The United States is suffering from immigration schizophrenia. At the same time that construction continues on a 700-mile-long wall to prevent undocumented migrants from sneaking in, Congress is debating several proposals to legalize the 12 million who are already here.
So, are immigrants welcome or not? What is the predominant trend _ discrimination or the open door so newcomers can get ahead?
There's been a lot of chatter. Meanwhile, new fences are beginning to sprout on the Arizona-Sonora border, and officials are asking for $1 billion more to continue building. They're certainly not dragging their feet there.
There is, however, a tiny window of opportunity for Congress, now controlled by Democrats, to send President George W. Bush an immigration reform proposal that he could possibly sign. This seems to be the only topic on which the Democrats and Bush concur. (On all the rest, from the Iraq war to global warming, they simply cannot agree.)
However, if Bush and the Democrats cannot soon find common ground for the complicated details to legalize immigrants already here and to regulate the entry of half a million who cross into the United States illegally each year, nothing will get done. Everything has to be negotiated before year's end.
The year for immigration opportunity is 2007. There are no elections on the horizon and, besides, Bush need not worry anymore about being re-elected. Emilio Gonzalez, head at the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, told me he believes there can be effective immigration reform this year. But it would have to be before August, he said.
If the issue stretches into 2008, however, it will simply vanish. The presidential campaign will eat up everything next year and no candidate will risk supporting undocumented immigrants who have no vote.
I am hoping, however, that at the very least Congress approves an immigration reform out of fear. Yes, out of fear.
In 2004, Bush and the Republicans received 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. In the Congressional elections of 2006, however, they got only 29 percent _ in large part due to their anti-immigrant stance. If Hispanic voters, a bloc which is growing exponentially, see that the Republican Party continues to defeat legalizing the undocumented, they will vote against them in 2008.
Similarly, if Hispanic voters don't see the Democratic Party making a major effort to reform immigration laws, they will make them pay in next year's elections.
Almost all Hispanic voters were once immigrants or know other immigrants. This is why they want a change. It is not an overstatement to say that, in a very tight election, Hispanics could choose the next American president. It is for this reason that Democrats and Republicans say "Hola, amigo," take Spanish lessons, and listen to singer Shakira's recordings.
Felipe Calderon, Mexico's new president, can do a lot to encourage the legalization of millions of undocumented Mexicans. My suggestion, however, is for him not to proceed as former Mexican President Vicente Fox did. Kicking and yelling will achieve nothing.
The way to persuade Congress is to do it gently: by talking to every one of the 435 representatives and 100 senators. Calderon also needs a backstage lobbying strategy, which Fox never had.
It is expensive. The best public relations firms are costly and a lot of people will have to go visit the congressmen. That plan worked for Mexico's former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari in 1993 to get the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) approved. The same thing could work for Calderon. But he must start now.
This is how he can pull down the wall, and how things are done in the United States. Little by little _ and quietly. But if Calderon talks about it, he'll lose.
U.S. immigration policy sometimes appears strange, incoherent and incomprehensible. History, however, shows us that foreigners are almost always welcome here.
America has treated me very well _ just as it has millions of others _ which is why I'm still hopeful that ultimately it will do the right thing and legalize the people who have worked so hard for the country's economic prosperity and cultural diversity.
That is perhaps the dream and optimistic wish of every immigrant.
