PERSPECTIVE/OP-ED
A humane approach on immigration
Sunday, July 01, 2007
BY NICHOLAS V. MONTALTO
The paralysis in Washington on immigration reform creates an opportunity for New Jersey to fill the void. Certainly, no state can solve every problem left in the wake of the Senate's failure to reach consensus on immigration policy, but as we learned with health care 10 years ago, states have considerable room for policymaking and corrective action on issues of importance to their residents.Few states have enjoyed the benefits of immigration as much as New Jersey. From the earliest days of the Republic, the state has been a haven for newcomers from abroad. In 1790, New Jersey was one of only two states among the original 13 with a non-English majority. Successive waves of immigrants, largely German and Irish in the 19th century, Italian and Jewish in the early 20th century, and Latino and Caribbean in the late 20th century, found opportunities to contribute their skills, energies and ideals to our diverse and dynamic state.
State and local government did not always stay on the sidelines, observing these seismic population shifts with detachment. Indeed, throughout our history, and most especially during the last great wave of immigration, New Jersey played a lead role in efforts to promote immigrant integration.
In 1907, for example, recognizing the importance of English as our national language, New Jersey was the first state in the nation to subsidize local school boards to establish evening English and citizenship classes for adult immigrants.
In 1911, Woodrow Wilson, then governor of New Jersey, appointed an Immigration Commission to investigate the living and working conditions of the state's immigrant population.
By 1920, New Jersey had established a rich network of settlement houses and immigrant service organizations operating in all the major gateway cities, including Bayonne, Jersey City, Passaic, Paterson, Newark, Orange, Trenton, Princeton and Morristown. During the '20s and'30s, school districts, including those in Cliffside Park, Englewood, Newark, Tenafly and Woodbury, were among the first in the nation to develop intercultural education programs to foster understanding and good will among children from diverse backgrounds.
In a certain sense, the challenges facing the state today are even more daunting than they were 100 years ago. Immigrants today come from a dizzying array of cultural, linguistic and racial backgrounds. For working-class immigrants, there are fewer opportunities for upward mobility in the state's shrunken manufacturing sector. And large numbers of immigrants, estimated as high as 400,000, are not in legal status. This problem, of course, was less prevalent during the earlier period of open and less regulated immigration, although significant numbers managed to slip through in violation of the regulations that existed at the time.
Pressures on governors and state legislatures to "do something" about immigration are growing. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than 1,000 different bills were introduced during the 2006-2007 legislative sessions. Some states, such as Arizona and Georgia, seek to usurp the federal role in immigration enforcement, imposing draconian penalties on undocumented residents; others, like California, Illinois and New York, try to ease the burden on those caught in the cross-hairs of a broken system. New Jersey should take this more constructive and humane approach.
People in New Jersey pride themselves on their realism and practicality. We know that most illegals are hard-working and decent people, if anything victims themselves of exploitive practices of employers and landlords, and of a system that encouraged their cyclical migration to America for most of the last century.
While we can't give them legal status, we can make their lives less onerous by vigorously enforcing relevant labor laws, by giving them opportunities to learn English, by letting their children attend college at in-state tuition rates, by insulating local police from immigrant enforcement activities, and by allowing immigrants to apply for driving privilege cards.
The recent announcement by Commissioner Kevin M. Ryan of the Department of Children and Families that all children in New Jersey, no matter their legal status, will be afforded protection by his department, especially when parents are rounded up and detained by federal authorities, is a step in the right direction.
Beyond the problems of the undocumented, state government needs to take the lead to ensure that all immigrants are treated fairly, afforded opportunities to learn English and the American way of life, obtain essential services, advance to citizenship, and participate fully in our democratic society.
To retain the state's position in the global economy and to maintain community harmony, New Jersey must reaffirm its commitment to immigrant integration. What more fitting way to uphold the state motto of "liberty and prosperity" than to bring the blessings of liberty to all our people, immigrants included, and to acknowledge that our prosperity owes much to the contributions of today's immigrants.
Nicholas V. Montalto is chairman of the board of directors of the New Jersey Immigration Policy Network and former CEO of the International Institute of New Jersey.
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Group
calls for immigration reform
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
By ELIZABETH LLORENTE
STAFF WRITER
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A leading immigrants rights
group in New Jersey is launching
a campaign calling on federal
lawmakers to reform immigration
laws, and also urging state
officials to draft policies
addressing aspects of illegal
immigration.
The New Jersey Immigration
Policy Network said Monday it
will place Internet and print
ads that cast immigrants as a
foundation of the United States,
and urge residents to pressure
members of the U.S. Senate who
NJIPN says are obstructing
efforts to revamp immigration
laws.
NJIPN made its announcement
as the Senate prepares to renew
debate on an immigration reform
measure that would strengthen
enforcement along the
U.S.-Mexican border, while
giving millions of illegal
immigrants a way to legalize
their status. Debate over the
measure collapsed earlier this
month after Democrats and
Republicans bickered over
components of the reform
proposal, but they pledged to
return to talks after an appeal
by President Bush last week.
"Doing nothing about
immigration is not an option,"
said Charles "Shai" Goldstein,
executive director of NJIPN, a
coalition of more than 40
organizations that focus on such
issues as civil rights, labor
and immigrants rights. "It's
impossible to deport 12 million
undocumented people; everybody
knows that."
Contact senators
NJIPN is urging New Jersey
residents to ask friends and
relatives who live in other
states to press their U.S.
senators to support a path to
legal U.S. residency for illegal
immigrants who meet a specific
set of criteria. Among those
criteria are acquiring some
proficiency in English, no
criminal record, and payment of
a fine. Some Republicans in the
Senate have expressed objections
to offering the path to
legalization, saying it amounts
to an amnesty for lawbreakers.
"The immigrants who are here
are potential new Americans,"
said Goldstein. "If the work
weren't there for them, the
immigrants wouldn't be here. We
need a rational, humane system
of immigration."
Beyond the grass-roots
outreach targeting the U.S.
Senate, the NJIPN campaign will
press state officials to support
in-state college tuition fees
for undocumented students, and
to take a stand against police
enforcing immigration laws. The
Corzine administration has
expressed support for in-state
tuition fees for illegal
immigrants, and has voiced
objection to police acting as
immigration agents.
The campaign also will run
Internet and print ads featuring
the Statue of Liberty and
messages that depict immigration
as important to the nation.
"We want to get a paradigm
shift in the debate over
immigration to underscore that
immigration is one of the
foundations of our country,"
Goldstein said. "Immigration is
what made our country strong, it
made it what it was and what it
is."
Employers blamed
Those who favor strict
immigration enforcement
criticized the NJIPN campaign.
"It's debatable whether
illegal immigrants will go
away," said Gayle Kesselman, a
Carlstadt resident and
co-chairwoman of New Jersey
Citizens for Immigration
Control. "If employers offer
decent wages to American workers
and do not continue to break the
law in their pursuit of the
almighty dollar, then illegal
immigrants would go away.
"I do not blame people who
come over the border in search
of a better life," Kesselman
said. "The villains that have
caused the tragedy of illegal
immigration are the greedy
employers and politicians who
have colluded together to create
this untenable situation." |
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