Angelo Paparelli on Dysfunctional Government

Stumbling through Parallel Immigration Universes

I'm taking a short vacation -- which means that it's time to dive into another Haruki Murakami novel. My first encounter with Murakami, a Japanese author of some 13 books of fiction, involved his immersive fantasy, Kafka on the Shore.  This time its his latest tome, 1Q84, a 925-page behemoth. 

Both books are phantasmagorical journeys through parallel universes -- a fitting description of America's unique form of unreality, its extreme ambivalence toward immigration. Unlike insular and homogeneous Japan, the locus of 1Q84, where immigration is severely restricted, the U.S. imagines itself as welcoming.  We pride ourselves on our diversity and tolerance, our freedoms of thought, religion, press and assembly, and our American Dream mythology.  Yet all around us we see behaviors and attitudes toward immigration -- even in the same individuals -- that are inconsistent and contrary to type. 

I first witnessed this phenomenon at a bar liaison committee meeting with Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials in Los Angeles shortly after enactment of the Reagan-era legalization program, a key provision in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). To qualify for legalization, a nonimmigrant entrant's unlawful status must have been "known to the government."  INS officials wanted the pool of eligibles kept small; the immigration lawyers wanted it as large as possible.  Attitude reversals manifested immediately.  What -- before IRCA -- the INS would view as major transgressions of the immigration laws, say, working without permission, these same officers now saw as "no harm, no foul" occurrences unless an unauthorized foreign worker wrote a letter confessing the violation that actually found its way into the individual's INS file.  Conversely, the immigration lawyers latched upon what we'd previously viewed as peccadilloes -- failing to file a change of address report -- as serious misdemeanors. 

Consider also these recent examples:

• Mormon and Catholic Republican presidential candidates, both sons of immigrants (Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum), oppose the hospitable treatment of the undocumented as espoused by leaders of their respective faiths and instead urge a cynical and cruel policy of "self-deportation";
• President Obama, the American son of a black Kenyan (whom, as a student, the old INS, with the help of collusive Harvard officials, hounded out of America for dating a white woman), offers "late to the party," half-hearted support for administrative immigration reforms readily within his grasp;
• Elton Gallegly, Republican Chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, assails birthright citizenship, yet tries to sidle up to pro-immigration business interests by expressing concern over the dramatic increase in L-1 work visa denials at USCIS;
• This blogger now presents a sincere mea culpa for intemperateness and imprecision in using the term "cannon fodder" in a preface to a guest post and decrying "the hypocrisy of sending 'expendable' youth into harm's way," thus causing some to reasonably infer that I was criticizing the U.S. military when my targets in fact are the politicians who support a military-only version of the DREAM Act; and
• The inconsistent American people who say they want stiff controls on immigration yet welcome the undocumented gardener and the nanny into their backyards and homes.

Murakami speaks to this phenomenon in 1Q84 when he has the Leader, who heads a violent cult, say:

Most people are not looking for provable truths. . . . [T]ruth is often accompanied by intense pain, and almost no one is looking for painful truths.  What people need is beautiful, comforting stories that make them feel as if their lives have meaning.

Immigrants are not memes; nor are the painful truths about immigration.  Yes, despite the flaws in a recent governmental investigation, immigration fraud does exist -- though probably not even close to the degree that the Inspector General for Homeland Security suggests.  Yes, many immigration and consular officers may operate on hidden agendas of Machiavellian proportions and deny cases unjustly, but others truly care that they make correct decisions based on law and fact.  Yes, immigrants bring energy, entrepreneurship, innovation and wealth to America, but some of our citizens -- particularly at the low end of the skills range -- may be displaced (and thus need extra help).

We as a people and a polity will not eradicate every scintilla of possible harm from immigration nor enjoy solely its benefits.  We must face the immigration truths, however painful, and eliminate as many dysfunctions as bright minds and compassionate hearts can achieve.   What we cannot do is continue to believe in "beautiful, comforting stories that make [us] feel as if [our] lives have meaning" but at bottom are palliative falsehoods.

Faint Immigration Praise

“Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer" ~ Alexander Pope, poet, satirist, and translator, “Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot”

I hesitate to criticize the Obama Administration's immigration reform measures, having urged long ago that half a loaf, at least for now, will perforce suffice. 

Hastily announced but untimely in manifestation, the slew of executive half-measures the President's team has lately proposed to improve the functioning of America's broken immigration system seem reminiscent more of vaporware than tangible solutions. 

With less than a year to go on his term, executive orders and departmental or agency press releases are spewing forth as if from a Gatling gun. 

Will these concepts really make a difference?  Or are they merely pheromones to attract progressive, young or Hispanic voters in November?

Consider how much has been said but so little done:

• Prosecutorial Discretion is announced as a measure to spare low-level immigration violators and slam dangerous foreign felons.  So far the record deportations continue almost unabated and the few granted PD are permitted to remain at the pleasure of the President but without deferred action and its benefit of work permission.
• Stateside waiver processing for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens whose hardship can be proven as extreme is revealed in a seemingly humanitarian Notice of Intent and an FAQ.  But no rules or procedures have yet been published, and the risk of death-by-visa-waiting remains as high as ever.
• An interdepartmental push to improve visa processing and promote tourism is inscribed in an Executive Order, with special focus on increased consular officers in Brazil and China.  Still, nothing is said about tourists and business visitors from India whose rupees are as easily converted to dollars and spent in our malls.  Worse yet, no reforms are made by the State Department that would moderate consular absolutism and encourage visa officers -- by amendment of the Foreign Affairs Manual -- to extend a welcome mat more often to foreign visitors with lucre to spend.
• A DHS grab bag of small measures are announced with the goal "to retain highly skilled workers." These ethereal proposals will likely affect only a tiny slice of the job-creating nonimmigrant population. The list of unrealized hopes includes a nebulous assemblage of H-4 dependents married to H-1B workers "who have begun the process of seeking lawful permanent resident status through employment after meeting a minimum period of H-1B status in the U.S."  It also makes note of the leisurely first convening on February 22 of an "Information Summit [at an undisclosed location] in Silicon Valley, CA [where is that? I can't find the city on my California map], that will bring together high-level representatives from the entrepreneurial community, academia, and federal government agencies [first announced on August 2 of last year as step one of the Entrepreneurs in Residence program] to discuss how to maximize current immigration laws' potential to attract foreign entrepreneurial talent."

Desultory blather and high-falutin' promises will not jumpstart job creation. Deeds not words -- published forms, specific eligibility criteria and actual procedures to request new benefits -- are what real administrative reforms require.   

There are many bold steps that could be taken to improve our dysfunctional system even while Congress remains comatose.  Gary Endelman and Cyrus Mehta suggest a Presidential tweak in the interpretation of green-card counting procedures that would eliminate backlogs and do far more than merely granting spousal work permission "to retain highly skilled workers" ("Why We Can’t Wait: How President Obama Can Erase Immigrant Visa Backlogs with the Stroke of A Pen").  Other proposals have been offered in this blog ("Executive Craftsmanship: Job Creation through Existing Immigration Laws," "The Immigration Appeaser-in-Chief Should Try Some New Ammunition" and "Immigration Reform with the Stroke of a Pen").

When it comes to executive action on immigration, the nation needs a profile in courage not a silhouette of timidity.  The first Tuesday in November is fast approaching.  Time waits for no President.