U.S. IMIGRATION POLICIES

When all the “outrage” began over Arizona’s proposed legislation, Senate Bill 1070, I read the bill. I saw a few minor issues with the legislation, but overall it was not the racist piece of legislation that some tried to make it.

As a matter of fact I was convinced that people hadn’t read it, really weren’t familiar with the U.S. Immigration Policy, just didn’t care what it said as long as they got their 15 minutes in the spot light, some might even be bigots. Then when SB 1070 was amended and passed I read it again. A friend had suggested, and I was considering writing about SB1070, but I doubt that this article is going to be what one might expect.

I have lived in Florida since 1972 and since 1979 I’ve been of the opinion that the U.S. Immigration policy needs a major overhaul. Regardless if it was intended to be or not, U.S. policy is discriminatory. I’m sure that some are thinking that I am being too harsh, or over reacting to a few isolated incidents. My response would be, come live in South Florida for a while and witness it firsthand.

The Arizona law really isn’t necessary in Florida, several law enforcement officers that I know and work with agree. We already have the ability to do what that law is trying to enact. The only other thing is that SB1070 would officially outlaw these “sanctuary cities” and allow a person to file a civil action pertaining to such cities.

Dictionary.com defines discrimination as;

1. an act or instance of discriminating.

2. treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.

3. the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.

4. Archaic . something that serves to differentiate.

As far as the Immigration policy being discriminating, if you think I’m wrong I would suggest that you look at the treatment of those fleeing Cuba and those fleeing Haiti. And don’t just look at recent events, go back decades.

Thirty (30) years ago as I was about to begin my law enforcement career a boat sank in the ocean east of Broward County Florida. Dozens of bodies began to wash ashore in the Deerfield Beach area; they were Haitians trying to come to America. In 1988 thirty three (33) Haitians drowned off the Broward County coast line, and there are many other incidents. Those that make it to shore are locked up in the Krome Detention Center (or other facility) and then deported back to Haiti. Until the earthquake earlier this year the U.S. Government has always declared the Haitians to be economic refugees. Even when they were fleeing a dictatorship to avoid being imprisoned or killed, they were shipped back.

Now look at those fleeing Cuba. Eventually in order to calm criticisms of the immigration policy being biased the “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy was implemented by the U.S. Basically if someone flees Cuba and makes it ashore on U.S. land they are processed and released into the U.S. with benefits. Cubans are automatically fleeing repression and seeking freedom of expression. What’s the difference between the regime of Fidel and Raul Castro in Cuba and those of François Duvalier (Papa Doc) or his son Jean-Claude Duvalier (Baby Doc) in Haiti? Then there is the violence in Haiti since the Duvalier regimes ended.

Rather than cite instance upon instance I’ll just mention two more, Livan Hernandez and Elian Gonzalez! Hernandez is perhaps the most blatant example. Hernandez (and his brother) were Cuban baseball stars, when Livan defected to the U.S. he held a press conference. At the press conference he said that he defected to the U.S. because he wanted to play Major League Baseball and make lots of money! He wasn’t afraid that Castro was going to kill him, or imprison him; he wanted to make big bucks playing MLB. Now if that isn’t an economic refugee please explain to me what is?

I’m sure that most people are aware of the saga of Elian Gonzalez; it was a huge headache for the Clinton Administration during its last year. Elian, his mother, her boyfriend (later it was determined that he was actually a smuggler bringing people to the U.S.), and others were on a boat that sank trying to make it to the U.S. Elian, who was six at the time, was the only one found alive on Thanksgiving 1999. He was rescued by fishermen and taken to a Miami hospital. Once he recovered he was released to relatives in Miami. That would have been the end of the story had Elian’s father not insisted that his son be returned to him in Cuba. Speaking of a biased policy, if it had been Elian's father that had drowned and his mother alive and insisting he be returned I seriously doubt it would have taken from Thanksgiving to the morning before Easter for the U.S. to send Elian back.

Days before Elian was rescued there was a similar incident involving a Haitian mother and her two small children. They were rescued and the mother had to be hospitalized, the two children weren’t even allowed to remain in the U.S. until mother’s health had stabilized. While mother was in the hospital these children were taken from her and transported back to Haiti. What about humanitarian grounds, at the very least allow them to stay here with mother until she was discharged from the hospital. It wasn’t until Congressman Alcee Hasting got on the Floor of the House of Representatives and protested how outrageous this was that the Federal Government asked the Haitian Government to find the children and send them back to be with their mother.

Although it may sound like it I am not against the immigration of Cubans, just some semblance of fairness by treating other nationalities the same.

I said that some of those that are protesting against the Arizona law could be protesting because they are bigots.

<em>Dictionary.com defines bigot as;–noun
a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.

How many buses have you seen caravanning from California to Miami to protest the treatment of Haitians seeking a better life in the U.S.? Do they only care about Mexicans being able to come to this country rather than seeking a fair immigration policy for all? Mexicans are also people of color, however, I haven’t seen as many with the same pigmentation or French Creole accent as those fleeing Haiti. Perhaps in addition to our system being blind it should also be deaf.


THAT’S MY OPINION (the grandson of immigrants), WHATS YOURS