The language and Politics of Immigration
MAWA, Make America White Again. The most prevalent message in the 2016 general election campaign. The question of who gets to belong in this beautiful land of milk and honey has plagued us for centuries. The conversations are often heated and most recently extremely bigoted. What is puzzling is that just about everyone who resides in the U.S. can trace their roots to another country. Maybe I should ask my white friends where they are really really from. While some came here voluntarily most of them came here involuntarily. Immigration has been a foundational narrative of U.S. history and immigrants from across the globe have been met with the question of whether they are good enough to be accepted as members of the society. Do they have something to contribute. The accepting nature of this country can be seen in the words under the statue of liberty “…give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”(1) The exclusive viewpoint has been front and center in the media since Trump’s entry into the presidential race. He began by talking about Mexicans being rapists to the Muslim ban executive order to that moment on January 11, 2018 when he asked, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” when referring to El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras and African countries.(2)He then went on to ask why more people from Norway weren’t coming in. Norway! One of the whitest countries in the world. He insisted that the white supremacist who gathered in Charlottesville were very fine people. This view didn’t come about recently, anti-immigration (Italians, Chinese and German) sentiments have come up at different points in American history when people have become uncomfortable and fearful of increased diversity; different languages, cultures and traditions. Anti-immigration rhetoric and policies should be called as they are, attempts to promote homogeneity/white nationalism.
Recent conversations surrounding the migrant caravan have served to normalize Trump’s anti-immigrant xenophobic agenda. The so-called migrant caravan was painted by the media as something akin to an approaching well-armed militia group or an EF-5 tornado or category 5 hurricane. However, these people are not even planning to cross the border illegally. International human rights law guarantees their right to seek asylum and the U.S. thus has an obligation to consider their claims.(3)Whether we are aware or not, our attitudes towards immigration are reflected in the words we use. Immigrants have been called criminal aliens, a national emergency, a threat to safety of every American, rapists, animals, violent criminals, illegals, bad hombres, drug dealers, ms-13 gang members and so on. This language is not accidental but is no doubt aimed at dehumanizing immigrants. This country is using the same tactics it used to criminalize populations of color. It’s what we are good at “othering”. It’s always a mentality of “us” vs “them”. This othering creates deep seated divisions. Dehumanization of immigrants, particularly black and brown individuals, affects their identity and ability to achieve a sense of belonging and identity in the communities that they reside. To only focus and single out the negative narratives (regardless of whether they are true or not) is to erase all the positive contributions that most hardworking immigrants have made to this country.
To crackdown on the so called “undesirables” the administration has proposed actions ranging from the Muslim ban to the wall to merit-based immigration(cue more people from Norway) to ICE deportations to caps on the number of refugees admitted to this country to ripping children away from their parents to termination of DACA to ending the visa lottery system(think back to Trump’s comments) to sanctions and tariffs on Mexico and other countries in Central America.(2,4,5)
Presently, the American government wants to reinterpret a vague bit of immigration law — the public charge rule, which has been in effect since the 1880s(under the Chinese Exclusion Act) — that is aimed at screening whether people who immigrate into this country are likely to be self-supporting and not dependent on the public. The administration wants to expand the list of potential no-nos for legal immigrants seeking to apply for a green card. This new list will include food stamps, housing assistance, Medicare part B, Medicaid or earning below 125% of the poverty line.(5)Another inclusion is the requirement that they should speak English. Language is one of the fabrics of one’s culture and thus is a part and parcel of an individual’s identity. In many contexts particularly in Africa, English is the language of colonization. Through this it is quite clear that language is seen as a threat and forcing people to communicate in English language in a way is supposed to ensure their assimilation.
The public charge rule will primarily affect low-income legal immigrants particularly children born in the United States.(5)No one should be forced to choose between caring for their families and getting needed medical care. Legal immigrants will be punished simply for trying to provide bread and butter for their families. The repercussions are that legal immigrants are afraid to seek health care and may in the long run pose a public health risk in relation to the spread of infectious diseases such as the flu.
Anti-immigration proponents argue that the American dream is only for Americans. They argue that they(immigrants) should stay in their countries and that they should expend as much energy on fixing their countries as they did in coming to the U.S. illegally. To say this is to shame and blame the victim for issues outside of their control. This statement is very puzzling because who would choose to uproot their life, leave their families and everything familiar to them to come to a foreign land if they were aware of what awaited them. To leave one’s country is to forget and ignore its issues. As we continue to see an influx of Central American immigrants, it’s important to note the reasons behind why people are leaving their countries of origin. We are strategically choosing to ignore their counter narrative. They are not immigrating, they are fleeing. They are leaving countries that are still recovering from the effects of colonial trauma and exploitation. What we fail to acknowledge and educate ourselves on is how “illegals” end up in this country. What is often left out is how the U.S. created this influx by purposefully intervening in the countries’ governments for the capital interests of private companies such as the Chiquita Banana(formerly called the United Fruit Company). These interests promoted U.S. involvement in Central America due to its abundance of natural resources. Economic interests led to various interventions to ensure that the home governments and regimes continued to align with their interests. U.S policies in Central and South America contributed to corruption, drug trafficking, and gang activity such as the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), the most notorious transnational street gang that traces its origin in Los Angeles.(6)The irony! In a slippery slope, the U.S. involvement in El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s led to the creation of a gang that had managed to transcend national borders. The U.S. government exerts its power and control over other countries to drive its own interests. Many of these countries continue to have a steady military presence to keep its leaders “in check”, but when its people flee to the U.S. to rebuild their lives, they are treated as the criminals responsible for their country’s political and economic situations.
References
1. The New Colossus — Statue Of Liberty National Monument (U.S. National Park Service) [Internet]. National Park Service. [cited 2019 Jun 4]. Available from: https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/colossus.htm
2. Watkins E, Phillip A. Trump decries immigrants from “shithole countries” coming to US — CNNPolitics [Internet]. CNN. 2018 [cited 2019 Jun 1]. Available from: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/immigrants-shithole-countries-trump/index.html
3. Key facts about the migrant and refugee caravans making their way to the USA | Amnesty International [Internet]. Amnesty International. [cited 2019 Jun 3]. Available from: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/11/key-facts-about-the-migrant-and-refugee-caravans-making-their-way-to-the-usa/
4. Davis JH. Trump to Cap Refugees Allowed Into U.S. at 30,000, a Record Low — The New York Times [Internet]. The Washington Post. 2018 [cited 2019 Jun 4]. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/us/politics/trump-refugees-historic-cuts.html
5. Status of Current DACA Litigation — National Immigration Law Center [Internet]. National Immigration Law Center. 2019 [cited 2019 Jun 3]. Available from: https://www.nilc.org/issues/daca/status-current-daca-litigation/
6. Winslow D. MS-13 Was Born in the USA [Internet]. The Daily Beast. 2019 [cited 2019 Jun 3]. Available from: https://www.thedailybeast.com/ms-13-was-born-in-the-usa?ref=scroll
