaks into the Gulf remind the average person that we need a better system for attaining energy and, clearly, a much better system for managing it. Similarly, the depictions of the boycotts and protests that accompany Arizona’s harsh new immigration law remind us that we need a better system for managing immigration.

Sadly, neither issue has received the appropriate level of urgency in Congress over the past several years—issues Congress has deemed “too heavy a lift” or “too hard to do.” Take health care and financial reform, for example—both of which reached a boiling point due to lack of federal oversight and out-of-date policies. Apparently we have to hit rock bottom before Congress takes action.

But America is paying attention now. A recent Gallup poll highlights the increased public attention to immigration—noting it has topped the budget deficit in being viewed as the most important problem the nation must face.

So what is Congress waiting for? How many other states need to fan the immigration flames before Congress begins to act? As we continue to see the bitter consequences of outdated infrastructure and policies, it’s clear that keeping America’s infrastructure working properly should be among Congress’s top priorities.

Photo by OnEarth Magazine.