Why Politicians Just Can’t Get Immigration Reform Right!”

By Dr. Henry Flores, NewsTaco

I just finished looking at the video of Hillary Clinton stumbling through a Q & A on immigration reform.  She responded well to a professor’s question and then got hit with a follow-up concerning the issue of what to do about the tens of thousands of unaccompanied children that have been detained along the U.S.–Mexico border recently.  This was when she blew the interview and said something she probably regrets.  As I mentioned to a colleague, this was a perfect example of a politician who had prepared for one question but didn’t have the depth of research to respond to the follow-up.

The Issue 

Historically, the United States has always had an immigration problem.  It began with the importation of slaves and indentured servants (unwilling immigrants) at the beginning of the nation through the current crisis of thousands of young people, some as young as 5 years of age, coming across the border to escape poverty and violence in their Central American countries.  All immigrants (with the exception of slaves) have come to the United States because they see this as the land of opportunity, stability and security.  Let’s face the facts, immigrants created this country and have made significant and substantial contributions to this country’s advancements.  Immigrants made the United States the country it is today.  With the exception of Native Americans all Americans are descended from immigrants.  If one were to check their family trees, who knows how many multiple families we all derive from, one will discover that the original O’Bannon, McIntosh, Kresenky, Oh, Nguyen, Gonzalez came from some other country.  Hmmm, I wonder how many original family members came here undocumented.  The first “illegal aliens” were the Pilgrims although there might have been others.

Why Politicians Can’t Seem to Get Immigration Reform Right? 

            The answer to this question is not easy to uncover because it speaks to a many-layered problem.  Besides the long history of “American nativism” and racism that permeates this country’s public policy process there is the complex problem of distance and place.  The first two are straight forward and have been discussed in every venue from the popular media to academia.  The last two are obvious but are very rarely discussed but they are simple to identify.  Simply put, politicians are too far removed from the gritty world within which immigrants live and they have not walked in the shoes of immigrants.

One weakness our political structure has is that it is too big; sometimes way too big to be governed in the way it is.  Basically, our policy makers are too far removed from where the policy is needed.  How many of the anti-immigration “ranter” politicians have ever been on the ground with immigrants?  How many of the anti-immigrant policy makers have ever been among the ranks of immigrants?  Even when they say they have been to the border to gather facts, they usually go under the “protection” of Homeland Security, Immigration and Naturalization or the Border Patrol.  The facts policy makers gather come from the agencies “protecting” our border and not from the immigrants.

Walking Among Immigrants 

            Two individuals with whom I became acquainted actually walked with immigrants in order to gain an understanding of the issues underlying why they wanted to come to the United States and to document the challenges these desperate people encountered along the way.  Both of these individuals had life transforming experiences so much that they became advocates for the humane treatment of immigrants.  What these advocates witnessed was the human trauma surrounding the hunger, violence, rape, robbery, terror and death encountered during the perilous journey immigrants undertake to come to the United States.  One must ask themselves what makes people so desperate that they risk their very lives to make such a horrific journey?  I think that this question will never be answered until public policy makers responsible for immigration policy go down and walk with immigrants as they make their way into the United States.  This indeed would be a true fact-finding tour.

 Henry Flores, PhD, is a Distinguished University Research Professor, Institute of Public Administration and Public Service; Director, Masters in Public Administration (MPA); Professor of International Relations and Political Science at St. Mary’s University.