Emma Lazarus' famous words of 1883, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free .... I lift my lamp beside the golden door," came to symbolize a vision of a nation welcoming the destitute and persecuted. But it represented only one strain of thinking about immigration in the late 19th century. A year earlier, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first national legislation whose purpose was to bar an entire group from legal entry into the United States based solely on national origin.
Our country, made up of immigrants, must struggle with ourselves about which vision will predominate -- will we welcome the stranger and recognize our common history and humanity? Or we will we adopt policies that drive away those who take Emma Lazarus' words to heart?
This struggle is evident in our current debate about what a new immigration bill should look like. Immigrants today play the same role they always have -- they do work others will not or cannot do and fill gaps in the labor force that would otherwise persist. Some immigrants bring their skills as inventors, professionals, or entrepreneurs. Not only do they deserve the opportunities available in the U.S., but we deserve the contributions they are prepared to make.
That makes fair and compassionate immigration reform all the more urgent. All agree that the presence of 11 million people without legal status undermines the well-being of all the country's workers, as well as the rule of law. Bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows is not only good for immigrants, it is good for the country as a whole.
First, an immigration reform law should have fair and realistic path to citizenship for the undocumented residents in our communities. It should address barriers to legalization such as prohibitive costs or upfront requirements for English proficiency. To require, as some have suggested, that undocumented immigrants achieve proficiency in English before they can obtain work permits or green cards is a cruel step backward and could exclude 3.6 million to 5.8 million immigrants -- up to half the undocumented population.
Applicants who have had prior contact with immigration authorities should not be automatically excluded from applying for legalization. Their involvement with the legal system usually is serendipitous -- although 11 million are here without papers, only a small percentage have been ensnared in deportation proceedings. The Obama administration's draft bill ensures that these individuals can apply for legal residency and eventual citizenship, and any congressional proposal should do the same. All those with families, jobs, and ties to the U.S. are equally deserving of a chance to become legal residents.
Newly legalized immigrants and those on the path to citizenship should be expected to contribute to our government as lawful taxpayers. And so once they are on the path to citizenship, immigrants should have access to programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, and student financial aid.
Second, any new law should maintain the priority given to family unification. Priority for family members was an important reform included in the Immigration Act of 1965, when it replaced the national origin quota system that had favored immigrants from Europe to the exclusion of those from other parts of the world. Unification of families builds community and helps immigrants integrate into the U.S. Since only a small number of visas are available through some family visa categories, U.S. citizens and lawful immigrants are often separated from loved ones for decades because of applicant backlogs. Supporting the integrity of families is a core value of the U.S. and should remain a goal of our immigration system.
These changes are a matter of justice. Undocumented immigrants are vulnerable to exploitation and crime and lack access to basic health and economic supports, despite their contributions as workers and taxpayers. Immigrant women are especially vulnerable. Often employed as household help or domestic caregivers, they lack access to legal protection from exploitation by their employers and often lack the benefits of employer-based visa programs. Additionally, immigrant women are often victims of domestic violence and sexual assault at the hands of partners and employers. They often remain in abusive situations and fail to seek assistance for fear of losing visas or being reported to authorities.
Immigration reform is a test of whether we have learned the right lessons from our own history. We can choose the path of exclusion, to our detriment, or we can lift the lamp beside the golden door and, in the biblical tradition, welcome the stranger. That decision is made easier by the happy coincidence that fair and compassionate immigration reform is not only the right thing to do, but serves our self-interest as a nation as well.