Midlands Voices: Debate over immigration needs compassion, mercy!

By The Rev. Howard Dotson
The writer, of Omaha, is faith community liaison for Equality Nebraska.
We need to reframe this current immigration debate so it is more grounded in compassion and mercy. Instead of using the term “illegals,” I invite us to consider using the term “economic refugees.”
In Les Misérables, Jean Valjean has to steal bread in order to feed his daughter. Which is more criminal, that he stole the bread, or the social conditions that necessitated that he do so? Many of our Latino neighbors who are here could not wait 20 years to feed their children.
We need to fully understand the poverty and social forces that drive economic refugees north in search of their daily bread. Grounded in our family values, can’t we appreciate a parent trying to provide for his or her babies?
The terms we use and how we use them can dehumanize others. We shouldn’t lose sight of our common humanity.
In a tolerance index composed by the Daily Beast, the state of Nebraska ranked 47th in the nation, lower than even Arizona. Several bills introduced by Sen. Charlie Janssen in this immigration reform debate have had a very deleterious impact on the quality of life not just for Latinos but our communities as a whole.
In a state that struggles to retain its population and has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, this is a misguided debate that could result in severe long-term negative economic consequences. What happens to our economy when Latinos decide they have had enough and take their purchasing power to a state that is higher up on the tolerance scale?
According to a study by the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the annual Latino contribution to our economy amounts to $1.8 billion and 17,000 jobs. In this fragile national economy, we cannot afford to further alienate and marginalize our Latino neighbors who are here to work hard and provide for their families. We really cannot afford to lose their valuable contributions to our economy.
Why do politicians like Sen. Janssen continue to introduce this kind of legislation when they know that the federal courts have consistently struck down these laws as unconstitutional? Per the Supremacy Clause in our Constitution, immigration enforcement is solely a federal responsibility.
What are the true motives behind this legislative agenda? Who is forced to bear the cross while our local and state politicians enact these nativist laws in order to raise the heat on our leaders in Washington? Can our consciences bear the collateral damage of unintended consequences?
At a recent immigration forum hosted by the UNL journalism department, I asked Sen. Janssen how he could he align himself with Kris Kobach in light of who he represents. Wherever Kobach goes with his legislation in hand, acts of intolerance and hate follow.
FBI crime statistics reveal that hate crimes against Latinos have spiked across the nation. There was even a hate crime against a Latino in, of all places, New York City — the city of immigrants.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote a paper, “When Kobach Comes to Town,” that underscores the community impact that this nativist legislation has had on communities like Fremont, Neb. The group that Kobach has worked for — FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform) — has been registered by SPLC as a hate group.
In the documentary “9500 Liberty,” the leaders of FAIR take pride in having written the Prince William County, Va., ordinance, which is the local version of Arizona S.B. 1070. FAIR also drafted the Arizona and the Fremont ordinances. Do the residents of Fremont realize who is representing their city in federal court?
As this immigration debate continues, please join me in praying that we stay grounded in compassion, family values and reason. The stakes are too high for us to repeat the same patterns of intolerance that many of our German, Irish, Italian and Polish ancestors experienced when they came here. It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now.
Let’s stay focused on our common humanity and find meaningful solutions through federal immigration reform.