PCUN Update Editorial: Signs on the Road to Legalization

We've identified twelve of them-and counting-in the first three months of the Obama era. Each one has added to our cautious optimism that millions of undocumented immigrants will finally have a path to legal status and citizenship.

Here's our list:

• The inauguration of Barack Obama, a vocal supporter of comprehensive immigration reform including a just legalization;

• Swearing in the 111th Congress, run by more workable Democratic majorities which include pro-immigration reform Representatives who triumphed in 19 of the 20 competitive districts where rival candidates had prominently relied on anti-immigrant rhetoric;

• Defeat in Congress of anti-immigrant amendments to the "SCHIP" bill on children's health insurance;

• Removal from the "Stimulus" package of proposed requirements that all funding recipients must enroll in the "E-Verify" program-much criticized for flaws in the database of those legally employable;

• President Obama's commitment to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that he will make a major announcement on immigration in June;

• Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano's suspension of raids as she works to change the focus of raids from workers to exploiters (formally announced on April 29th);

• The high visibility of Rep. Luis Gutierrez's (D-IL) nationwide community forum tour, reinforcing the notion that Obama's standing with Latinos will be shaped by his action on immigration reform;

• The April 13th announcement by the AFL-CIO and Change To Win that they've forged a united position on immigration reform;

• White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's conversion to "prompt action" advocacy, a far cry from his statement a year ago that immigration would be a "second term" issue;

• The shart rise in unemployment which has reduced business pressure for "temporary worker" programs-a major sticking point that contributed to de-railing the immigration reform debate in 2007);

• Media fixation on gun-running south to drug cartels, rather than the "invasion" of Mexican workers; and

• The Congressional Black Caucus support for moving forward on immigration reform, defusing the real or perceived "Black-Brown" tensions sometimes associated with the issue.

Though anti-immigration zealots cannot ever be disregarded, key Democratic strategists like Emanuel have concluded that their bark is worse than their political bite. Wavering Democrats can no longer hide their opposition or evasion behind organized labor's disagreements.

The economic crisis has re-ordered the popular notions about the hierarchy of threats to the "American way of life." "Madoff" has eclipsed "MALDEF". It's all "Goldman-Sachs," not "Guzmán" or "Sánchez" (among other pseudonyms the press assigns to the undocumented workers they profile). There is suddenly broad agreement that the toxicity of investment illegality is vastly graver than immigration "illegality."

As the Administration readies its announcement in mid-May, convenes the working group this summer and then rolls out legislation this fall, we must continue to press our case that we and the nation need an immigrant recovery which addresses the effects of fifteen years of repression and scapegoating. The concluding paragraph of Time magazine's major report April 20th, spotlighting the Columbia County ordinance fight, summed it up this way:

"As tempting as it is in places like St. Helens to try and send the ‘illegal' immigrants packing...it would just increase the misery on Main Street. ...‘Illegal' America is simply too big to fail" (quotation marks added).

We're encouraged by the signs we've discerned, but we recognize that backlash could once again hijack immigration politics which are just now emerging from the maze of maneuvers and dead-ends.

Like countless other big policy changes, immigration reform is important, necessary, and righteous. In the next twelve months, though, every initiative on the action agenda will be all that plus urgent. On May 1st, the thousands we mobilized to the State Capitol in Salem called out to President Obama: "Escúchenos, Presidente: ¡La Reforma es urgente!"