Africans and Asians Concerned Over Proposed Immigration Bill

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, speaking in Clark Park on October 12, 2007 at a rally in solidarity with the immigrant rights movement in the United States. (Photo: Alan Pollock), a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Africans and Asians Concerned Over Proposed Immigration Bill

Legislation will emphasize economic needs of capitalists and further militarize borders

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Tens of thousands immigrant rights activists rallied on April 10 across the United States demanding that the federal government develop a comprehensive program for allowing approximately 11 million undocumented people to remain inside the country with an option aimed at legalization. The largest demonstration took place in Washington, D.C. where thousands gathered on the west lawn of the Capitol building.

On April 17 a new immigration bill (S. 744) was unveiled by the so-called “Gang of Eight” U.S. Senators who are from both the Republican and Democratic parties. The 804-page Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act places a strong emphasis on efforts aimed at preventing people from crossing the southern border from Mexico into the southwest region of the country.

A section of the bill defines what it calls a “High Risk Border Sector.” It notes that “The term ‘high risk border sector’ means a border sector in which more than 30,000 individuals were apprehended during the most recent fiscal year. The term ‘Southern border’ means the international border between the United States and Mexico.”

Although under the Obama administration more people have been deported from the U.S. than any other time in history, estimated to be some 1.5 million, the proposed legislation provides for an even tougher border security and enforcement measures. The bill calls for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) within six months to develop, finance and begin a revamped border security plan.

In addition the bill requires the building of a security fence to achieve what is said to be 100 percent border awareness and at least 90 percent apprehension rates in so-called “high-risk sectors of the border between the U.S. and Mexico. This must be completed within five years of the passage of the bill.

Under the legislation no one will be eligible for amnesty. In fact this bill, if passed, will strike down the de facto amnesty in existence under current U.S. law. Undocumented immigrants under the proposed law will be completely ineligible for any federal benefits, including healthcare.

Repeal of Diversity Visa Program

This proposed act of Congress also eliminates the Diversity Visa Program that has provided an avenue for legal immigration for many years. The bill reads that “An alien who receives a notification from the Secretary that the alien was selected to receive a diversity immigrant visa under section 203 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 115(c) for fiscal year 2013 or fiscal year 2014 shall remain eligible to receive such visa under the rules of such section, as in effect on September 30, 2014. No alien may be allocated such a diversity immigrant visa for a fiscal year after fiscal year 2015.”

Also the elimination of the family reunification visas for the siblings and married adult children will have a negative impact on people from Asia and Africa. Tuyet Le, the Executive Director of the Asian American Institute, said that “I think we rely on our family network for social support” in light of the fact that nearly 50 percent of all people waiting for visas are seeking admission through the family reunification program.

The elimination of the Diversity Visas Program which awards 55,000 visas to immigrants from states that are underrepresented in the U.S. will have a negative impact on African people. Over the last few years, Africans from the continent have made up 30 to 50 percent of people entering the country under this designation. (WBEZ91.5, Chicago, April 17)

Alie Kabba, the Executive Director of the United African Organization, pointed out “This program was one of the only few options that Africans have to come to the U.S. as immigrants. The elimination of the diversity program is reversing the clock in terms of African migration to the U.S. and it also undermines one of the seminal achievements of the Civil Rights Movement, which was the democratization of the U.S. immigration system to ensure that there was indeed a diverse stream of immigrants coming to the U.S.”

In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed by Congress at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. It was in this same year that the Voting Rights Act was passed just one year after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. All of these legislative actions grew out of the mass struggles of the African American people and their allies in the South and throughout the U.S.

The Immigration and Nationality Act was very significant because it broke down the strict quota policies in effect since the 1920s. The law prior to 1965 largely excluded Africans and Asians from entering the country with preference given to northern and western Europeans.

With the passage of this bill that was sponsored by U.S. Representative Emanuel Celler of New York and Senator Philip Hart of Michigan, avenues for legal immigration were opened up to people from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. These immigration trends have shifted the demographic character of the U.S. where by the mid-21st century, the oppressed nations and national minorities will become a majority inside the country.

The Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights has also raised concerns about the proposed bill. Jerry Clarito, the Executive Director of this organization, stressed that “The whole configuration of the immigration system should be fair and should be humane and it should not be just using immigrants as a tool for economic development.” (WBEZ91.5, Chicago, April 17)

Clarito points out that the new legislation redirects the thrust of immigration law from a family-based orientation to the imperatives of U.S. industry. “The immigration system should be really fair and humane. It’s not about just skills,” Clarito said.

He continued saying “Otherwise, we are creating an elitist form of immigration, and this is really dangerous because it will trickle down to even the value-formation inside America, that they only value people with high skills. And we know in reality that’s not the case.”

These new proposals for the elimination of the Diversity Visa Program and curbs placed on family re-unification must be taken up programmatically by the Immigrant Rights Movement without compromise. The movement which emerged in 2006 from the grassroots levels was largely calling for complete and full legalization. Such a program of action will set the stage for a humane and just immigration policy that draws upon the legacy of the struggles for civil rights and self-determination inside the U.S.