1. In just ten short years, the discourse about immigration reform and legislation became more hazardous and restrictive. In 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) permitted seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants to have amnesty given good circumstance, and all illegals who had entered the United States before 1982 (and who still lived there) were granted amnesty as well. However, just a decade later, the much more restrictive Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) would right away be deported for a period up to ten years (if they had stayed in the United States for more than a decade). The reasoning behind this dramatic change in the stronger legislation is due to the change in discourse that happened in the mid-90s. Because of increased media exposure to the "problem" of illegal immigration, and the increasing perspective of the 'desirable,' image-specific and white-friendly immigrant that showed illegal immigrants as being "anti-citizens."
Media reports of jobs being taken and increased coverage of the illegal immigrant phenomenon further created a major distrust of Latinos and immigration as a threat to, pretty much, privileged whites who feared the entrance of Latinos into the country. While the negative portrayal of illegal immigrants as a threat to the in-group was present in 1986, this reached a fever pitch in the mid-90s. Because the 1990s became the time at which more Mexicans had emigrated to the United States than from any other country, the focus on illegal immigration south of the border became a pressing issue. Unlike Europeans and Asians, who are better able to assimilate into United States culture with a better degree of fluidity, Latinos and Mexicans offered distinct cultural and language barriers that created a more hostile, Otherized caricature to demonize.
Efforts in the early 90s to make English the official language of the United States were already making waves, showing an bigger lack of trust of Mexicans and illegal immigrants. Media portrayals of Mexican immigrants emphasized negative stereotypes about their culture and personality, as well as the possible threat they had to the American jobs. With these images in place, and America more hostile to illegal immigrants, legislation like the IIRIRA was able to pass.
2.When applicants for asylum law try to make their cases for immigration, they run into a big number of problems, largely related to various cultural, racial and gender basis and presumptions that they must get past in the application process. In the case of Rodi Alvaredo Pena, who attempted to get asylum to the US because of a domestic violence dispute, the issue became whether or not a woman could be granted asylum based on domestic violence as well as other human rights violations. Her gender was one of the big factors in the asylum process; her status as a woman and her desire to find a way to be safe from her abusive husband was one of the primary factors in question during the process. Being a woman, she was finally able to argue that she was being persecuted as a member of a particular social group - married women in abusive relationships in Guatemala - and was scared of future persecution.
The case of Christina Madrazo's was particularly enlightening and prescient, since the issue of her transgenderism was told of heavily in her immigration process. In fact, the core of her case for asylum rested on the hope and assumption that the immigration court would rule that transgendered women counted as women in terms of membership to that particular Social Group. However, once she entered into United States, she was raped twice in detention centers, the guard not being brought up on charges. The whole reason for emigrating and asking for asylum was to escape the beatings and harm she feared for herself in Mexico; the fact that it continued in the States is a scary reminder of the continued problems that transgendered people and immigrants seeking asylum face in America.
Those applying for asylum status after having suffered FGM (female genital mutilation) have a unique set of problems when asking for asylum. For instance, it is said by some that the persecution of the woman cannot continue once FGM has occurred, as it can only occur once. If you do that, it ignores the real persecution that comes from continuing to exist in the society that performed her FGM, against her will.
3.The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition (EWIC) is a coalition of trade associations, businesses and the like, whose big goals are to organize and advocate for reforms to immigration workforce law. Their end goals are to ensure that US workers do not get switched out by foreign workers; they also want the reforms that would allow hardworking unauthorized workers to get permanent status after learning English and having only a small criminal record. This particular coalition looks to take an incredibly exceptionalist view of immigration - only the "good ones," with perfect records and sufficiently "hard work" get to become permanent residents. There are also elements of friend-enemy, as certain type of immigrants get to have permanent residence while those who do not learn English and similar illegal criteria do not. The group has basically come together to make the immigration issue work best for corporations and businesses - their overall perspective is to keep a small and affordable number of immigrants working for low wages, in order to keep the current economy and make it thrive.
The New York DREAM Coalition is a series of community organizations, elected officials, and more who have been a central component of the creation and proposal of the DREAM Act. Their overall principles fall somewhat along exceptionalist lines as well, as they seek to engage the resources of undocumented youth who are armed with a college education by making that education possible. By creating a new educated workforce, the DREAM Coalition is also using in policy entrepreneurialism as well - they wish to create a new resource that grants illegal immigrants and undocumented workers the ability to contribute more to the state of New York, while advantage come from a greater education in exchange. These reasons were documented in the petition they sent to support the DREAM Act Legislation, noting the advantages to the state that undocumented workers with college educations could provide to the state.
Both the DREAM Coalition and EWIC ostensibly wish to provide privileges and rights to illegal immigrants, but do so under very different reasons. EWIC is pushing for legislation regarding permanent citizenship and the effects of undocumented workers in the American workforce. DREAM Coalition, on the other hand, is pushing for the immediate benefit of college education for undocumented workers to take advantage of smart youth and probably reaping the benefits through society and the free market afterwards.
