Obama and Immigration
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

This week, the talk is about Obama’s executive order on immigration, a story that might have otherwise gained traction in Guyana were it not for it being drowned out by our own local politics and the stories of the recent flooding.

In summary, the U.S. President used legal but last resort executive powers to push through sweeping reforms on immigration, a move that, according to one ABC report “has vast implications for millions of individuals and their families, with short- and long-term impacts on the nation’s economy, political demographics and Washington’s perpetual power struggle.” Judging from other reports, it has a potential impact on the lives of 4.7 million

Mr. Keith Burrowes
Mr. Keith Burrowes

illegal immigrants to be exact.

To be clear, Obama’s executive orders are not citizenship nor do they even amount to a path to citizenship. A cynical view coming from some quarters is that the measures don’t go far enough and what they amount to is giving legitimacy to the illegals as primarily lower-paid labour and contributors to the tax system, while denying them any of the privileges that come with citizenship.

Another view, and one that I am more inclined to agree with, is that this was a master stroke from a President who has been criticised at times for not using the tremendous power at his disposal, even when the Democrats commanded a majority in Congress.

With his political opponents in control of the legislature, Obama has made a move worthy of Abraham Lincoln himself in that he has forced them to take a stand on what is essentially a moral, human rights issue. This comes after two years of deadlock on immigration reform, a state of limbo preferable to Republicans who are caught between an anti-immigrant militant right-wing power base, and the reality of the need to reach out to a growing immigrant population in order to gain the electoral advantage in presidential elections. Obama’s executive order, which will not take effect for six months, puts the ball in the Republican-controlled congress to come up with and pass workable immigration legislation of its own. As Obama put it in a recent talk:

“I cajoled and I called and I met. I told [House Speaker] John Boehner, ‘I’ll wash your car. I’ll walk your dog. Whatever you need me to do, just call the bill.’ That’s how democracy is supposed to work…. I didn’t dissolve parliament. That’s not how our system works. I didn’t, you know, steal away the various clerks in the Senate and the House who manage bills. They can still pass a bill. I don’t have a vote in Congress. Pass a bill.”

What the Republicans are not talking about, and this is the issue upon which I believe that Obama has made his gamble, is that America has traditionally been built upon immigrant labour and today is no different. Many of the very Republicans who are protesting immigration today are the offspring of poor, marginalised immigrants 100 years ago. The Republicans have now been put in a position wherein they have to come up with a strategy that both appeals to their base and does not alienate immigrant voters; or they can accept defeat and accept the executive orders.

On the downside, there is a high possibility that Republic rhetoric could end up hurting immigrants in America, something that countries like Guyana can ill afford. Remittances from the diaspora accounted for some US$400 million in 2012, or some 17% of the GDP. A significant amount of that came from the United States, and it only accounts from documented money transfers. If we were to factor in money and goods sent or brought in, and the contributions of illegal immigrants the figure would be much higher.

Whatever the perspective one wants to take on this, the global implications of this move for developing countries cannot be overstated, with Guyana being no exception. A recent survey, a report on which was published in the New York Times, put the estimated population of Guyanese in New York alone at around 140,000. That is roughly one-sixth of the current population of Guyana at present, and it does not account for significant Guyanese presence in other places like Florida or Georgia, nor does it account, no doubt, for the significant undocumented Guyanese, persons who would most likely not be willing to make themselves available for such a survey.

Ever since 2008, my praise for Obama has had its highs as well as its lows – in the upcoming weeks, as this issue intensifies, I suspect that my commentary on his political strategy and show of statesmanship will once again peak.

(By Keith Burrowes)

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