On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff made the following declaration:
“Our goal at DHS [Department Homeland Security] is to completely eliminate the ‘catch and release’ enforcement problem, and return every single illegal entrant, no exceptions.”
This “BREAKING NEWS” was evidently intended to calm Americans who have been unnerved by a series of false terror alerts in recent weeks. But Secretary Chertoff’s declaration only reinforces cynicism amongst those of us who regard America’s war on terror as a big joke. And, it did not take long for our cynicism to be vindicated, once again,. Because less than 24 hours after declaring this “no exceptions” policy, Chertoff’s own department announced that “undocumented workers will be welcomed” to help meet the (cheap) labour demands for rebuilding New Orleans and other Gulf Coast areas destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. (Only in America folks!)
Nevertheless, anyone remotely familiar with U.S. immigration policy would have summarily dismissed Chertoff’s declaration as patently disingenuous. Because so many undocumented people enter America daily (across its Northern and Southern borders) that the “catch” part of this new zero tolerance policy can refer to no more than a fraction of the illegal entrants Chertoff purports to target.
Moreover, I suspect that citizens in almost any city in the U.S. would direct Homeland Security officers to havens of illegal immigrants in their midst (not all of them Mexicans incidentally), if they thought the government had a fair and enforceable immigration policy. For example, most Americans chafe at this policy that admits Cubans (just to spite Fidel Castro) but rejects Haitians (even though Haitians have had, in some years, a far more credible fear of persecution at home). In addition, they find unconscionable the scapegoating of Hispanics who cross the Mexican boarder (to do menial work) whilst Europeans who cross the Canadian border enter the country scot (and stigma) free.
Therefore, Chertoff should spare us such fatuous immigration pronouncements and spend more time coordinating his FEMA soldiers to ensure that emergency aid is available to help Floridians deal with Hurricane Wilma in ways that it was unavailable to help New Orleaneans deal with Hurricane Katrina.
Speaking of hurricanes…
News and Politics
Anonymous says
you are abosolutely right. this is a racist policy. but nothing will change because americans cannot survive without exploiting latinos.
Donna says
What would happen to the rest of us if all illegal immigrants were suddenly (or even slowly) sent back to where ever they came from? The cost of almost all food would rise dramatically, the cost for many services and other products would rise. Some things would not have their prices rise, they would just be unavailable, at any cost.
Our economy really does rely on these people who will work long hard hours for low pay and no benefits. I don’t know how to treat this problem of illegal immigration, but we cannot do without them.
Anonymous says
It seems to me that the solutions to most difficult problems require some sort of sacrifice. Well, otherwise it would not be much of a problem. Perhaps a more protracted issue for us Americans is our unwillingness to forego any or our conveniences, whether that be in regards to immigration policy or energy policy, etc…
Anonymous says
If we send the Mexicans homes then employers would be forced to pay livable wages for those jobs Mexicans now do dirt cheap. It’s that simple.