Scapegoating immigrants — again

By Max J. Castro
majcastro@gmail.com

Here we go again on the immigration merry-go-round. Arizona’s Republican Governor Janice Brewer has signed into law one of the most draconian pieces of anti-immigrant legislation ever approved by any state. Meanwhile, in Washington, there is some movement on immigration reform after a long lull.

The Arizona statute makes undocumented immigration a state crime and directs law enforcement officials to demand immigration documents whenever there is a “reasonable suspicion” that a person may be in the country illegally and to detain them if they lack the proper papers.

What constitutes reasonable suspicion? One Republican member of Congress suggested that clothes, shoes, and demeanor could be good indicators. The law is evidently an invitation to racial profiling and has been bitterly opposed by Latino leaders and legislators.

The Arizona law is one more instance of right-wing Republican political demagoguery at the expense of immigrants. Only one Republican legislator, who is retiring because of term limits, voted against the bill in the Arizona legislature. John McCain, former defender of immigrant reform, endorsed the legislation. He even alluded to cars full of illegal immigrants who cause accidents on purpose. McCain is being challenged in the Republican primary by a more right wing candidate. Gov. Brewer is facing several challenges from the right.

At the federal level, immigration has been on the back burner until a recent push by President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to move a comprehensive immigration reform bill forward. The apparent decision to act on immigration reform ahead of climate change legislation angered South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been working with Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut on a climate change bill. He threatened to suspend his collaboration on climate change if the immigration legislation is introduced. Graham’s move also represents a departure from his previous stance in which he urged the White House to advance comprehensive immigration reform. In any case, passage of an immigration reform law in an election year and with nearly 10 percent unemployment will not be easy.

The Arizona law was criticized by President Obama. Alluding to the failure of Congress to approve comprehensive immigration reform, Obama said: “Our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.” He directed the Justice Department to “to closely monitor the situation” in Arizona and “examine the civil rights and other implications” of the new law. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also condemned the measure as did Latino and civil rights groups from across the nation.

Latinos make up 30 percent of the population of Arizona, but their voting participation is considerably smaller because many are not citizens or are not registered to vote. A source who has worked closely with Gov. Brewer in the past was quoted as saying that the decision to sign the legislation was purely political because “Hispanics [in the state] don’t matter.”

The Republicans are already in a deep hole with Latinos and are digging themselves in deeper with the Arizona law and with the rhetoric that will surely accompany debate on immigration reform in Congress. The Obama administration and the Democrats, for their part, seem to be waking up to the fact that they cannot afford to take the Latino vote for granted. As for Republicans, the lessons of the 2006 and 2008 elections seem to have not sunk in. Anti-immigrant legislation may play well in Arizona in 2010 and in some Congressional districts, especially in the South, but at the national level the Republican attitude seems like a slow motion political suicide.