By David Cruz
NJ Today
President Obama’s announcement of a new immigration policy has been criticized by opponents as an end-run around Congress, but supporters, too, have called the policy politically convenient and not an answer to the country’s lingering immigration crisis.
One might think that the president’s announcement on Friday would have been great news for someone like Marisol Conde-Hernandez. After all, the recent Rutgers grad and immigrants rights activist, fits the parameters. She is under 30, has no criminal record and was an excellent student. The oldest of five siblings and the only one born in her native Mexico, Conde-Hernandez says that as soon as she heard the news, the first thing she did was read the details, then she called her mom, who cried.
“It’s a bit bittersweet because it’s a bit of a sigh of relief, but it really doesn’t do much; it doesn’t really mean much to me,” said Conde-Hernandez. “Until there’s an actual comprehensive immigration reform policy that’ll give me a path to citizenship and put my parents on the same path, then this is nothing. I can’t even consider this baby food in the grand scheme of what can be offered to us.”
While advocates for the undocumented agree that something is better than nothing, they say that the president’s approach represents baby-steps on an issue that affects almost 12 million people directly and tens of millions of others indirectly.
“This is sort of a transitional step that defers deporting people until Congress, which I think everyone hopes, is able to address this matter in a comprehensive way,” said Ronald Chen, a former New Jersey Public Advocate and current Vice Dean at Rutgers School of Law in Newark.
Estimates are that the new policy affects around 60,000 people in New Jersey. It’s tough to get a more accurate count because –- and this is a big part of the problem –- the undocumented live life in the shadows, especially in an election year, Congress isn’t expected to shed much more light on the matter.
“Let’s figure out a process for people to live out of the shadows,” said Amy Gottlieb, executive director of the social justice service agency, American Friends Service Committee. “When that happens, we can have fair and humane immigration policy in this country. Personally, I don’t think we’re there yet, as a nation and that makes me very sad, but that’s the push that we have to make.”
As for Marisol, she says the prospect of being able to legally take one of the plethora of jobs she’s been offered is intriguing, but she says for millions of others, there’s a long way to go in this debate.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions, really, and misinformation,” she said. “I’m not saying that there’s one right way or one wrong way, but I feel that there needs to be more meaningful and real discussion not just empty rhetoric of angry emotions and insecurity.”
The president and supporters of this policy all acknowledge that this is a stop-gap measure. What happens to the 12 million or so undocumented immigrants in this country remains unanswered until Congress finally takes action.
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