Immigration policy, trends discussed

October 10, 2005 —

Two nationally known speakers addressed the issue of illegal or unauthorized immigration Sept. 29 as part of the events celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.

John Carlos Frey, a filmmaker who was born in Mexico, but now calls California his home, was joined by Dr. Jeffrey S. Passel, who is with the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.

Frey's home state of California is also the setting for his first feature film, The Gatekeeper, which revolves around the issue of illegal immigration and the lives of the predominantly Mexican workers.

Frey used his engaging presentation style to explain why illegal immigration affects the entire country. To start off, he showed clips of his feature film and the accompanying documentary he is currently working on. He is interested in displaying, in times of growing anti-immigrant sentiment, the stories that are not usually told.

The documentary contrasts the wealthy parts of LaJolla, California with images of the migrant worker settlements only two miles away from the area with the highest American real estate prices. The migrant workers live in shacks under the most rudimentary conditions, with outside kitchens and where the only way to do laundry is washing clothes by hand in a plastic bucket.

Frey informed the audience that there are hundreds of these camps in the canyon housing the workers who spend long days picking tomatoes in the fields under terrible conditions. Yet, the filmmaker did not want to be simply presenting to the audience, but rather engaging them in a discussion in which a variety of questions were addressed.

Among the issues addressed were the talks between Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, and President Bush prior to 9/11 about possible amnesty programs for those already in the country. These talks were discontinued due to Mexico not supporting the war effort in Iraq. Frey, however, points out how important it is that both countries work on solving the problem since both are affected; for example, Mexico has lost many workers to the U.S.

Yet, at the moment little is really done, Frey said. Politicians like to turn to the "policy of fear" and proclaim that the solutions are tougher border control, better fencing, and the implementation of technology, while not addressing how Mexico's economic problems, the American corporations' need for cheap labor, and the money that is channeled into the Mexican economy through the workers sending it to their relatives in Mexico play into the equation.

Furthermore, Frey lamented that nobody pays attention to the human needs for dignity and legal status among the immigrants. He could see handing out green cards to poor workers as a step in the right direction. In addition, he said he believes that unauthorized immigrants need to be punished so they don't try crossing the border four times in one day. Also, if produce prices were raised, these immigrants wouldn't have to work illegally. At the moment, only six cents out of every dollar go to the labor cost. One of Frey's closing comments was that the fences actually keep the immigrants in the country when the harvesting season is over.

Frey's presentation was then complimented by an overview of the data available on unauthorized immigrants by Passel. His presentation, "U.S. Immigration Issues: Emerging Patterns, Continuity and Change," focused on the demographic background of illegal immigrants and the spread of illegal immigration to a variety of states over the last 15 years - the so-called "Californication."

The undocumented immigration really started in the 1970s, according to Passel. He said the goals of immigration policy are economic competitiveness, family unification and moral issues, i.e. human rights protection. Yet, the number of undocumented immigrants has outrun the number of green card holders. Currently, there are 10.3 million unauthorized migrants, 57 percent of whom are from Mexico.

The undocumented are mostly families (only 25 percent are young single men); they are young and almost all of them work. There are 3 million U.S. born children in this group, which is why Passel said he does not see temporary work visas as a solution because parents will not leave their children.

Also, he revealed that the workers are predominantly employed in service occupations, only three percent work on farms, and these workers hold jobs elsewhere, too. Some aspects Passel wanted his audience to remember is that the unauthorized immigrants hardly ever use welfare and actually paid taxes through property and sales taxes, etc.

The event was organized by the SVSU Office of Diversity Programs in collaboration with MSU and Delta College Multicultural Office.