July 16, 2009 – President Obama’s recently restated support of immigration reform received favorable reviews from Latinos in Pilsen, but some expressed concerned about reports there will be no changes in the law until next year at the earliest. Community leaders called for faster action and said the current laws made it difficult to assist the community’s neediest residents.
At a Latino prayer breakfast last month, President Obama said he was dedicated to passing a new immigration plan during his administration, but some believe it will be hard to muster enough support to change current immigration law.
“There’s been a lot of problems with the immigration reform,” said Israel Vargas, the head of Pilsen’s San Jose Obrero Mission. “It needs to [be changed] as soon as possible.”
The current laws and recent negative attention on the illegal immigrant community have made it more difficult for non-profit organizations to assist the country’s most marginalized inhabitants, according to Vargas.
There’s nothing you can do,” said Vargas in reference to undocumented Americans. “You cannot use any government money to assist this population.”
Vargas’ organization is an interim housing mission that focuses specifically on the Latino community, a demographic that makes up 93.5 percent of Pilsen’s population of 113,000. More than one-third of undocumented immigrants in the nation come from Mexico and Central and South America.
“I think that it is important to reform the law right now,” Louis Rodriguez of the Instituto Del Progresso Latino said. “Any delay in reform is bad for a lot of people and bad for the economy…it is important for the economy to get all of these people on the right track.”
Vargas agreed that incorporating undocumented immigrants would be good for the struggling U.S. economy. “Right now the country is missing out on a lot of income tax,” he said.
The Instituto Del Progreso Latino, also centered in Pilsen, works at educating and employing the Latino community. Its executive director, Juan Salgado, also serves as the board president for the Illinois Coalition for Immigration and Refugee Rights.
The coalition is an organization dedicated to immigration reform, its Web site calls for Illinois lawmakers and citizens to “reject the politics of hate” in regards to anti-immigrant sentiment and policy.
Vargas said that the best plan for immigration reform would be one where the people already in the U.S. receive work visa’s immediately, so that they can work and pay taxes. And then are subject to a background check and a five year wait for citizenship, saying that five years would be ample time to “decide if this was someone we want in our country.”
“We must never forget that time and again, the promise of America has been renewed by immigrants who make their story part of the American story. We see it in every state of our country. We see it in our families and in our neighborhoods,” President Obama said at the prayer breakfast in Washington D.C. But he outlined a plan that would require those who came here illegally “to pay a penalty and pay taxes…and go to the back of the line behind those who played by the rules.”
According to a study commissioned by Americans for Immigration Reform, there are 8.1 million undocumented workers employed in the United States. The same study concluded that undocumented immigrants “pay far more in overall taxes than they receive in benefits from various governments.”
The Minutemen Midwest, located in Harvard, Ill. has called for tougher border enforcement, and on their Web site it states that President Obama’s proposed reform would be amnesty for lawbreakers. They did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Rosa Vamorra, a communications associate at the Instituto in Pilsen, said she believed that everyone who worked with the group “would like to see the policy [on illegal immigration] changed quickly” to give citizenship to all immigrants. She said that immigration reform was a key focus of the Instituto.
“It’s frustrating for our youth especially,” Vamorra said of the current laws. “When you are raised in America, you’re taught you can do whatever you want, that you can be whoever you want to be. But, you know, we understand that is not the case for some kids. They can do their best and they can try really hard, but then there are these barriers and limitations that are going to prevent them from being all that they really can be.”
Quick passage of a new immigration bill has been derailed on Capitol Hill where House Democrats say they do not have enough votes to pass a reform bill.
Barriers for undocumented immigrants can make his organization’s goal of finding a job and housing for their clients within 90 days nearly impossible, according to Vargas. Because of pressures from the government, less businesses are willing to hire illegal immigrants.
“As an agency we see what the participants go through that don’t have documentation,” Vargas said. “They should at least be given the opportunity to…work.”
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