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Immigration is a hot topic for 2008 presidential elections

English audio version of this story Manuel Fernández in his office at UW-Eau Claire (Photo by Claudia Lozano)

Manuel Fernández is not the stereotypical immigrant from Cuba who floated across the Straits of Florida to the United States.  Now a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Spanish professor, Fernández and his family moved to New York from Spain when he was 9 years old. In 1972, after Fernández’s father finished paying off his debt to Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution, by cutting sugar cane, an aunt helped the family pay for tickets to Spain, so that later on they could come to the United States.

After two years in Spain, Fernández’s family moved to New York City, and a year later they moved to Florida. Fernández says his immigration to the United States was legitimate and legal. He says that they could get their citizenship without a problem due to a particular status the American government allows them to attain citizenship after having lived in the United States for one year. 

Jorge Eduardo Barrera Rejón, from Cancun, Mexico, has a different story. Seven years ago, he came to the United States after he married an American, whom he met in Cancun. Later on, they moved to Eau Claire and began the immigration process.

Barrera's marriage lasted one year. He says that the marriage ended due to the differences in cultures. After his divorce, his legalization stalled, and 4 1/2 years later, Barrera married another American. Now he is 2 1/2 years into his second marriage and has two daughters.

Barrera says that before he got married for the first time, they gave him a K1 visa, which is a permit to be able to marry in the United States. This visa allowed Barrera to work, study and attain a Social Security number. After three months into the marriage, the K1 visa expires and the process to get the permanent residency begins.

The immigration issue has being a hot topic in the upcoming elections. Candidates are looking for ways to please the U.S. public but at the same time they don't want to be seen as too soft or too harsh on immigrants. As Fernández and Barrera, emigrants may face different problems once they arrive to the United States, specially if they want to become citizens.

Once an immigrant obtains permanent residency status, he or she can apply for a Green Card, which allows the person to enter and leave the United States at any time, for as long as they want.  

Today, Barrera has a U.S. green card, and he is the assistant manager of El Patio, the Mexican restaurant at 228 Water St. in Eau Claire. He is five years away from obtaining his citizenship.

Rodd Freitag, political science professor, says the immigration issue is a broad one. He says that most presidential candidates for the November 2008 elections, have not been as clear on this issue because it is complicated. He says he thinks that U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., has the clearest point of view on immigration as a member of the House of Representatives. On his Web site, Tancredo said that if elected president he will “eliminate benefits and job prospects so (immigrants) do not stay.”

“As a member of Congress, he has been about putting strict restrictions on immigration.” Freitag said. “In some ways is very controversial, but he has aligned with those who believe we should stop immigrants (from Mexico) and securing the borders.”

According to the Pew Hispanic Center Fact Sheet of 2006, there is an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States. Freitag says that a fair portion of the American public has strong feeling against illegal immigration from Mexico, so that makes candidates a little more afraid of being seen as being too easy on illegal immigration, which won’t give them the votes they need for the primary elections. Freitag says that the policy for immigration doesn’t have to include only border security but include some kind of mechanism for giving citizenship to those people who are in the country illegally, now.

Fernández says that immigrants don’t come to the United States solely for its benefits. He says that they do use them, but that they come because they have a better chance to live here and support their families with the work they are given. He says that presidential candidates have a limited time in debates and that two minutes to discuss a hot topic is not enough to fully develop this issue, unlike Fidel Castro, who can speak for two hours without any judgment of the press. Fernández also says that there are some things candidates cannot say because it may jeopardize their votes for the primary elections.

Fernández says that he thinks that with the United States having two main political parties, each party adopts different positions and that clouds their point of view when discussing complicated issues. He says that at the beginning of the presidential campaigns, Democrat Barack Obama, from Illinois, showed liberty and a balanced approach on many issues, but as the campaign when on, he has changed and turned into a strategy to win. He says that now Republican Rudy Giuliani, from Ney York, has been talking about what could have the better result when it comes to illegal immigration, and that is something most candidates should aim for instead of taking sides to gain votes.

Freitag says that most of the serious candidates probably have in mind some combination of immigration reform package that would have tighter border security and more restrictions on admissions to the United States. At the same time they will provide an opportunity, for the people who are already here working and have families, to become citizens rather than leaving the country because they entered illegally.

He says that the top candidates take the immigration issue seriously and understand that it has to be a balanced approach with border control and the immigration reform for the people who are already here.  

As the voting time gets closer, Barrera says he would like to see a candidate who is more open-minded toward immigrants. He wants a candidate who supports immigrants and could somehow create a plan to make more jobs available. He would also like a candidate who is willing to help parents who immigrated here and have a child born in the United States.

Fernández says that it would be really tough on Americans to be without immigrants. He said that Americans are not willing to pay more money for jobs that immigrants do for cheaper, and that Americans are no longer used to do the hard labour jobs that immigrants now do.

 "They are not going to kick us out.” Barrera said. “They need us here, and they depend on us. If we leave, that is going to affect them so much."