Biden has an immigration plan, but Republicans prefer their own--which is to keep that white grievance piñata handy to beat on for partisan political reasons

 

Ten “moderate” Republican senators are taking to the White House a “modest proposal” for a “unity” stimulus package of $600 billion, which is somewhat scaled-back from Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion proposal, which can likely be passed without Republican support through budget reconciliation. Despite the wide differences in those plans, that at least is chickenfeed compared to the gap between the parties when it comes to another round of immigration reform. In 2006 the Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress with a Republican president seemingly willing to entertain immigration talks, but Democrats in the Senate failed to get the 60 votes needed to even bring the subject up in the face of Republican contrariness. In 2013, 68 senators agreed to an immigration reform bill, but the far-right Freedom Caucus cowed the Republican leadership in the House from even considering the bill.

Biden has introduced a summary of proposals for an immigration bill which provides for usual provisions. These include a path to citizenship for DACA, TPS and H-2A recipients, allowing undocumented foreign nationals to apply for conditional temporary status, clearing employment backlogs for work visas, reducing wait periods, and eliminating visa caps. It would also allow DHS to “adjust” green cards issuances based on macroeconomics, meaning providing for immigrant labor that improves the “big picture” in economic growth and needs. Unused visas by the Trump administration’s attempt to reduce legal immigration would be utilized for backlogs for family-based immigration and for asylum seekers. Green cards allotted for the Diversity Lottery would also be increased.

Of course the Biden proposals are not without illegal immigration prevention aspects; “smart technology” will be “enhanced” to prevent illegal border crossings, and as opposed to the Trump administration’s blackmailing tactics, studies will be done to create and fund a plan to reduce the causes of immigration from Central American countries, like corruption, violence and poverty. As noted, none of these proposals are new, but the rehashing of previous attempts which have been blocked by anti-immigrant elements in Congress, who find immigration—especially from Latin America—to be a useful political tool to rile-up the racist, white nationalist base.

Immigration has always been a political “issue” in this country, even since the time of this country’s founding. Naturally, nobody took into account Native Americans’ feelings about the illegal immigrants in their midst, who as “superior” beings felt they could occupy the whole planet and take what they wanted (especially the British). This is what Benjamin Franklin said to justify his opposition to the people of one nation “immigrating” to this land:

Those who come hither are generally of the most ignorant Stupid Sort of their own nation. Not being used to Liberty, they know not how to make a modest use of it.

Who was he referring to? Germans, like Donald Trump and his forebears--you know, before they started calling themselves the "master race"; we can certainly understand at least the part of being “unused” to democracy. Franklin was also generally opposed to any immigrants who were not “Anglo-Saxon”:

The Spaniards, Italians, French, Russians and Swedes, are generally of what we call a swarthy Complexion, as are the Germans also. The Saxons only accepted.

Franklin was of the opinion that these “aliens” who were not native of the English speaking world were unlikely to “assimilate” into Anglo-Saxon society or accept its “customs”—anymore than “they can acquire our Complexion.” But as small-minded as Franklin was on the issue, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were even more dubious about the benefits of immigration from non-Anglo lands.

At one time or another, the Irish, Chinese, and Europeans from southern and eastern Europe were restricted from entering the country. The American or “Know Nothing” Party in the mid-19^th Century was founded on the anti-immigrant hysteria. The 1924 immigration law was promulgated to restrict “inferior” European “races” from entering the country; for those “outraged” by amnesty proposals, illegal immigration from Europe after the 1924 law led to the 1929 amnesty law, which was extended through 1948 to permit all European immigrants in the country illegally to apply for legal status, by which time immigration from Europe had slowed to the point where the amnesty law was deemed no longer necessary.  During World War II, refugees from Europe—especially Jews—were discouraged through the insidious “public charge” rule, which doubtless was responsible for the deaths of many thousands at the hands of the Nazis.

But even the 1924 immigration law did not apply to immigrants from Latin America, since for many decades they were considered as “partners” in the “new world,” and their labor was exploited. But during the Great Depression approximately 1.8 million residents of Mexican descent—an estimated 60 percent U.S. citizens—were rounded-up and “repatriated” back to Mexico, convenient scapegoats in the competition for jobs, despite the fact that research of the period revealed that few if any jobs were gained because of these deportations. Naturally this doesn’t make it into the history books or excite comment from the media when “civil rights” issues are discussed. TIME noted that

It was in this atmosphere that the Hoover Administration announced a series of deportation programs and began conducting large public raids in major cities. These raids also swept up U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. Though no federal law or act was passed allowing for the mass deportation of U.S. citizens, local governments in cities like the Los Angeles and Detroit, as well as companies like Southern Pacific Railroad and the Ford Motor Company, also took it upon themselves to begin putting people on trains to Mexico, ignoring the fact that only the federal government held the power of deportation.

These illegal roundups continued on FDR’s watch, one of the greatest moral failings of his administration—ironic, since due to labor shortages in World War II, the “bracero” program was instituted to import labor from Mexico, especially in the farm sector; the program wasn’t ended until 1965, which was when a new immigration law was passed that “officially” restricted immigration from Latin America for the first time. Between then and now, the U.S. has nonetheless continued to exploit immigrants from Latin America in two ways—both for their labor, and as a partisan political tool to excite white grievance that one party uses against another. The Trump administration modified this by ignoring the economic necessity for their labor and injecting personal prejudices and bigotry in order to stop even legal immigration.

There should be of course no expectation that a Republican Party that still ties itself to the anti-immigrant white nationalism of Trump will entertain an immigration bill, since it does not wish to “alienate” the white supremacist and neo-Nazi element that sees Trump as their “leader.” It is being suggested that the Biden plan will be broken into separate parts for consideration, but this is dangerous business, because it will allow racist Republicans to only consider the parts their racist base will accept--or that which the people they get their "news" from will "accept," the likes of anti-immigrant fanatics Laura Ingraham, Lou Dobbs, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Pat Buchanan and the rest of that Nazi ilk. Stephen Miller will no doubt show up on Fox News to do his Julius Streicher imitation.