Do Iowans Seek a “Movement” on Immigration Reform?
by Paul Deaton
When President Obama spoke about tackling complex social issues, like immigration reform, in El Paso last Tuesday, he hit the nail on the head, “When an issue is this complex, when it raises such strong feelings, it’s easier for politicians to defer the problem until the next election. And there’s always a next election.”
Whether the Obama administration can reform the federal government's role in immigration seems doubtful, with any hope residing in his statement about how to get it done,
But this change ultimately has to be driven by you, the American people. You’ve got to help push for comprehensive reform, and you’ve got to identify what steps we can take right now — like the DREAM Act, like visa reform — areas where we can find common ground among Democrats and Republicans and begin to fix what’s broken.
So I’m asking you to add your voices to this debate. You can sign up to help at whitehouse.gov. We need Washington to know that there is a movement for reform that’s gathering strength from coast to coast. That’s how we’ll get this done.”
There is no doubt that to get anything done through our government in 21st century America, advocacy is required. Yet, advocacy is often part of the problem more than a solution.
During trips to meet with Iowa's congressional delegation and their staff in Washington, one notices the hallways of the Capitol and related office buildings teem with lobbyists, each one advocating a position, attempting to influence the outcome of the 112th Congress and beyond. What is noteworthy about Obama's statement in El Paso is that he does not refer to advocacy, he spoke of a “movement for reform.” This usage represents a significant difference and an approach that is mentioned by members of the administration more frequently of late.
While standing on a corner with a small group of demonstrators, we got to talking about being part of a group of activists. A septuagenarian said to me, “I don't want to be an activist, I want to be part of a movement.”
What she meant was that we all advocate for something from our government, but being part of a movement is bigger than any single issue. A movement is comprised of people of diverse backgrounds who find common ground in support of an issue that transcends political beliefs and ideology. A movement attracts large numbers of people to rally in support of resolving a social issue like our broken immigration system. With all due respect to the President, it seems unlikely that a movement will spring from his statement that one is needed.
So where does this leave us?
During a recent trip to Colorado, while helping someone move to a new apartment, I asked another laborer what he thought of former U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo's views on immigration. Tancredo represented Colorado's 6th Congressional District and made immigration a campaign issue during the run-up to the 2008 Iowa Precinct Caucuses. A constituent of the congressman, he said, “I agree with Representative Tancredo.”
It being a 15 minute trip between the old and new apartment, I asked him why and heard his explanation. There was little time for anything else, as before we knew it, it was time to move the furniture up three flights of stairs. Therein is my point.
Until we are willing and able to set aside our toil for economic sustainability and focus on issues like immigration reform, we can expect politicians to accomplish very little, or perhaps, make the situation worse.
President Obama made the case why we should engage in immigration reform. With so many things competing for our attention, creating or joining a movement to push our federal government for immigration reform seems a low priority. Trouble is, if we don't work on it as a society, what the President said Tuesday is that politicians are unlikely to do so, and we may be the less for lack of action.
It is an open question whether we are willing to add immigration reform to our basket of projects. The next step is up to each of us.
~Paul Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County and weekend editor of Blog for Iowa. E-mail Paul Deaton
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