Immigration reform looms as a controversial public issue

Immigration reform looms as a controversial public issue

Part I of a Two Part Series

 By Derek Joy

     The seemingly simple matter of immigration reform has finally stirred a call to action on Capitol Hill.

     Public demands for immigration reform have been blatantly ignored for years.  Not so, now that the 113th Congress has been seated. And Barack Obama – America’s first African America President – began his second term ready to do battle.

    Consequently, Black History Month could very well be the time when Congress sheds its inept image, generate a bi-partisan atmosphere and seriously begin working to remedy a hauntingly disgraceful problem. 

     “Immigration reform is a very complex topic,” said Miami native Mary Sims McCall, who lives in Seminole County. 

    No doubt, the controversial immigration reform legislated in Arizona created a stir.  But it certainly was instrumental in getting the ball rolling. 

    The Arizona legislation, among other features, empowered law enforcement officers to arbitrarily check the immigration status of anyone.  It was met with widespread public perceptions of the law as nothing more than a racial pro-filing tool.

    So, as another Black History Month progresses, consider how some in the African American community perceive the issue of immigration reform.

     “Having so many Cuban Americans here, they may be offended,” said Major Charles Council, the JROTC Senior Army Instructor at Miami Central High School. “But if you want immigration reform, you have to first get rid of the “Wet foot, dry foot policy.”