Immigration “Reform”

Against the Current, No. 166, September/October 2013

The Editors

ON ONE LEVEL, even discussing the U.S. Senate’s tortuous immigration reform bill may seem pointless, given that anything that might be passed by the current chamber of horrors known as the House of Representatives will unquestionably be even worse, and absolutely unsupportable for any supporter of immigrant rights — or basic human rights for that matter.

Nonetheless, the discussion matters because this legislation, or the lack of it, heavily impacts the real lives of millions of people in this country — people who live in permanent insecurity but are becoming increasingly vocal about their rights and their families’ futures. That’s why we present, in the following three contributions, a sampling of voices and arguments on what the “comprehensive immigration reform” as passed by the Senate might, or might not, mean.

The views represented here reflect, in part, regional variations in how the crisis facing undocumented immigrants and their communities is experienced (Georgia, the Midwest, the Southwest) as well as other factors, and certainly they are not exhaustive.  Regardless of the outcome of this particular legislative round, the struggle for authentic immigration reform, for citizenship and against the obscene militarization of the border must remain a high priority for the social justice movement.

As a resolution adopted at the recent national convention of Solidarity, the socialist organization that sponsors this magazine, states:  “Solidarity supports the fight of the immigrant communities for a just immigration reform that legalizes the undocumented and stops the criminalization of immigrants and the militarization of the border.“

September/October 2013, ATC 166