Author speaks tonight on immigration ‘scapegoats’

Bloomington native Jane Guskin will lead a discussion about immigration issues and “The Politics of Immigration,” a book she coauthored with David Wilson, at 7 p.m. tonight at Boxcar Books.\n“We (at Boxcar Books) feel like her book is important in these times of a lot of issues surrounding immigration, borders, and politics,” said Steven Stothard, Boxcar Books event coordinator. “I believe (the event) will benefit the Bloomington community in that (it provides) someone who has done extensive research and academic work involving immigration so that everyone involved can be given that viewpoint along with whatever viewpoints they might have coming into the discussion.”\nGuskin said the book differs from others written on immigration issues because it is not “elitist.”\n“(Wilson and I) tried to write a book that would be very, very easy to read and easy to use as a tool for people who sort of want the answers at hand,” she said.\nThough the book is “easy-to-read,” it does push a pro-immigration agenda, said Dr. Dennis Conway, a professor in the geography department.\n“One of the things that happens with authors ... is that authors tend to take one side or the other, as do analysts,” Conway said. \nGuskin said although her mother was an English immigrant, her interests veered toward immigration after she battled to get her Colombian husband a green card.\n“There’s definitely a lot of racism that sort of permeates the anti-immigrant attitudes,” she said. “People have a certain concept of what an immigrant is. (Those people) mainly target people with darker skin as being people who are theoretically causing these ‘problems.’”\nGuskin said one of the biggest factors affecting U.S. immigration policy is actually jargon.\n“One of the biggest (myths) is ‘legal’ versus ‘illegal,” Guskin said. “People can’t be illegal – only actions can be illegal.” \nConway said most “illegal” immigrants are not “smugglers” and aren’t doing anything “dangerously illegal.” Instead they are people who have overstayed their visa limitations, are working when they are technically supposed to be visiting or are students who are not enrolled in class for one reason or another.\n“The term illegal is too sweeping,” Conway said. “The most neutral term, now being used in Europe mostly, is ‘irregular’... (which) means that they’re living with a permit to visit but not to work.”\nGuskin and Conway agreed that immigration issues are often a hot topic when the economy is down.\n“Immigrants end up being a favorite whipping boy,” Conway said.\n“A lot of politicians are looking for scapegoats,” Guskin said. “They don’t want people to be thinking about other issues like ... the dollar dropping. It’s an easy target for politicians and the media to say ‘blame immigrants.’”\nGuskin also argued that U.S. policies need to look globally when addressing immigration issues. She said workers’ rights and the global economy are topics related \nto immigration. \nConway said discussions such as Guskin’s would not suppress all anti-immigrant stigma, but still would benefit an open debate on the issue.\n“Will book tours crowd out FoxNews and the assaults by the mass media?” Conway asked. “I hope that somebody will talk about the humanity part of the issue because really we’re talking about humankind – people rather than statistics.”\nGuskin hopes the discussion will spread awareness.\n“(I want to) learn from people, exchange ideas and information, help people feel more comfortable with all of the responses that come from the media,” she said. “As (people) understand and learn more about immigration, hopefully (they will) get more involved and try to change the system.”