NEW WITCH HUNT?

Immigration reform is one of the most contentious issues in the current U.S. political scene. The massive demonstrations of May First and the heated discussions in the media and among social and political actors, reveal the need for the definition of a comprehensive and fair immigration reform in a country where immigrants are a significant part of the population . The following article by Father Alfredo Gonçalves, Provincial Superior of the Missionaries of St. Charles, Scalabrinians, in São Paulo, Brazil, considers essential elements of the current debate on immigration reform in the United States.

The United States is trying once again to criminalize immigrants. It started with the state bordering Mexico, where thousands of immigrants cross each year looking for a better future in the United States. The governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, passed a "zero tolerance policy" toward illegal aliens. The new legislation gives the police the right to stop any persons, and ask them for documentation proving their legal status in the country; it also gives the right to detain people without a warrant.
This is the "harshest anti-immigration law in the United States that makes the presence of an illegal immigrant in the state a federal crime and allows the regular police to check the legal status of a person who is stopped because of 'reasonable doubt'" (See Andrea Murta, Folha de São Paulo, 24/04/10, pp. A14). Who will have the responsibility of interpreting the terms "reasonable doubt," so variable, and susceptible to different interpretations? The same police? It is not difficult to predict what this means, in terms of uncertainty for foreigners. President Barack Obama himself, expressed concerns about the governor's attitude, fearing the same action will be implemented in other states.

We should not forget the Directive of Return, which was approved by the European Parliament in August 2008, and will be put in place as of July 2010. This Directive of Return, also allows the arrest and deportation of any illegal immigrant, in the various countries of the old continent. It is the proclamation of a new "witch hunt"! After the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, immigrants have been criminalized even more, as "scapegoats", blamed for numerous socio-political disturbances, and often they have been identified with drug traffickers or, those involved in worldwide organized crime. We see this profiling reflected, in the proliferation of neo-Nazi and neo-Fascist groups in Germany, France, UK, South Africa, and the United States - among others.

The rich nations seek to resist the ‘right of movement’, guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They lock and isolate themselves in their strongholds, and in their economies built largely with the riches, plundered throughout history, from the colonized countries. They strengthen the rigidity of their laws, while raising visible and invisible barriers. The rich countries fear losing their privileges, or having to share their status with other groups and other peoples. They demand responsible and sustainable standards of living in harmony with the limited resources of our planet, but only for the others!

To a lesser extent, the same attitudes are repeated in the case of Africans, Asians and Latin Americans, who in an irregular manner look for better living conditions in Third World cities such as Sao Paulo, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Buenos Aires, and Santiago of Chili, among others. Xenophobia has no boundaries, and the line that divides the First from the Third World, is now traced within each country. As some contend, perhaps today is more appropriate to speak of "countries where the majority of people are rich" on one side, and "countries where the majority of people are poor" on the other.

Three quick observations are possible. First, the rich countries and the capitals of the peripheral countries do not seem to recognize, that immigrants are largely the providers of their comfort, since they make up the work-force of the more dirty, heavy and poorly paid jobs. The irregular situation of these individuals makes them vulnerable to all kinds of exploitation; whether it is in the labor market, or victims of the sex trade. The nickname "illegal", is associated with the stigma of prejudice and discrimination.

Secondly, the developed world does not seem to recognize either the new blood or the fresh oxygen that thousands of young people, coming from peripheral countries and regions, inject into the veins of organisms, often aged, tired and weak. They are living forces that permeate societies often threatened by decrepitude, the sunset or the approach of autumn. The Document of Aparecida, for instance, draws attention to the renewed hope of what the arrival of immigrants can mean to a new region or country. On one hand they present themselves as "a problem" for police and customs authorities, on the other hand, they constitute as an "opportunity" for the Church. Opportunity to meet, compare and enrich through the encounter of cultures and people. In this sense the document states that "migrants who leave our communities can offer valuable missionary contributions to the host communities" (cf. DA, paragraphs 411-416).

Finally, the children in developed countries seem to forget that in past centuries millions of its citizens had built their own future, by migrating to underdeveloped regions and countries, at times colonized, or recently independent. Why deny other immigrants the path that enabled them to rise and advance in life? In this situation, there should be the criterion of a double reciprocity. If it is true that older migrants helped build more stable societies, it is also true that today's migrants can contribute in a positive way to healthy rejuvenation of the central poles. Moreover, if today so many young people and workers are seeking new horizons through migration, it is in part because in the past their grandparents and great grandparents did the same. Young people are tracing in reverse the path of their ancestors. Again, why deprive them of the same opportunity?

We close by going back to the concern of the President of the United States. The need of a revision of the immigration laws at the local, national and international level is growing. It was one of his campaign promises, a revision that keeps in its horizon, a universal citizenship linked to the work, the input and the dreams that every nation and culture can offer to all others.

Rev. Alfredo J. Gonçalves, CS