October 2014 Immigration News At a Glance
Written by Kara DeDonato
The October News Digest examines new developments regarding US refugee status, particularly for individuals applying from Syria and Central America. It also looks at the unfortunate affects of the Ebola epidemic on African immigrant communities; federal politics and the Latino vote; and new policies enacted or proposed by New York State and New York City.
Mixed news on refugee status in the United States
During the month of October, the Obama administration moved to enable children from Central America to apply for refugee status in their country of origin, as reported by this New York Times article. While the Obama administration maintains that the program will provide a new avenue for children in danger to reach safety in the United States without making the dangerous and illegal journey across the border, its enactment has proved controversial. Critics have complained that the program will enable children to join undocumented relatives, and that it “could encourage more immigrants to try to enter the United States at a time when the country is struggling to decide how to deal with millions who have already settled here illegally.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that, “until now, the only people who could apply directly for U.S. refugee status from overseas were Cuban dissidents, persecuted religious minorities in Eurasia and the Baltics with close family ties in the U.S., and Iraqi citizens who worked for the U.S. … after the 2003 American-led invasion.”
On the other hand, human rights and immigrant advocates have praised the announced program, and expressed strong support for the new refugee status processing centers that are to be set up in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Still, this must-read VOX article points out that the program fails to increase the number of refugees that will be accepted from Central American countries: in fact, the US will accept fewer Latin American refugees in the year to come than it did last year (TIME and Think Progress also featured articles on the issue).
In contrast, the US recently announced that it would accept more refugees from Syria. Still, according to The Guardian, acceptance numbers remain too low and the resettlement process too prohibitive. The UN has made the resettlement of Syrian refugees a top priority, calling for the resettlement of 130,000 refugees by the end of 2016. The US, however, has yet to make a specific pledge as to the amount of refugees it will resettle within in its borders, unlike some European countries that have already done so, notably Germany.
The US government also continues to oppose setting a separate refugee program for Syrian refugees, although it made such an accommodation for Iraqi refugees in previous years. Regardless, the US government does expect that Syrians will form a majority of the 33,000 allotted spaces for the resettlement of refugees from the Middle East and South Asia, according to The Washington Post.
The far-reaching effects of Ebola
As Ebola continued to ravage West African nations during the month of October, the subtler effects of fear and ostracism affected US communities otherwise untouched by the disease.
This NBC article thus listed several incidents of gross ignorance regarding the spread of the disease, and of outright racism at worst, that occurred throughout the country: a 16-year-old high school soccer player originally from Guinea taunted with chants of “Ebola” by the opposing team; a Ghanaian-American teenager being asked to the principal’s office for questioning about her last visit ‘home’ despite the fact that Ghana had not yet experienced any instance of the disease; and, in New York City, two Senegalese brothers (11 and 13 years old) beaten badly on their school playground by other children shouting “Ebola! Get away from here!.”
PBS and the New York Post have also both reported on the severe ostracism experienced by the community known as ‘Little Liberia’ in Staten Island in the past few weeks: Liberian immigrants are suffering stigma, taunts, and in extreme cases violence or the loss of their jobs. Some members of the community are trying to fight back: on Facebook and other social media platforms, they are posting comments and photos with the message “we are Liberian, not a virus.”
Reuters stresses the racial aspect of this stigma, quoting sociologist Barry Glasner, who asked: “One has to wonder: If these were Swedes, would we be seeing the same response?” Glassner further commented, “the combination of Ebola fear and racial prejudice makes xenophobic reactions to dark-skinned people from West Africa even more likely.”
Such hateful actions and stigmatization are particularly disappointing at a time when the West African members of our national community are in particular need of our support. VOA News comments that the local markets and economies of African immigrant communities have been negatively affected by the overseas epidemic. Many immigrants also fear for the health of their loved ones who reside in affected countries in Africa. Americans should make it a point to act out of compassion rather than fear.
A brief word on elections, federal politics, and Latino Americans
The Obama administration’s stalling on comprehensive immigration reform continued to see press attention throughout October. Perhaps most notably, the Los Angeles Times published an op-ed refuting the “theory that immigration reform is too controversial and that all of its parts have to be addressed in a mega-bill,” calling both suppositions “myths.” Instead, it provides some insight into possible solutions based primarily on revising the work visa system, and refers to polls indicating that such reforms would be received favorably.
One question brought up by the delay in immigration reform is the potential effect it might have on the Latino vote in November’s midterms. The National Journal reported that Obama’s failure to keep his promise on immigration reform was “demobilizing to Latino voters.” In contrast, The Washington Post, commenting on a Pew Research survey, concluded that Hispanics are “relatively evenly split on Obama’s decision to delay the executive action.” Pew Research’s Hispanic Trend Project confirms that immigration reform is not a deal breaker for Latino voters; however, it indicates that their support of Democrats has diminished.
This could precipitate notable ramifications for the 2016 presidential elections. Looking forward, the headline of an article in The Week magazine reads, “if Democrats abandon immigration reform after [November 4th’s] likely loss, they will turn 2016 into a debacle.” The Obama administration needs to follow through on the promises it has made on immigration reform. Democrats may want to take note – a study conducted by the American Immigration Council finds that the electoral power of Latino voters is growing substantially while the non-Latino white share of the vote has diminished.
Zooming in on New York City immigration news
At the forefront of New York City immigration news is a recent mandate that will enable immigrant children to attend school regardless of their legal status. The New York State education commissioner required schools to enroll all school-age children, a motion that will in particular greatly help the number of recently arrived Central American children. Newsday reports that this is the “first time in memory that an education commissioner has intervened in an enrollment issue.”
The New York Times also reported on the story, stating that schools have been instructed to “use wide latitude to enroll undocumented children,” listing them as homeless if needed to ensure their ability to enroll.
New York City also moved to “narrow the conditions under which the city would comply with Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests to detain people,” as reported by The Christian Science Monitor. In order to detain an immigrant, the proposed legislation would require New York City officers to request that ICE supply a warrant from a federal judge stating that the individual in question has been convicted of a “violent or serious crime.” New York City has already limited “the conditions under which it will comply with detainers” twice since 2011, and while Bill de Blasio has asked for greater clarification in the bill’s language, his office supports the principles of the legislation.
In the wake of the growing awareness that immigrants have difficulty accessing affordable healthcare, de Blasio has also formed a task force on the issue. Capital New York reports that the task force “will focus on reaching immigrants through a partnership with on-the-ground community-based organizations and local consulates.” It will submit policy recommendations to the Mayor and the City Council.
