Anti-immigration sentiment has spurred heated debate across the country about policies that will impact the economics of race for generations to come.
In the workshop "Public Policy Struggle Around Immigration: Impact on Nonprofits,” two leading advocates for immigrant refugee and laborer rights weighed in on the issues and offered advice for activists and community leaders about how to “change the immigration conversation.” The event was hosted by the Diversity Leaders Network of the Technical Assistance for Community Services, which provides training and consultation for nonprofit organizations.
Kayse Jama, founder of Center of Intercultural Organizing, captured the essence of the immigration debate when he said that the United States cannot have a conversation about immigration without tackling the issue of race. During the last century, U.S. policies on immigration have been characterized by “exceptionalism” – designed to exclude and limit the arrival of immigrants from certain nations and parts of the world.
Cases in point (derived from Jama’s presentation):
1882-1943: The Chinese Exclusion Act excluded all Chinese laborers from immigrating to the United States for 10 years.
1924: Quota Act establishes a “national origins quota system”that favors immigration from Europe.
1942: Internment of 112,000 Japanese-Americans, most of whom are U.S. citizens
1943: Bracero Program brings in more than 5 million temporary workers from Mexico to fill in shortages during WWII.
1954: Operation Wetback targets the Mexican-American community in search of illegal immigrants and deports nearly 3.8 million people to Mexico.
Enlace founder Peter Cervantes-Gautschi provided a historical context of current immigrant labor issues. He linked the 1994 Mexican economy bailout plan engineered by the large investment banks and politicians to the rise in undocumented workers over the last decade. Soaring interest rates in Mexico caused the collapse of many industries.
During the Q&A session, I asked the speakers about the potential impact of anti-immigrant sentiment on the bottom line of nonprofits. Are funders and donors less willing to give to nonprofits as a result? I’ll write more about best learnings and takeaways from the workshop in the winter edition of OMB.