By John Minnis
Legal News
Current U.S. immigration law has its roots in the Cold War, is race-based, and does not take into account the movement of labor in a global economy.
Those and other views were expressed Thursday, Feb. 4, by keynote speaker Kevin Johnson at a daylong immigration reform symposium hosted by the Wayne Law Review at Wayne State University Law School.
Titled “Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Problems, Possibilities and Pragmatic Solutions,” the symposium also featured speaker Michael A. Olivas, president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools and William B. Bates Distinguished Chair of Law, University of Houston Law Center.
Panelists included David Abraham, University of Miami School of Law; Pratheepan Gulasekaram, Santa Clara Law School; Cristina Rodríguez, New York University School of Law; David Thronson, William S. Boyd School of Law, UNLV; Angela Banks, William & Mary School of Law; Andrew F. Moore, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law; Sarah F. Rogerson, University of Baltimore School of Law; Rose Cuison Villazor, Hofstra University School of Law; Bridgette Carr, University of Michigan Law School; Lori A. Nessel, Seton Hall University School of Law, Rachel Settlage, Wayne State University Law School; Michael Wishnie, Yale Law School; Marisa Silenzi Cianciarulo, Chapman University School of Law; Huyen Pham, Texas Wesleyan University School of Law; and Ragini Shah, Suffolk University Law School.
Speakers and panelists were asked:
“Given the new administration and new Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, what are the politically feasible options for immigration reform, and what would immigration reform look like in an ideal world?
Topics addressed included criminal law and the fairness of immigration courts, the impact of the current system on immigrant families, the role of the states and federal government in immigration reform, legislative barriers to immigration reform, and social solidarity issues.
John Rothchild, associate dean of the Wayne Law School, welcomed the speakers, panelists and students and faculty in attendance.
He noted that the symposium coincides with the recent launch of the law school’s Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic, headed by Professor Settlage.
Other news in 2010, Rothchild said, included Wayne Law’s new International Law Studies program headed by Gregory H. Fox and the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights.
“His name is synonymous with civil rights,” Rothchild said of Keith, senior judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Groundbreaking for the new center will be held this summer, he said.
In introducing the keynote speaker, Wayne Law Professor Jonathan T. Weinberg noted that there were currently 12 million undocumented workers living in the United States.
“The immigration system is broken,” he said. “This is all vital and disturbing in who we are in this nation of immigrants.”
He cited a laundry list of immigration reforms that were or are before Congress, and he also cited executive action taken by the Obama administration to counter some of the Bush administration’s more onerous rules.
“Change is on the move,” he said, “at least some change.”
He noted that there has been a “tidal wave” of immigration policies being adopted by state and local governments.
“We must come to understand all this,” Weinberg said, “and at this law school, we have assembled an incredible panel of people.”
Keynoter Johnson is dean of University of California Davis School of Law and author of “Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders” and “How Did You Get to Be Mexican?: A White/Brown Man’s Search For Identity.”
He said the Wayne Law symposium was in some ways perfectly timed. He said immigration reform is a hot topic in the media and in Congress.
“We are in a place right now where we will just have to sit and wait and see what we get in immigration reform,” he said. “I’m not optimistic. We’ve been here before.”
Johnson noted that the last measure on the immigration front was to “extend the fence”— the 12-foot border between the United States and Mexico — “which is more symbolic than practical.”
He explained that today’s immigration law stems from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
“That’s the immigration law we’re dealing with,” he said, “one that was forged during the Cold War.”
Johnson also cited the the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986, which he said was slated to “end undocumented immigration as we know it. It didn’t.”
He said IRCA failed to provide for legal access for immigrants and failed to recognize the United States’ need for labor.
“Instead,” Johnson said, “we have 12 million undocumented workers. What we really need in immigration reform is one so that we are not 10 or 15 years from now still looking at it.”
Immigration reform must take into to account of the global movement of labor in an increasingly globalized economy.
“Our immigration law is woefully out of sync with labor needs now,” he said.
There is a the trend in state in local governments passing their own immigration laws that tend to be based more on racism and nation of origin than on fairness, Johnson said.
He further pointed out that while there are provisions for skilled workers to get into the United States, there is no such procedure for low- or moderately skilled workers.
“There is not even a line for low- and moderately skilled workers to get into,” Johnson said.
He further pooh-poohed “guest worker” programs.
“A colleague was once told me, ‘There is nothing more permanent than a guest worker.’” he said. “We do have a guest worker program. It’s called the undocumented worker program.”
Johnson compared current immigration policy with Prohibition.
“Otherwise law-abiding citizens violate immigration laws and hire undocumented workers,” he said, “including some seekers of high office.”
Further, Johnson said, similar people with similar skills need to be treated the same.
He noted that people from Western countries still find it easier to get into the United States than do people of color and those from the Philippines, Africa and Mexico.
Immigration laws are “way out of sync” with other areas of U.S. jurisprudence, he said, especially where civil rights and equality are concerned.
Too often the immigration debate is based on dogma and racism, Johnson said, than on the needs of labor and of people seeking opportunity.
He further noted that the U.S. border with Canada is completely forgotten in lieu of Mexico.
Immigration law is also too complex, Johnson said, likening it to the Internal Revenue code.
“I don’t think we need an immigration flat tax,” he said, “but we do need to streamline immigration law.”
While Johnson was pleased with the WSU immigration reform symposium, he remained pessimistic.
“I do think talk about comprehensive immigration reform has been more talk than action,” he said.
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