BOSTON, Mass. (09/23/08) – Alfredo Carranza’s parents left Mexico 25 years ago to take their shot at attaining the American Dream. Now, after raises two sons, they are thinking of moving back.
Carranza, 18, spent most of his life in Phoenix, Arizona, and now attends the University of Arizona as a freshman. He said that his parents, Alfredo and Maria Carranza, immigrated to the United States for him.
Over a phone interview Sunday, Carranza said that the couple left their hometown of Sonora, Mexico 25 years ago to find “a better life and more opportunities.” Like many other immigrants to America, Carranza said that his parents were searching for a place where their children could grow up with more opportunities. They wanted “more for their son,” he said.
“My father came here before he married my mother,” said Carranza. “He felt like he could accomplish more here than in Mexico.”
Carranza said that after his younger brother finishes college, his parents will probably return to Mexico. “My parents have always thought about it,” said Carranza. “But I cannot see myself there. I was born and raise here. I am an American.”
According to the 2000 US Census, the number of Mexican immigrants more than quadrupled from around 2 million foreign-born Mexicans within the United States in 1980 to more than 9 million by 2000. This influx of Mexican immigrants has created social issues that have forced American citizens to pay close attention to US immigration policy.
Chuck Foss, a retired US Border Patrol Agent, has worked to secure American borders with Canada, Mexico, and along Eastern and Western coastal regions. Foss and his family have been working and living in El Paso, Texas, a town bordering Juarez, Mexico, for about seven years. After retiring at 57, Foss was rehired for the US Border Patrol when the United States Government implemented an unprecedented increase in border patrol.
In the summer of 2006, President Bush ordered the Border Patrol to hire 6,000 new agents by December 2008 in order to raise security measures. Foss said that the US Border Patrol has never, in its 84 year history, increased its size to this extreme. Although the US Department of Homeland Security website does not back this statement, it does state that after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, “Border security became a topic of increased interest in Washington.”
With US Census statistics showing that an estimated one out of every 10 workers in Arizona is Hispanic, the American population, as well as the 2008 presidential candidates, is addressing US immigration policy with a new emphasis on their own ideas of reform and/or reinforcement.
Both presidential candidates, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain endorsed a temporary worker program in 2007 titled the “Pathway to Citizenship.” Support for the integration of illegal immigrants into American society is one of the few topics that the two candidates can agree on, Richard Simon reported for the Los Angeles Times June 29, 2008.
Obama claims to being more committed to helping the Latino immigrant population than his Republican counterpart. Obama stated his position in a speech to a crowd of Hispanic leaders at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute on September 10. The Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC) reported that Obama said, “This election is about the 12 million people living in the shadows…they are counting on us to stop the hateful rhetoric filling our airwaves, and rise above the fear.”
Obama also pointed out in his speech that Arizona native, John McCain, has reversed his position, having recently pledged to tackle border security before any other changes are made to immigration policy as a whole.
Foss commented that the candidates’ positions on US immigration policy may be a determining factor in the upcoming November election. “Both Obama and McCain are close on the issue,” said Foss about the candidates’ dedication to helping illegal immigrants attain US citizenship. “I don’t feel that it’s a compulsion. I think priority should be to first gain control of the border.”
Foss voiced the fears and concerns of many Americans who worry that the continual increase of Mexican immigrants will overload the struggling US economy.
“I think that we have an obligation to protect our borders and prevent people from coming in the back door.” Foss said. “We (the US Border Patrol Agents) are sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Part of that is protecting the citizens of the United States from illegal immigrants.”
Carranza, on the other hand, said that he believes that most immigrants are in the United States for the purpose that America was founded upon, to achieve the American Dream.
“I have a couple of friends who came over illegally, but they aren’t hurting anyone,” said Carranza, referring to his Mexican friends who came into the US through the “back door.” “It is not right to kick people out who work really hard and aren’t harming anyone. They just want a better life.”
Doctor Ivan Light, UCLA professor and author of the Russell Sage Foundation 2006 publication Deflecting Immigration, spoke Tuesday on immigration policy at Boston University’s Department of Sociology.
Light explained American anti-immigrant sentiment with a microcosm. He illustrated the acronym NIMBY, which stands for “not in my back yard.” Nimbyism, a term that is often used in demographic sociology, describes what Light calls a common social movement. Nimbyism occurs when people are concerned about immigration development within their own residential areas. Light said that the Nimbyist movement has often prevented the implementation of integration, housing, and educational programs for immigrants within suburban areas due to the negative response of Americans living in the neighborhoods.
“Now people are thinking about what municipalities can do to deflect the influx of migration,” said Light. “In Missouri and other states they take the State Police and they ask them to enforce immigration laws.” Light said that such a move was the reason for unconstitutional roadside citizenship checkpoints.
“It is intended by these second tier municipalities to deflect immigration,” Light said. “It is their hope that those who are illegal will go somewhere else.”
Light speculated on the present American economy, referencing statistics that show historically that there is often slowed immigration during periods of economic strain within the United States. Light said, “If we are moving into an economical depression, as we well may be, then people aren’t going to want to come here.” He said that he foresees a temporary decline in immigration, due to the present lows within the US economy.
Foss said that he sees the present state of the American economy as all the more reason to protect the United States’ borders against intruders. “The United States is the most generous country towards immigrants. We allow more immigrants to enter our country than the total aggregate number of the rest of the world,” said Foss. “But, we do want immigration. Immigration is what has made America what it is today.”
Foss concluded that despite this resolve, the United States has to have some way to preserve its job market, economy, and education system, by asking immigrants to go through the legal immigration process. “All we are asking people to do is to knock on the front door, instead of hopping through the back window,” said Foss.
By CATHERINE MOORE
camoore@bu.edu
