Adopting the Secure Communities program will have a chilling effect on public safety in our community and will hinder law enforcement’s ability to do its job effectively. Undocumented residents will be less likely to report crimes, such as domestic violence, in fear that they will be caught up in the deportation web. Arlington County has attempted to opt out of Secure Communities. The D.C. government has also expressed reservations about the program but is unlikely to be able to stop its implementation. This month Massachusetts joined New York and Illinois in refusing to participate in the program. Our state should follow their leads and reject participation until the program is focused clearly on criminal activity only.
This heavy-handed approach from the federal government is ironically rooted in the rightward and intolerant drift of the Republican Party, which is also one of the primary reasons for our failure to enact sensible immigration policy. Republicans who once championed a comprehensive approach lack the political courage to stand up to conservative activists calling for mass deportations. In Maryland, former state senator and current Republican Party Chairman Alex Mooney and current Republican Senate leader Nancy Jacobs both voted to give undocumented students in-state tuition in 2003. That bill, ultimately vetoed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., did not even require that students’ parents be Maryland taxpayers to qualify. Now, these same Republicans are leading the effort to repeal the Maryland Dream Act through a ballot measure. We need to go back to a bipartisan approach if we want to move our state and national immigration policies forward.
At the federal level, Congress has repeatedly failed to reform our broken immigration system. President Obama laid out his vision for immigration reform in a major policy address delivered in El Paso, where he reaffirmed his commitment to securing the border, keeping families together and providing undocumented residents a pathway to citizenship. With Maryland’s top-ranked public schools, excellent higher education system and knowledge-based economy, we would be one of the biggest winners in an immigration system that has the ability to retain undocumented students.
Should Congress continue to stand in the way of progress, it will fall on state governments to take bold action. Utah, for example, passed a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes some innovative policy proposals, such as a state-based guest-worker program, which Republicans are now trying to repeal. Maryland should consider legislation similar to Utah’s, allowing undocumented workers to obtain permits to legally reside in our state as long as they are employed and paying state taxes. The business community would welcome this reform, and it would make our state more economically competitive. It would also allow these working people to leave the shadows and become productive, tax-paying members of society.
Having an inclusive and welcoming country is what defines us as Americans. You can come to America from anywhere in the world and start on a path to becoming an American the next day. This is the American dream my ancestors clearly understood when they came through Ellis Island from Italy, and it is the promise we must keep to the next generation of new Americans.
The writer, a Democrat, is a Maryland state senator from the 18th District in Montgomery County.
Loading...
Comments