The Future of Immigration Reform
Immigration reform has been a long-standing social movement in the United States post-Ronald Reagan’s 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. The movement has many faces, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the potential comprehensive immigration amnesty reform for 11 million immigrants in the United States.
One standard platform focus in presidential elections and re-elections is immigration reform. Whether it be for or against immigration reform, these platforms have shown to be a critical factor in our elections for the last decade. This was prevalent during the Biden-Harris campaign, with their immigration platform focusing on undocumented immigrant protections and improvements in the legal immigration system. As we explore the momentum of immigration reform, we must explore the past to understand the present. We must focus on the grassroots and revolutionary social movements and how social constructions have aided and harmed the future of immigration reform in the United States.
One of the first and last significant revisions to the immigration laws in the United States came through the bi-partisan Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). This reform was enacted to curb illegal immigration by (1) introducing civil and criminal penalties for knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants and (2) tightening security at the border. IRCA also opened the opportunity to legalize certain immigrants who resided illegally in the country before January 1, 1982. The Washington Post reported that more than 2.7 million individuals were granted legal status under IRCA. We have yet to see significant revisions and improvements to the legal immigration system. It has been 35 years since we changed our immigration system significantly.
In 2012, the Obama administration focused its immigration platform on implementing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This policy protects over 800,000 undocumented immigrants who came unlawfully into the United States as minors. This policy is not a path to citizenship or legal status but allows these people to obtain a social security number, a work permit, and a driver’s license. This policy came about during the Obama Administration to give protection against deportation to the thousands of young immigrants who lived in fear of deportation. Since the program was established in 2012, DACA has been heavily challenged with concerns about its legality and legitimacy. Many young arrivals are constantly uncertain of their status in this country, and there have been many opportunities for improvements within DACA or a path toward immigration reform. However, we must explore how we have viewed and talked about the immigrant community to understand the setbacks.
As discussed by Dr.Lyon-Cotti, social constructions are shared understandings of the world that make up concepts, identities, norms, and stereotypes. They hold power in how we view certain communities or target groups and impact material welfare while also influencing their social reputations, political attitudes, and participation patterns. The Social Construction of Target Groups Framework and the typology of social constructions, illegal immigrants are considered deviants who lack both political and positive social construction.
How we talk about immigration and immigrants has shifted throughout the years, but a common theme has been anti-immigrant sentiments. To understand the future of immigration reform, we must understand the past. There are many reasons for immigration to the United States, from pre-independence and the pilgrims seeking religious freedom in the 1600s to post-independence and the mass Irish immigration movement due to the potato famine to the 21st-century American Dream. The U.S. has a history of anti-immigration policies, including the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1978, which allowed the deportation of immigrants from foreign enemy countries, the Chinese Exclusion Act to curb Chinese immigration and to address maintaining white “racial purity,” to the Trump era immigration policies that included mass deportation and separation of families. Many of these policies are rooted in solid racial and ethnic components based on what many think the country should look like.
In the last six years, we have seen a rise in these anti-immigration sentiments, particularly against the Latin American immigrant community. These anti-immigrant sentiments are often rooted in social and economic aspects. This has been prevalent in the decade but made an impact politically and socially under President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign, which focused on the negative portrayal of the immigrant community stealing jobs, abusing the welfare system, and being criminals, rapists, and drug dealers. As seen in Democratic Policy Design, the allocation of benefits ( or burdens) lies in the extent of political power and whether there is a negative or positive social construction. While these social constructions have been a factor in the lack of immigration reform development, the growing Latino community is challenging these social constructions. It can gain political power through grassroots movements, coalitions, and social movements. There is a lot to be recognized and challenged when talking about the typology immigrants fit in.
While navigating these social constructions in bureaucratic settings is challenging, we must also recognize the growing advocacy and social movement behind the immigrant community. Realistically, there have been many setbacks for the foreseeable future of immigration reform; however, grassroots movements, coalitions, and the social reform movement hold more power than we believe. There has been steady and collective action from the community. In 2006, a Day Without Immigrants was a demonstration against the anti-immigration policy under the Bush Administration. It was rooted in grassroots advocates, with more than one million demonstrators from 50 cities. Although the economic impact of this movement could not be shown in one day, there were enough closures and missing employees throughout the country that forced many to reanalyze the role and importance of the immigrant community. This was the start of a more robust movement with extensive support. We can see it in the Biden administration and its progressive immigration proposals. With years of continued immigrant activism, these proposals would be there. This collective challenge of the existing systems is only growing. The ruling class and their power and legitimacy are in question when they constantly fail to address these issues adequately.
As we speak about the ruling class, both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of failing to develop reasonable bi-partisan immigration policy. However, Democrats face a more significant challenge as they face years of traditions and rules within Congress. The growing polarization makes it difficult for any good immigration reform to pass among political parties. These conditions make it hard for significant change even in the most pressing issues surrounding those considered “deserving” under the social construction framework. This is where a robust social movement that acknowledges its growing power outside of these social constructions comes in. In an interview with Noam Chomsky, Alejandra Ocasio-Cortez acknowledges these setbacks. She turns to focus on beyond the electoral system and action and more on what can be done beyond, which she says are more decisive grassroots actions such as withholding labor as we saw in a Day without Immigrants. It is about bringing A Day without Immigrants into a new era of social movement that mimics the civil rights movements in the 1960s. Immigrants make up about 3% of the United States population and account for almost 5% of the workforce. These numbers are significant when exploring grassroots movements such as withholding labor, as AOC suggested. Immigrants are an essential part of the economic development of this country, and it is time to take that economic power and turn it into a weapon of the revolutionary movement and challenge the social constructions around our community by withholding the benefits to the “deserving.” It is time for those involved in the immigration movement to realize that these conversations, whether for or against immigration reform, are occurring because of the movement, the momentum the community is receiving.Immigrants hold power but there needs to be a revolutionary movement in how we use that growing power.
When looking at the Social Movement Stages within the immigration social movement we have made great progress in getting through the emergence, coalescence, bureaucratization and are well on our way to mainstream acceptance. We have to take action within our social movements as well, whether it be through grassroots action and withholding our labor and our greater contribution to the country to exploring political opportunity structures.As “deviants” we are historically not part of these structures, we often found them closed to people like us but this is an opportunity to open those doors like Alejandra Ocasio-Cortez. There is power within the immigrant community and being able to transform the social movement we have grown into higher power is key to the future of an immigration reform. We have to continue challenging and threatening the legitimacy of the existing systems and it is through stronger revolutionary social movement with action that will make a change.
