Obama’s on Immigration-- Militarization of Border& Criminalization of workers

[Neal...@aol.com]

There is to be a rally with politicians on the issue of immigration on Thursday. Here is some relevent commentary. --Neal

 

Obama’s Speech on Immigration

Defending Militarization of Border and Increased Criminalization of Workers

On May 10 President Barack Obama gave a speech on immigration in El Paso, Texas. That same day he released his “blueprint” for immigration reform (see below). Both are characterized by support for further militarization of the border and criminalization of immigrants. Much of the speech contained recycled phrases and promises. There was nothing new in either the content or the proposals.

Obama again promoted immigrants who are not citizens that join the military, using examples from previous speeches. He again called for passage of the DREAM Act, supported by the Pentagon, which would yearly provide an additional 60,000 youth for recruitment. Obama also repeated a George W. Bush phrase, that “being a nation of laws goes hand in hand with being a nation of immigrants.”

The speech included Obama’s emphasis that to be an American, one must “Embrace America’s ideals and America’s precepts…What matters is that you believe in the ideals on which we were founded; that you believe all of us are created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. All of us deserve our freedoms and our pursuit of happiness. In embracing America, you can become American.” What goes unsaid is conditions are being put on who can and cannot "become American." Currently anyone born in the country or choosing to live their lives here becomes part of the single U.S. working class. But given Obama's emphasis, and the laws planned, what happens to those who do not embrace the America of the monopolies, with their pursuit of happiness, meaning the highest profits? Who do not embrace aggressive U.S. wars abroad and increasing repression at home? Government actions at the federal and state level all indicate that those resisting the attacks on rights and the current direction of the country will be branded as “un-American,” with no rights. Indeed, part of Obama's "blueprint" requires a federally issued biometric ID where all workers will have to pass a "background" and "national security check." The possibility exists that passing such a test will require "embracing" the America of the monopolies.

Obama also puts immigration reform forward as an “economic imperative.” Various facts and examples are given to show how immigrants contribute to the economy, including founding businesses. The framework provided is not that immigrants are human beings with rights, but rather the starting point id with the needs of the monopolies for a more regimented and controlled workforce, including workers from Mexico. The imperialist exploitation and impoverishment of Mexico by the U.S. — the source of so much migration to the U.S. in the first place — is not addressed. What comes to the fore through out the speech is is that framed by the economic imperatives of the monopolies as they pursue their happiness of achieving world domination. The rights of the workers, of both Mexico and the U.S., and solutions provided based on defending those rights, are absent. Clearly, it is up to the workers themselves to fill that absence and step up the struggle being waged to defend the rights of all.

Obama’s statement that “The most significant step we can now take to secure the borders is to fix the system as a whole so that fewer people have the incentive to enter illegally in search of work in the first place” rings hollow. Why not pay Mexico reparations for all the crimes committed against her by the U.S.? Why not require U.S. monopolies to pay the same wages in their factories abroad as they do at home? Why not contribute to the development of Mexican farming by Mexicans, instead of its destruction by U.S. monopolies? Any of these measures would actually address the problem of why so many people seek work in the U.S. in the first place.

Obama also emphasizes the numerous measures he has taken to militarize the border. He specifically accepts the calls for “border first, border first,” using them to justify yet further militarization. He promotes the fact that he has brought more agents, more drones, more “intelligence analysts,” and more surveillance technology to the border. Drones now patrol from California to Texas as well as along the Canadian border. He promoted completion of the border death wall, something which was booed by the El Paso crowd. Again, no comments whatever about the killings of unarmed civilians by border patrol, of the large numbers of deaths from the border wall, of the broad resistance by border towns to the increasing militarization of their lives. Instead Obama emphasizes that the responsibility of government is first of all to secure the border, with security clearly meaning militarization and repression, not protecting rights. Obama also proposes increasing penalties and making things which are currently civil violations, like using a false social security card for work or entering the country without documentation, more serious crimes with greater penalties.

As with previous speeches, Obama said, “I don’t believe the United States of America should be in the business of separating families. That’s not right.” But he coupled it with saying he would not instruct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to end the deportations of hundreds of thousands guilty of no crime — the source for separating families. This does not require legislation by COngress or an executive order. It simply requires instructing DHS to exercise its discretion and stop or at least put a temporary moratorium on deportations for the next year or more. In deeds, Obama has instead ensured record numbers of deportations. DHS, for example, is insisting that states and local government participate in “Secure Communities” even though they do not wish to do so. The program is a major funnel for ensuring increased deportations of undocumented workers. It began in 2008 and can be ended at any time, it is not mandated by law. Instead, Obama is pushing its expansion.

In addition, Obama said that Congress, not the President must act on immigration, as “this is how democracy works.” He concluded by emphasizing that the problem lies with a failure of Congress to pass legislation and that his voice alone is not enough. “This change ultimately has to be driven by you, the American people…I’m asking you to add your voices to this debate. You can sign up to help at whitehouse.gov. We need Washington to know that there is a movement for reform that’s gathering strength from coast to coast. That’s how we’ll get this done.”

Several things stand out here. One is that Obama is attempting to separate himself from Washington and instead position himself at the head of “a movement for reform gathering strength from coast to coast.” Secondly, the “voice” to be added is one in harmony with the White House, where all are encouraged to sign up. Thirdly, the broad and existing movement for change that favors the people, expressed for example in May Day demonstrations and numerous other actions, evidently does not exist. Which means the only option is to “add your voice,” to Obama’s campaign.

The effort is to rally forces behind the president and silence, or at least divert, the voice of the people and their demands for an end to deportations, legalization and rights for all. Further, it sets up a situation where if Congress does fail to act, as is likely, Obama can then justify unilateral executive action, action which, given experience already, will increase repression and criminalization of immigrants and all workers. The possibility of a pilot program for biometric ID for all workers is already on the table. The program proposed requires everyone to pass "background" and “national security checks.” And the federal government decides whether a person does or does not pass, and therefore does or does not work. One can certainly imagine the results for those who have not embraced the America of the monopolies. http://usmlo.org/arch2011/2011-05/VR110526.htm#02