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Welcome back to the newest guest contributor to TPC, Kathleen Schafer:
Let’s Move Beyond the Fear-Mongering and Power Struggles Over Immigration
This week immigration moves back into the national spotlight as the Supreme Court considers S.B. 1070, the Arizona law that encourages local law enforcement to seek out illegal immigrants, previously the purview of the federal government. Succinctly put, Peter J. Spiro, a law professor at Temple University, opines in the New York Times that Arizona "is one of several states, including Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Indiana, that, frustrated by Congress's idling on immigration reform" have passed their own legislation. They have done so with laws which "are misguided at best, mean-spirited and racially tainted at worst," yet "in the long run, immigrant interests will be better helped if the Supreme Court upholds S.B. 1070. Laws like Arizona's are such bad policy that, left to their own devices, they will die a natural death -- and their supporters will suffer the political consequences."
Key Obama advisor David Axelrod revealed his own frustration in his comments on CNN's State Of The Union, "I think a lot of Republicans in Congress want to cooperate, know better, but they're in the thralls of this reign of terror from the far right that has dragged the party to the right." In other words, there are many people who understand that something needs to be done to curb illegal immigration while making some reasonable accommodations for those individuals who currently reside in the country.
If ever an issue cried out for leadership over dogma, this is it. For the majority of people in this country, they want reasonable immigration laws enforced to provide order and stability, particularly in border communities. However, there are also the humanitarian issues of dealing with people who have faced fear, incarceration and perhaps death in order to make it to this country to enhance the quality of their life and opportunities for their family. For the most part, these illegal immigrants are not criminals, rather those desperate to do better for those they love.
As a country founded by immigrants seeking a better life, we more than anyone else ought to find empathy for all parties in this situation and be able to craft a solution that meets everyone’s needs. Instead of building walls, perhaps we can build communities on both sides of the border so that we not only quell the desire to cross illegally, but even make it a clearer route to a life people on both sides want to lead.
Walls separate people where no other division exists—learning to live by respecting each others' boundaries and aspirations is the only harmonious way forward.
Kathleen Schafer is the Founder and President of Leadership Connection, through which she has trained individuals and organizations–particularly women and other underrepresented groups–to be effective leaders. Schafer built the political leadership curriculum, still in use, at The George Washington University School of Political Management and is the author of Living The Leadership Choice.
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