The subject of immigration reform is once again stirring a heated debate in our land, pushed along in no small part by a recent law that gives law-enforcement authorities in Arizona a go-ahead to question suspected illegal immigrants and to arrest anyone who cannot prove citizenship or legal residency.
Cable commentators and radio talk-show hosts see a chance to fill airtime with the most cutting comments from both sides of the debate. Plenty of loud voices, ranging from backers of amnesty to would-be vigilantes, are ready to fill the gaping maw of the modern media.
Many who complain the most about illegal immigrants often pose a seemingly common-sense question to anyone who disagrees with them: 'What don't you get about "illegal?"'
The question is compelling — why should someone who broke the law to enter the U.S. receive any consideration beyond all-out efforts to locate and deport them?
Any thoughtful person should think a bit more. I have given the question more thought. I know that legal scholars and a review of history tell us that good law must have a sound moral or ethical basis. I don't see much of a moral or ethical basis for our immigration policy of the past 25 years or so.
Indeed, our entire society spent much of the past 25 years allowing illegal immigrants to enter the U.S.
We have accepted the benefits of the labor of many millions of them.
We have had laws against illegal immigration on the books all the while, but we haven't done much beyond periodic showcase efforts to enforce them.
We have had resources to afford greater protection against illegal crossings of our borders, but we haven't done much to deploy them.
We have spent the past 25 years — since the last sweeping reform of our immigration laws under President Ronald Reagan — winking at the law and welcoming illegal immigrants to work in factories and on construction sites, mow our lawns, cook our fast food, and so on and so on.
We wanted them to work cheap, and they accepted that as part of the bargain on being here.
We wanted them to behave, and the overwhelming majority of them have — just like the rest of the population.
We wanted them to assimilate, and most of them have to one degree or another.
We wanted them to buy things, and they have, bringing smiles and revenue to many a retailer.
Most of society has watched all of this in a semi-conscious state, not exactly aware of how illegal immigrants have become part and parcel of our economy and society. Most of us have more or less taken whatever benefits illegal immigrants have brought — everything from helping to keep inflation low during hot economic times to paying into our strapped Social Security system, even if the payments came under a false number.
Most of us didn't ignore the law because we wanted to give illegal immigrants a break. We did so — consciously or sub-consciously — because illegal immigrants have made our day-to-day lives better, or easier, or more convenient.
I see no ethical underpinnings where a society ignores its own laws when convenient and then invokes them in a fury when times get tough. I can't see a moral basis for tacitly allowing individuals to establish lives, form families, and grow roots here only to be told they have no rights.
At some point a society must live on a de facto basis, acknowledging that actions that are broadly accepted for years trump legal codes that are widely ignored over the same period.
The U.S. is now at that point. Our society has provided no moral or ethical basis for our immigration law. We have regarded our legal system as a safety valve when it comes to illegal immigration, turning a blind eye when convenient but reserving the right to crank up enforcement efforts when the mood strikes us.
That's not the rule of law — it's a dangerous form of whimsy.
And that explains what we don't get about "illegal" when it comes to the debate over immigration.
It's time for all of us to admit that we've flouted our own laws. It's time to make good on our past failings with a path to legal residency for illegal immigrants who have worked hard and lived productively and peacefully among us.
It's time to stop lying to ourselves about immigration and immigration reform.
Jerry Sullivan is editor of the L.A. Garment & Citizen.
Photo by Kevin Chan.
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