Not too many African-American leaders have raised thier voices in the ongoing immigration debate. Now, a number of  academics, policymakers and scholars are speaking up for citizenship rights for immigrants. Below is a snapshot of what they have to say. Do you agree with them?

Dr. Steven Pitts, an economist with the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California-Berkeley, believes the immigration issue assumes that immigrant workers and Black workers are equal. That’s not true, he says. The assumption is that low-wage immigrant workers reduce job opportunities for African Americans is often not supported by the facts, he adds. “We need to disconnect Black job problems and immigration,” he says.“Not all Black folks are native born and not all immigrants are non black and a lot of times in discussion we suggest that.” 

Alan Jenkins

Alan Jenkins, who heads the Opportunity Agenda,says it would benefit the African-American community to support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship and human rights, because African Americans and immigrants have a shared interest in stepping up civil rights and employment opportunities. Jenkins supports the idea of the two groups demanding fair practices, treatment and wages. “African-American organizations and leadership have pushed our country to fulfill its promise of opportunity for all…, [and] it has meant something, that it was for the Black community, but not only for the Black community, opportunity for all, meaning opportunity for everyone,” he said.“Does immigration help Black folks, or does it hurt Black folks? And in my own view [that’s] the wrong question to ask. The real question is: “How can African Americans [and] immigrants rise together.”

Posted July 5, 2007 – African Americans haven’t been in the forefront of the immigration debate, but well-known Black policymakers have been lobbying lawmakers to make sure those with Black skin aren’t left out of the debate. 

Now after two attempts to get the president’s bill through Congress, “comprehensive” immigration reform is waiting in the wings.  During the debate here’s what African-American policymakers, civil rights activists and researchers had to say about the role of Black’s and immigration policy. Do you agree?

 Wade Henderson

Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, is all for comprehensive immigration reform because he believes immigration is a compelling civil and human rights issue.

 He supports “legalization of the 12 million undocumented immigrants,” believing that the essential issue of the debate is about handling immigration and its specific details.

African Americans have a stake in the future of the United States and as history has shown, with the NAACP, Blacks have “spoken out on behalf of Haitian refugees going back to 1923… regarding the U.S. invasion of Haiti” and “when Cuban refugees were treated differently than Haitian refugees, even though they came under similar circumstances.”

Henderson maintains the central point in the immigration conversation is the question of economic interests – and he maintains that economic questions in the arguments on immigration are devised to create a wedge “between Blacks and Latinos around the issue of immigration requirement.”

Mary Frances Berry

Dr. Mary Frances Berry, former chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and an endowed professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, says, history has shown that immigration happens and it does not matter if walls are built or other measures are taken away to try to ensure immigrants are kept out. Thus, she says African Americans should try to build coalitions with the immigrant population.
Immigrants aren’t going away, she says, so by uniting with new immigrants, we can get more done for both communities.
“Immigrants are going to keep coming. They are already here, and there are political implications for who they are and what power will be exercised,” Berry says. “We would be foolish not to have coalitions. I mean it would be like cutting your own throat.

Democrats want legalization, not because they love Latinos, but because they think they are going to vote for them.”