New immigration bill evidence of ugly trend

The Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration
Control Act of 2005, HR 4437, introduced by House Judiciary
Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) will make all 11 million
undocumented immigrants aggravated felons, subjecting them to
deportation, imprisonment and depriving them of any access to a
hearing prior to deportation (“Send Your Thoughts,”
March 16).

This is the most repressive immigration bill in decades. It
would deprive immigrants of important due process rights, divide
families, criminalize undocumented status, and drive undocumented
immigrants ““ the most exploited group in our country ““
even further underground.

Further, the bill could hold social service agencies and church
groups who offer support to undocumented immigrants accountable and
at risk of criminal prosecution as smugglers. Employers of
undocumented immigrants could face similar prosecution and
substantially raised fines.

This bill runs contrary to the principles of inclusion and
equality. Immigrants are honest and decent people who continue to
work to build areas of our nation into vibrant centers of social
and economic life. We’re a country of immigrants.

Yet, the nation is embarking on a xenophobic, nationalist, and
divisive debate over how to stem the flow of undocumented
immigrants, especially from Mexico and Central America, and what to
do about the undocumented workers already living here.

The atmosphere in Congress is so poisonous that even President
Bush’s guest worker plan is being presented as a liberal
alternative, despite the fact that it could benefit some of the
largest corporate interests in the U.S. Allowing corporations to
contract for hundreds of thousands of temporary guest workers is no
answer.

Let us not forget the hundreds of thousands of Mexican braceros
who were recruited for U.S. agribusiness. If they went on strike,
they were deported, and if resident farm workers tried to unionize,
growers simply used other braceros to replace them. The proposed
guest worker program would be just as abusive.

It is time to realize that people will continue to come to the
U.S. so long as gross economic inequality continues to grow between
rich and poor countries, even if the frontier between the U.S. and
Mexico becomes an armed camp, and new walls are built reminiscent
of the Cold War.

These migrants do not seek to injure their new host countries,
but to work and provide for their families.

It is time we support a comprehensive immigration reform that
will bring the undocumented community out of the shadows and allow
them a lawful path to citizenship.

Redin is a student at the UCLA School of Law.