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Super Tuesday Reflections: Immigration

Due to a lack of sleep as well as many other factors, I took a sick day today and am not at Park School today, which gives me the chance to do a little writing while I rest. After a suspenseful Tuesday evening, I've managed to gather some thoughts about the election, especially in regards to immigration, an issue I care deeply about. I'm pleased that Barack Obama did well, but disappointed that he wasn't as successful as I'd hoped in my 'home' state of California. It seems strange that Latinos--who heavily supported Clinton--voted for her, given that Obama's stance on immigration is more progressive (he supports driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants--a position I agree with). Immigration is one of the issues that matters to me most this election year, though my position differs greatly from the supposedly all powerful 'deport the illegals' camp. I work in Hayward, a community with many immigrants--some of whom certainly are undocumented--and this has given me a personal understanding of how our immigration policy impact real people's lives. A few weeks ago, I hired a day laborer from the Hayward Day Laborer Center to help me move. This hardworking, thoughtful man of Central American origin has been in the U.S.--without papers--for seven years. He has two kids, and lives with his parents, who are legal immigrants that have been in Hayward for nearly 20 years. As an undocumented immigrant, his life is lived under the constant threat of arrest or deportation. His crime? Wanting to join his parents here in the U.S., work hard and make a better life for his family. This story is similar to those of many other immigrants whom I know as friends and community members. We need a candidate who will tackle immigration reform in 2009. The undocumented population, the vast majority of whom are hard working and law abiding, need the opportunity to become a part of the nation they already live in. But we do need a secure border and a way to allow for increased legal immigration to provide needed labor, without exploitation (the current situation is VERY exploitative and dangerous). Fortunately, I think we have a good shot at it, and this election has shown us that the 'deport the illegals' camp isn't so all-powerful. Even though McCain now espouses a stricter policy against undocumented immigrants that he did when he helped co-sponsor a realistic, human immigration reform bill in the senate last year, he seems to be more moderate on the issue than Mitt Romney. Romney's stance doesn't seem to have helped him much in terms of getting the Republican nomination. Romney seems to me like some evil automaton, unlike McCain, whom I still have some respect for, even though he has sold his soul to the Republican Party.

So I guess it will be a while longer before the Republican and Democratic candidates are decided. Hopefully my home state of Washington will do the right thing and support Barack on Saturday.

One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was because of my strong views on immigration that I've developed from working in a Latino community. I want to hear and network with others who share this view so that I can become better informed and more involved in supporting undocumented immigrants rights'.
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