In promoting the “Gang of 8” immigration bill, Sen. Marco Rubio emphasized one point: “This is not amnesty.” Whether you use Rubio’s definition – “the forgiveness of something,” or Merriam-Webster’s – “the act of an authority by which pardon is granted,” I agree. This is not amnesty.
Forgiveness and pardon suggest that any debt is paid, as time served or a magnanimous act. This legislation provides undocumented immigrants no such state of grace. “Registered provisional” status requires a background check, a job, and a fine. Citizenship comes 13 years and hundreds of dollars later, after additional hoops, some beyond the individual’s control. Even this defunct Catholic remembers that if you are still working off the infraction with acts of contrition, you don’t have forgiveness. You are doing penance, and in this case a stiff one.
“10 year sentence” calls to mind some pretty heinous crimes: rape, kidnapping, drug trafficking. How is being an undocumented immigrant on a par with these offenses? If it is considered some sort of continuing criminal trespass, it doesn’t justify 13 years. If it is a civil violation, why a sentence at all, and who deserves monetary “damages”?
Even the DREAMers, who are innocent beyond the debatable sins of their parents, receive no amnesty. Their penance is shorter, if undeserved.
This brings us to the other group that receives no amnesty from this legislation: the rest of us. Not just loose cannons spouting slurs and lies, but all of us. We’ve all enjoyed the cheaper groceries, restaurant dinners and other services often provided by undocumented immigrants in a kind of national indentured servitude. Too harsh? How would you define a population paid low wages, with a ceiling on advancement and kept quiet by a fear of deportation?
Those who haven’t voted for anti-immigration candidates can currently consider themselves unwilling, or unwitting, conspirators. That ends with this legislation, which ensconces multi-tiered citizenship. “Registered provisional” Americans can live and work here, but have no access to ObamaCare or other governmental support; however, they are on a pathway to citizenship, something not offered to “W-visa” guest workers. Their renewable 3-year stays can’t even be converted to permanent status. For other visas, potential Americans will be judged by the applicability of their education, not the content of their character. I thought Dr. King taught us better.
Particularly given the current Congress, this legislation, like democracy, is the worst option except for all the others. It brings 11 million people out of the shadows, and gives many a path to citizenship. That’s not a bad thing, but it should be seen as a first step to absolution. There is no amnesty here for anyone.
If this legislation defines the penance, however unwarranted, of undocumented immigrants, ours is to follow it with further movements toward a more perfect union that rejects second class citizenship. When we get there, perhaps we can absolve each other.
