Last weekend in Toronto, several Portuguese workers living illegally in Canada were deported. Some of them had been in Canada for many years and have roots, families and friends in this country. It’s a story that pops up in the Canadian media from time to time, whenever there is a particularly poignant or sad situation, or if the individual being forced out is outspoken enough to be noticed.
In this particular case, the sudden deportations are being attributed to our new fearless leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. There isn’t much explanation offered by the major media outlets as to why this may be, just vague, mysterious finger-pointing.
Coincidentally, this recent initiative coincides with major illegal-immigration demonstrations across the U.S. The same day that Toronto’s Pearson Airport was filled with deportees, about half a million people were gathered in Los Angles to speak out against proposed legislation that would, among other things, criminalize illegal immigrants in the U.S. Currently, unregistered immigrants are charged under civil immigration laws, not criminal laws.
People gathered en masse mainly to speak against the legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last December. If the bill passes through the senate, it would become a felony to be in the U.S. without papers. Also, those helping or harbouring illegal immigrants would face up to five years in prison.
There would also be penalties on employers who hired unregistered immigrants and churches would be required to check the legal status of anyone they chose to help. Additionally, the legislation proposes an almost 698-mile wall to be built along one-third of the Mexico-U.S. border, where many migrant workers sneak into the country.
Mexico has since offered to work with the U.S. to curb the number of Mexican people sneaking across the border. The Mexican government has proposed new immigration laws and said they want a guest-worker program to keep track of Mexicans entering and leaving the U.S. This is similar to the plan President Bush proposed in 2004, at election time. It would essentially allow foreign workers to take jobs that are undesirable to American citizens, and leave at the end of their temporary work visa. The original plan did not allow these temporary workers to obtain American citizenship. Many Americans were not pleased with the original legislation and that bill was rejected.
The debate will likely be hot for the next couple weeks. An alternate legislation was proposed last week by Senators John McCain and Edward Kennedy, but was not too popular with Republican representatives.
Most recently, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee voted Monday to legalize the unregistered immigrants. Senator Arlen Specter suggested the compromise bill, which passed in the committee 12-6. It is complex, suggesting that current illegal immigrants could eventually apply for citizenship. They would have to work for six years, pay fines, learn to speak English, deal with back taxes and have their criminal background checked. As well, up to 400,000 foreign workers would be allowed in each year, and could work toward American citizenship.
This Thursday and Friday, Prime Minister Harper is meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox in Cancun, Mexico. Considering the amount of interest the U.S. public has in the issue, border relations and immigration policy will likely come up.
Instead of singling out some undocumented workers for deportation and dangling the prospect of citizenship in front of others, perhaps the three leaders could come up with a coherent common immigration policy for North America. After all, immigrants can’t be expected to follow a country’s immigration laws when even the governments themselves can’t decide what they are.
