Latino Immigration

ANTI: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageNavigator/about.html

I found a site on immigration from a 'national, non-profit, public-interest, membership organization', called FAIR. Looking at the name of the organization and having a glance at the site, it seemed like neither a pro nor anti-immigration organization. However, when I read the ‘About FAIR’ part it said that ‘FAIR seeks to improve border security, to stop illegal immigration, and to promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest’ which made me realize that this is not so much a ‘fair’ organization for both sides of the immigration issue, but for the American ‘national’ side of the issue.

They address illegal immigration in a quite positive but quite naïve way, in the sense that their aim is to ‘stop illegal immigration’, as if it is something that can be fixed overnight. Illegal immigration has politically and economically far too many advantages to be stopped and on top of that there is no easy solution for the trespassing of the non-secured 2000-mile border.

In the mission statement it is mentioned that their goal is ‘to educate the American people on the impacts of sustained high-volume immigration’ and to put forward an immigration policy that would be best for the nation. I want to point out here again that I see no sign of seeing the ‘fair’ solution concerning the immigrants. I think therefore that the name of the organization does not explain the intentions of this group, although its main ‘motto’ is to find an immigration policy that suits everyone.

PRO: http://www.naleo.org/

NALEO is another non-profit, non-partisan organization ‘facilitates the full participation of Latinos in the American political process, from citizenship to public service.’ Basically this organization believes that immigration is and has always been a phenomenon in American history and therefore they believe that even though there is vast amounts of Mexican-American immigration like never before, these immigrants should be treated like any other and should be included into the nation. NALEO is also known for the fact that they have made it possible for Latino and Latina to become state officials and have a say in the politics of the country. Their policies seem realistic and accurate and take into consideration the vast amounts of immigration in the last decade and its problems, e.g. ‘The NALEO Educational Fund provides national leadership for important public discussions on the key issues affecting Latino participation in our political process’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0aqohWduc

This is a video of Bill Richardson, the president of NALEO, on CNN talking about Immigration and border control. Having seen many of his speeches and talks, his main aim seems to be that ‘American should stop demonising immigrants’. In another video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY0aqohWduc), he explains that it’s the media that makes the immigrants come out like they are criminals, when really they are the people that clean the toilets etc. His opinion is mainly that he sees immigrants as people who come to America seeking for happiness and that these people should not be rejected but should be included into the nation.