IU voices concerns to new immigration reforms

The IU community has recently voiced various levels of concern as President Bush announced last week a set of comprehensive immigration reform proposals that would include an expanded but restricted guest worker program while also adding extra security to the U.S. and Mexican border. \nThe proposals are currently being debated throughout the government and address the fundamental issue of whether to punish or welcome those who enter the United States illegally.\n"We would not be as a country if it was not for this workforce who is willing to work long hours with little pay and no vacation," said La Casa Director Lillian Casillas. "These are hardworking, loyal folks." \nLa Casa, IU's Latino Culture Center, works to increase cultural awareness and education of the Latino community. It also helps recruit Latino students to come to IU.\nThe guest worker plan allows for undocumented workers to be able to live in the United States as long as they can prove that they are working. Additionally under the proposals, citizenship would be attainable for most illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants would be permitted to stay in the United States, but at a cost. In his speech earlier this week, Bush called for undocumented workers to pay their back-taxes, learn English and work a job over a length of time in order to stay. \nThe past few months have been marked by protests and boycotting all over the United States. A few months ago, The House of Representatives passed a tough bill that would impose fines on employers of illegal immigrants, called for tighter border control and would make becoming a citizen an arduous task. The recent announcement by Bush to send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border has exacerbated tensions in the past weeks. \nRegions and cities with large populations of working, undocumented immigrants are most affected by the reform. While activism is alive within the Latino community of Bloomington, the legislation does not pose a major threat to most people who live in Bloomington or attend IU. \n"In Bloomington, we have Latinos, but they are kind of scattered," Casillas said. "They are not the big numbers that I think the (reform) will have a major impact on. The students I work with are all documented or U.S. citizens. We don't have the sort of worker population here that is in other places."\nDespite the fact that immigration reform does not directly impact Bloomington as much as other places, some students have still felt the ramifications of this bill for people they know. Many students, professors and members within or outside of the Latino community have reacted to the bill.\n"Some students did go protest this because they know families affected by it or are against (the reform)," said Casillas. "Also, I have seen a lot concern at La Casa from non-Latino students."\nAldo Huitzil, a recent IU graduate and involved member of IU's Latino community and La Casa, participated in a protest in Indianapolis recently. \n"We wanted to protest that immigrants help this country grow," he said. "This country has always had a reliance on immigrants. They have been important for so long."\nThere are many reasons why the reform has sparked controversy.\n"Many Latinos think that (it) is wrong-headed because border enforcement has greatly increased since 1994, (but) undocumented immigration has increased as well," said Jorge Chapa, the director of Latino studies at IU.\nHe said America, a country founded on immigrants, has allowed over 80 million people to enter the United States in the past. Jorge proposes that if the United States needs the workers, the government should support the same type of immigration policy that has worked successfully in the past -- such as increasing the legal immigration of permanent residents. \nOther adversaries of the reform argue that illegal immigrants play an important role in the economic scheme of the United States, one that, frankly, no one else wants to fulfil. \nHuitzi said that people are wiling to risk their lives to cross the border for work and that even though they are making low wages and don't get benefits, it is more than they are making in their home countries. \nThe flip side of the bill is that if immigrants do get the guest-worker permits, they would enjoy more protection and benefits of living in the U.S. \n"I am happy to see that they are doing more than saying that they are doing more than building walls," Casillas said. "It's important to know who's here and at the same time that they have certain rights. We can't deny benefit from them."\nOpposition for this aspect of the bill argues that undocumented workers are going unpunished, even rewarded for illegally entering the country. \nHuitzil believes that the best way to reform immigration is to tackle the source of the problem.\n"It's going to get worse before it gets better," he said. "One thing the government can try to do is focus on employers. They need to develop technology that certifies who is legal and who is not so employers have no excuses for hiring illegal immigrants." \nIf this technology were developed, Huitzil theorizes that people in other countries will get the message that there is no work in the U.S., deterring them from attempting illegal entry. \n"The reality is that we are benefiting from them," said Casillas. "The reform is kind of a hypocrisy. But, illegal immigrants should have to do something in order to earn the right to stay here"