Immigration: A Notre Dame Forum

On Monday October 8th 2007, Notre Dame will again host a policy forum addressing one of the most important issues for the future of our country. Immigration has received a lot of attention as a complex issue to which there are many perspectives. I invite all the bloggers and readers to check out forum.nd.edu, the forum's website as it has a host of resources such as academic articles, faith based dialogue, and short online courses for all your immigration questions.

There has been some disucssion of immigration on this blog in the last few weeks and my hope is that this forum might invite some of you to consider the issues and engage the issue of immigration in a way you may not have before.

The forum will have some of the most prominent voices in this debate including Cardinal Michael Mahony, Archibishop of Los Angeles, Louis J. Barletta, Mayor of Hazleton Pennsylvania (to address the issue brought up in this blog last week about migrants' impact on small towns), Mel Martinez, R-Senator of Florida, and Janet Napolitano, Governor of Arizona.
I invite all of you who are interested in the immigration issue to go through the website this weekend and if you find it interesting join us on Monday Oct. 8 at 3pm est as the entire forum including all the speakers will webcast via the website. I appreciate SAM MAG allowing me to let you all know about the forum and look forward to hopefully sparking an inquisitive and lively deabte.

NY Times: Towns Rethink Laws Against Illegal Immigrants

The New York Times has an interesting article today about Riverside, NJ, a town that passed a law subjecting those who knowingly hire or rent to illegal immigrants to civil and criminal liability. The law was passed three years ago, but because of the legal and economic consequences, it has been rescinded.

Quotes from the article:

“I don’t think people knew there would be such an economic burden,” said Mayor George Conard, who voted for the original ordinance. “A lot of people did not look three years out.”

“The business district is fairly vacant now, but it’s not the legitimate businesses that are gone,” a former mayor who pushed for the law said. “It’s all the ones that were supporting the illegal immigrants, or, as I like to call them, the criminal aliens.”

Many businesses that remain are having a hard time. Angelina Guedes, a Brazilian-born beautician, opened A Touch From Brazil, a hair and nail salon, on Scott Street two years ago to cater to the immigrant population. At one point, she had 10 workers.

Business quickly dried up after the law against illegal immigrants. Last week, on what would usually be a busy Thursday afternoon, Ms. Guedes ate a salad and gave a friend a manicure, while the five black stylist chairs sat empty.

“Now I only have myself,” said Ms. Guedes, 41, speaking a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese. “They all left. I also want to leave but it’s not possible because no one wants to buy my business.”

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The article describes a ghost town, with boarded up storefronts and for sale signs in the downtown section of town.

The town where I grew up in New York has been the center of a national immigration debate, because of unsuccessful efforts to stop day laborers from meeting up to look for work each morning. Immigration has had mixed consequences in my town. Our small public schools have bulged in size, and the buildings can't really keep up. The housing market has been hurt, because illegal immigrants pack multiple families into small apartments. The culture of small town, USA has been altered by the influx of different language and culture. Our identity as an Italian and Irish community has been reshaped.

On the other hand, I shudder to think what our main street, Mamaroneck Ave., would look like without illegal immigrants from Mexico and South America. There are many industries that rely on the immigrants as labor and consumer. One of my favorite parts of my town's main drag is that there are independently owned and operated family storefronts. While Rye and White Plains are littered with Banana Republics, Victoria Secrets, and other schlocky corporate brands, Mamaroneck has local run markets and old- school stores that give it its charm.

Without immigrants the town would look like Rye, as if a high end mall had exploded and its stores scattered across the streets. Or, it would be completely empty, with hay dust balls skipping down Mamaroneck Ave, as all the "white people" shop in the Westchester, 10 miles away.

Mamaroneck has always been an immigrant town. And I suspect most of the problems I detailed in the early paragraph could have been said about the Irish and Italians that moved there in the middle of last century. The growth and evolution of a town is a slow and painful thing. Change always is, but that doesn't make it wrong.

No Flip, Just The Flop

If you're living in New England, anywhere in N.E., then you've probably heard or seen at least two (dozen) Mitt Romney for President commercials. These ads tout his record as governor, leadership over the '02 Winter Games, and his successful business career at Bain Capital. Now, presidential ads aren't, as a generally rule, "real" (as we say in the streets), nor should they be taken with anything more than a grain of salt. But there is a real golf between Romney's actual record and what he's been slapping on his resume through these ads.

In particular is his new ad decrying "sanctuary cities" for illegal immigrants. In these ads, Romney takes a stab at Giulliani by suggesting that he harbored illegal immigrants by not working diligently at arresting them. He calls the Big Apple a "sanctuary city", along with Newark and San Fransisco; not exactly the best of company mayors from across the land would like to be associated with, especially regarding illegal immigration. The radio ad further embellishes Romney's success at brokering a deal with federal authorities to allow for the MA state police to arrest anyone residing in the state - and thus the country - illegally, and prepare these individuals for deportation.

Here's the gulf: That deal was brokered not in 2003 (when Romney was sworn in), 2004, or 2005, but in 2006, and not even in the first eleven months of that year! It was literally finalized nine months ago, exactly one month before he was due to step down and hand over the Corner Office to a Democrat whom he knew full well would rescind the order. Other than that, Romney has done absolutely nothing close to substantial to "combat" illegal immigration.

Like his stance on abortion, he has simply flipped the flop over to the conservative side for better appeal. It's cool, because that's what primaries are all about. Promise the base the world, but deliver them Burma. But Romney must understand that he's playing with fire while his hands are drenched in lighter fluid. Giulliani isn't exactly Joe Lawless. He's the man that cleaned up New York City (in every major respect), made Manhattan the coolest place in America, and overcame multiple divorces while still serving in government (just try overcoming one, I dare you).

Of course New York will be a "sanctuary city" because tons of every ethnic group from around the globe reside in one of their five ginormous boroughs, and extended relatives, coupled with a broken down immigrant/visitor tracking system, make it a welcome mat for those who come and/or stay illegally. What's Romney's excuse for doing nothing? Supposedly, he's the guy that could work with a Democratic legislature, so why didn't he pass his own comprehensive immigration reform for the Commonwealth? He's the man that brought bobsledding to Utah, so why couldn't he broker his deal with the feds a lot sooner than his eleventh-hour in office? Because he's a biz-whiz who's simply a political hack. He flipped on abortion, and he's flopping on immigration.