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Fear -- the Core of Current Immigration Debate
SAN FRANCISCO – New immigration bills proposed by Congress have incited large-scale protests across the nation. Different people have different opinions about the complex content of the bills, agreeing on some points but not others. Besides debating specifics of the bill, it is important to look at the motivation behind any bill and what it seeks to accomplish. The new immigration bills before us are actually not new at all – they are merely expressions of xenophobia.
The recent protests across the United States were attended by mainly Spanish-speaking communities, but their experiences mirror the Chinese community hundreds of years ago. At that time, American society was overwhelmingly anti-Chinese. Anti-Chinese policies were even passed in Congress in the name of immigration reform. The motivation and goals of today’s immigration reform is not very different from what happened several hundred years ago to the Chinese community.
When Anti-Chinese bills passed at the time, its supporters said that Chinese used false documents or entered the United States illegally. Chinese workers were cheap labor, taking away jobs from local workers. Illegal Chinese immigrants contributed to high crime rates and couldn’t speak English, the supporters of anti-Chinese bills said.
Today’s self-righteous congressmen who peddle anti-immigration bills cite the same reasons that anti-Chinese lawmakers toted hundreds of years ago. Anti-Chinese bills were overthrown for political reasons after World War II, increasing the number of Chinese immigrants in the United States. But did the increase of Chinese immigrants here cause any harm?
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http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=591ce16ea892add946004cbcdc61b83c
When Anti-Chinese bills passed at the time, its supporters said that Chinese used false documents or entered the United States illegally. Chinese workers were cheap labor, taking away jobs from local workers. Illegal Chinese immigrants contributed to high crime rates and couldn’t speak English, the supporters of anti-Chinese bills said.
Today’s self-righteous congressmen who peddle anti-immigration bills cite the same reasons that anti-Chinese lawmakers toted hundreds of years ago. Anti-Chinese bills were overthrown for political reasons after World War II, increasing the number of Chinese immigrants in the United States. But did the increase of Chinese immigrants here cause any harm?
More
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=591ce16ea892add946004cbcdc61b83c
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