Houston Democrats

At the TMO event, the minister running the affair promptly asked for a show of hands – how many people present who were struggling with basic healthcare coverage were illegal aliens. No hands went up. The fact of the matter is that 80% of those who lack health insurance are citizens! Of course, this won’t stop Dan and his breed throughout the Republican Party from saying it , over and over, until the uncountered lie becomes the common knowledge of the media class and of the general public.

I think the evidence is clear. Immigrants , as far as the GOP is concerned , are the new “gays”. They can be blamed for everything. They are a narrative theme to which one can attach national security, health care costs, lost jobs. Scapegoating and fear mongering, SOP for the Mighty Rightwing Noise Machine , are the tactics of choice and the GOP thinks they have found a winner in the immigrant issue.

Consider locally, the flirtation of John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison with the Minute Men militia. Cornyn went so far as to endorse them as a supplement to the Border Patrol and only backed off this when there was a generally negative hue and cry. Claiming that he as so concerned and frustrated his anger got the better of his judgment, he retreated to fall back position #2- draconian and comprehensive reform.

Hutchingson , in turn is sponsoring the most Draconian of the present covey of “immigration reform” bills before Congress. It gives a nod to the use of the armed, and untrained, non-Spanish speaking Minutemen to aid in border surviellence . It also s criminalizes the employment of “illegal aliens”. I suspect that neither she nor Cornyn believes or wishes passage of their bills. It is their re-election dog and pony show, red meat for the base.

Of course my stronger suspicion is that what we have here is a classic “good cop”, “bad cop” game. Recall that President Bush offered us his version of a “guest worker” program during the 2004 presidential campaign. It also is not likely to pass anytime soon.

As if I needed further evidence that I am on the right track. This mornings’ paper brings the news that there will not be enough time for “comprehensive” reform measures, the Senate will have to simply go with beefed up border security measures. Add this to the fact that “In December, the House passed a border enforcement bill and blocked debate on temporary worker visas…” and you have the Repub formula on this issue.

What this all means is that now Cornyn and Kay Bailey and their ilk can have their cake and eat it too. They can run on their “tough” reform postures and at the same time, not anger their business base supporters.

The Big Picture

By the numbers:

• 11 million undocumented workers
• 8.5 from Mexico and Latin America
• 2.5 from Asia, Europe and Africa.
• 450,000 = The number of unskilled laborers we need annually to keep our economy rolling.
• 5,000 = the number of legal work visas available each year (largely used up by large farming interest )
• 10,000 kids under 16 cross the border every year.

Public Opinion [ from http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/13383350.htm ]

“….a new poll shows that Texans are increasingly losing patience with the government's efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants and the employers who hire them.

Seventy-nine percent say the government is not doing enough to stop illegal immigrants, according to a newly released Scripps Howard Texas Poll conducted for the Star-Telegram and other publications. The finding reflects a 10 point increase from February of 2004 and a 21-point hike from August of 2001. The survey included 1,000 Texas adults, and the poll has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Well over 1 million illegal immigrants, mostly from Mexico, are believed to be living in Texas, making the state's population of undocumented residents the second largest in the nation behind California. An estimated 11 million illegal immigrants are in the United States.

Eighty-four percent of Texans surveyed consider illegal immigration a serious problem, while 76 percent believe the number of unauthorized immigrants crossing into Texas has been increasing in recent years.”

Then there is the association of illegal immigration with national security stated. See here for example. http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=64230380-765E-43AE-ACD7-82CC0D612AB5

How should we frame this issue? I have no final answers, I start with these principles:

• path to citizenship, so as to prevent a permanent class of 2 nd class persons and provide even more incentive for cooperation with registration and enforcement. With 11 million undocumented aliens, we need all the help we can get. [ fairness ]
• Providing workers for jobs Americans won’t take. [ This is a landmine! Most of organized labor would vigorously contest this point . ] [ecomonic prosperity for all ]
• There should be provision for family unification. [ compassion ]
• Enforcement should be targeted, proportional and humane. [ effective and efficient security, deterrence ]
• Protection should be provided against employer fraud. This should include the right to change jobs. [justice ]

[ these last 5 paraphrased from a presentation at a TMO meeting by the head of immigrant issues for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. I have added the values I think they speak to. ]

We need to do right on this issue. Hopefully this contributes to starting the necessary discussion.

I encourage everyone to join us on April 8th to discuss this very important topic. No one knows how best to frame our position, but together we can make a beginning on this important work. As Democrats we are strong when we work together as a community. These events are intended to help build that community through dialogue and at the same time to create and disseminate good strong value based messages.

It was Jim Wallis in his book, God’s Politics who said it best, “We are the people we have been waiting for….” Be part of solution. Register and come on April 8th.