http://www.pittnews.com/opinions/article_9c7b90e4-4a78-11e5-86a1-7bbfc067d688.html
The Great Trump-Fecta: Immigrants can't pop the nativist bubble
Bethel Habte
Posted: Monday, August 24, 2015 11:55 am | Updated: 3:43 pm, Mon Aug 24, 2015.
The Great Trump-Fecta: Immigrants can't pop the nativist bubble
Bethel Habte / Opinions Editor Pittnews.com
What's dominating today's politics? A billionaire, a border and the
upcoming ballot.
Donald Trump is a presidential candidate — let that thought sink in.
Already, Trump has made his mark on the race, by denouncing an entire
Mexican immigrant population in that belligerent manner that has come
to mark his candidacy. It would be a futile mission to address all of
Trump’s ill-conceived sayings, so we have decided to address one that
has resonated strongly with us here at The Pitt News — immigration,
and the immigrant’s place in this country and its politics.
Immigrants can't pop the nativist bubble
As a child, when I first embarked on the path to indecision — namely,
beginning to think about what I wanted to do as a career — I decided
that I was going to become the future President of the United States
of America.
My first planned decree: banish all onions.
But then the realization that I was not, and would never be a natural
born citizen set in.
My mother had joked that my brother, born in San Diego shortly after
we moved to the U.S., would become president in my place. I looked
upon him with skepticism — granted, no four year old is a sign of
presidential promise, but my brother, it seemed, was set farthest from
the path. As time went on, I often reflected on how a few years had
set my brother and I on vastly different paths.
What started as an incomprehensible sanction to my childhood self
inevitably turned into the realization that immigrants have no place
in this country.
Immigrants have never found support in the U.S. because of the
nativist emphasis in politics. While immigrants may be one of the most
talked about demographics, we also have the least representation in
politics.
A presidential candidate can never truly look like us, represent us or
live out our experiences. The Constitution’s “natural born citizen
clause” acts as an eligibility requirement insisting on natural-born
citizenship status to seek the office of the president and vice
president.
The standard exists to prevent foreign influence — but seems
nonsensical considering today’s day and age, in which foreign
influence has become increasingly prevalent.
According to the United States Census Bureau, about a quarter of
children under 18 have at least one foreign-born parent, and the
foreign-born population was at 12.9 percent in 2010. About 20 percent
of the international community immigrates to the U.S.
The Migration Policy Institute places the number of immigrants, first
and second generation, at a quarter of the current American
population, or about 80 million people.
And yet, “natural born citizenship” remains closely tied to the very
idea of the presidency.
Obama, born in Hawaii to a Kenyan father and American mother, inspired
the birther movement— a movement built entirely upon an incessant
obsession with his birth certificate and informally led by hotel mogul
and recent Presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Even now, years since Obama’s announcement to run in 2007, birthers
continue to question his American loyalty. Trump, seemingly placated
by the 2011 release of copies of his birth certificate by the White
House, still refused to admit Obama’s rightful birth in a recent
interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
But then, Trump is no friend of immigration. He entered the 2016
presidential race riding on a tidal wave of intolerance with his now
infamous remarks on Mexican immigrants — a move that cut his ties with
Univision, Macy’s, NBC and all illusions of common sense.
Presidential hopefuls scrambled to respond to the outcry.
Republican candidates have largely tried to ignore the filterless
commentary. There were some outliers who defended Trump, such as Sen.
Ted Cruz (R-TX), and only a few other Republican candidates, such as
former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) who condemned Trump.
Trump emerged victorious through it all. He eventually claimed the
leading position in Republican polls, where he has remained long into
post-debate days.
Immigration activists are scratching their heads in confusion — how
did Donald Trump get away with calling an entire Mexican immigrant
population a group populated by rapists and criminals? In fact, how
did he go on to become the most popular Republican presidential
candidate?
In reality, this country has always played a nativist hand when it
came to immigration, and immigrants have long paid more than their
fair share — of pride, effort and silence — for a shot at the American
dream.
I’m no stranger to that sacrifice — as a 20-year-old college student,
it is incredibly frustrating to be ineligible to vote — to be unable
to play even the smallest part in inciting change.
And, while our legislative thoughts are unappreciated — our money and
lives certainly aren’t.
In 2012, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy determined that
the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants residing in the country at
the time had contributed 11.84 billion dollars in taxes to local and
state governments.
There are only two countries in the world that tax non-citizens in the
same way that they tax their citizens. They are Eritrea, where I was
born, and the United States.
According to data collected by the Department of Defense in February
2008, 65,000 immigrants were serving on Active Duty in the armed
forces at the time, with 8,000 more enlisting in the U.S. army every
year.
A GOP bill known as the ENLIST Act has been recently reintroduced in
Congress. The bill, if passed, would allow completion of military
service to make undocumented immigrants eligible for citizenship.
And immigrants who have already earned citizenship can keep hostile
buffoons like Trump from the presidential seat.
But despite whatever validation that serves, we can still never hold
that seat ourselves.
It will be a long time before the “American Dream” feels like more
than an elusive dream to immigrants — especially, as we approach this
coming 2016 presidential election.
Bethel is the Opinions Editor of The Pitt News and primarily writes on
social issues and current events.
Write to Bethel at beh56_at_pitt.edu.
Editors note: This column is part of a complementary series on the
role of immigration in politics. For the corresponding component, see
"The Great Trump-Fecta: Do not engage the xenophobes, for history
proves them wrong."
Received on Mon Aug 24 2015 - 22:16:50 EDT