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Sunday, June 30, 2002
An open-door refugee policy has its critics
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
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Also on this page: AMERICAN JOURNEY | |||||
Lewiston's burgeoning Somali community has attracted the interest of a group of Mainers working for immigration reform. Mainers for Immigration Reform consists of about 20 activists around the state who are trying to convince lawmakers that tighter immigration laws and stricter enforcement are needed. They say they are concerned about numbers — growing population, higher taxes, shrinking resources — and they deny charges that they are racist or hate foreigners. They say Lewiston's struggle to absorb 1,000 Somalis during the last year, and perhaps another 500 to 1,000 in the coming months, epitomizes U.S. immigration issues. "The question is, what is our ability to absorb and maintain a long-range commitment to resettling these refugees, and how do they expect that we will be able to afford this expense?" said Julie Tosswill, 47, a health-care policy writer for the state who lives in Camden. So far, the answer in Lewiston has been to seek more state and federal funding to help the city pay for the added social services and educational programs that immigrants need. Tosswill says the cost is too high, especially in Maine, which ranks No. 2 in the nation in tax burden and No. 37 in personal income. Members of Mainers for Immigration Reform were in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, lobbying Congress as part of a coalition of 40 groups that represent more than 200,000 people. They received a warmer reception than in the recent past, in part because the Sept. 11 attacks have generated widespread concern about immigration law and enforcement. "There was more concern for the issue than just national security," Tosswill said. "There's a real sense that we no longer have a government of laws; that things are out of control." According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the nation's population has increased almost 15 percent since 1990, from 249 million to 284 million today. About 70 percent of that increase is attributed to immigrants and their offspring. At its current growth rate, U.S. population is expected to hit 404 million by 2050. For the last two decades, the United States has taken in about 1 million legal immigrants (including about 80,000 refugees) each year. Federal officials and population analysts estimate 275,000 to 750,000 people enter the country illegally or overstay their visas each year, adding to the estimated 8.5 million to 11 million people already living in the country illegally. In addition, the Federation for American Immigration Reform estimates that 165,000 babies are born each year in the United States to illegal immigrants and others who come here to give birth so their children will be American citizens. The Coalition for Sensible Immigration Policy wants Congress to reorganize the Immigration and Naturalization Service before it assigns new duties to the beleaguered agency. The coalition also wants to reduce the number of legal immigrants each year from 1 million to 300,000, closer to the average annual arrival of 335,000 legal immigrants from 1821 to 1990. "We're not trying to shut the door. We're not trying to end America's immigrant history," said Jonette Christian, 53, a family therapist who lives in Holden and has long been an activist to end world hunger. "We're simply trying to bring immigration levels back to traditional levels." The coalition opposes federal amnesty proposals that would allow illegal immigrants to become citizens. One bill, proposed by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, would grant amnesty to illegal immigrants who graduate from high school and subsidize their college tuition. Coalition members believe that failing to enforce existing immigration laws encourages people to break them. They say books are sold in other countries that tell people exactly how to become an American citizen and navigate immigration law. Rather than let so many people come to the United States, coalition members say it would be better to increase humanitarian efforts to establish political and economic stability overseas. The U.S. Committee for Refugees estimates that a day's worth of funding needed to resettle one refugee in the United States would help 500 refugees abroad. "Immigration is an ineffective tool in the humanitarian effort to help countries," Tosswill said. "Often the best and brightest come to the U.S. We really need to take a fresh look at the heroes who stay behind and try to help them change things." The coalition hopes to generate serious discussion about the need to stabilize U.S. population growth and assess the overall impact of immigration. Some experts say the United States is near capacity in being able to sustain its population with its own resources. Coalition members say population control is at the heart of concerns such as urban sprawl, shrinking farmland, water shortages, increasing fuel demands, economic instability and globalization. "I believe population is the issue that we're just not discussing," Christian said. "It's easy for our opponents to call us racist or xenophobic so our arguments won't be heard. But if we don't talk about it, we're going to have spiraling population growth and spiraling consumption, and with it all of the problems connected with uncontrolled growth." Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at: kbouchard@pressherald.com
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