Our immigration conversation is broken -- here's how to have a better one
-
0:00 - 0:05We often hear these days
that the immigration system is broken. -
0:05 - 0:10I want to make the case today that
our immigration conversation is broken -
0:10 - 0:14and to suggest some ways that, together,
we might build a better one. -
0:15 - 0:18In order to do that, I'm going
to propose some new questions -
0:18 - 0:19about immigration,
-
0:19 - 0:20the United States
-
0:20 - 0:22and the world,
-
0:22 - 0:27questions that might move the borders
of the immigration debate. -
0:27 - 0:32I'm not going to begin with the feverish
argument that we're currently having, -
0:32 - 0:36even as the lives and well-being
of immigrants are being put at risk -
0:36 - 0:39at the US border and far beyond it.
-
0:40 - 0:42Instead, I'm going to begin
with me in graduate school -
0:42 - 0:46in New Jersey in the mid-1990s,
earnestly studying US history, -
0:46 - 0:49which is what I currently teach
as a professor at Vanderbilt University -
0:49 - 0:51in Nashville, Tennessee.
-
0:52 - 0:53And when I wasn't studying,
-
0:53 - 0:55sometimes to avoid
writing my dissertation, -
0:55 - 0:58my friends and I would go into town
-
0:58 - 1:03to hand out neon-colored flyers,
protesting legislation -
1:03 - 1:07that was threatening to take away
immigrants' rights. -
1:07 - 1:10Our flyers were sincere,
they were well-meaning, -
1:10 - 1:13they were factually accurate ...
-
1:13 - 1:15But I realize now, they were also
kind of a problem. -
1:16 - 1:17Here's what they said:
-
1:17 - 1:21"Don't take away immigrant rights
to public education, -
1:21 - 1:24to medical services,
to the social safety net. -
1:24 - 1:26They work hard.
-
1:26 - 1:28They pay taxes.
-
1:28 - 1:29They're law-abiding.
-
1:29 - 1:32They use social services
less than Americans do. -
1:33 - 1:35They're eager to learn English,
-
1:35 - 1:40and their children serve
in the US military all over the world." -
1:40 - 1:44Now, these are, of course, arguments
that we hear every day. -
1:44 - 1:47Immigrants and their advocates use them
-
1:47 - 1:51as they confront those who would
deny immigrants their rights -
1:51 - 1:54or even exclude them from society.
-
1:54 - 1:57And up to a certain point,
it makes perfect sense -
1:57 - 2:02that these would be the kinds of claims
that immigrants' defenders would turn to. -
2:03 - 2:06But in the long term,
and maybe even in the short term, -
2:06 - 2:09I think these arguments
can be counterproductive. -
2:10 - 2:12Why?
-
2:12 - 2:14Because it's always an uphill battle
-
2:14 - 2:17to defend yourself
on your opponent's terrain. -
2:18 - 2:22And, unwittingly, the handouts
my friends and I were handing out -
2:22 - 2:25and the versions of these arguments
that we hear today -
2:25 - 2:28were actually playing
the anti-immigrants game. -
2:29 - 2:31We were playing that game
in part by envisioning -
2:31 - 2:34that immigrants were outsiders,
-
2:34 - 2:37rather than, as I'm hoping
to suggest in a few minutes, -
2:37 - 2:41people that are already,
in important ways, on the inside. -
2:42 - 2:46It's those who are hostile
to immigrants, the nativists, -
2:46 - 2:49who have succeeded
in framing the immigration debate -
2:49 - 2:51around three main questions.
-
2:52 - 2:57First, there's the question of whether
immigrants can be useful tools. -
2:57 - 3:01How can we use immigrants?
-
3:01 - 3:05Will they make us richer and stronger?
-
3:06 - 3:09The nativist answer
to this question is no, -
3:09 - 3:11immigrants have little
or nothing to offer. -
3:13 - 3:17The second question is whether
immigrants are others. -
3:18 - 3:22Can immigrants become more like us?
-
3:23 - 3:25Are they capable of becoming more like us?
-
3:25 - 3:27Are they capable of assimilating?
-
3:27 - 3:29Are they willing to assimilate?
-
3:29 - 3:32Here, again, the nativist answer is no,
-
3:32 - 3:36immigrants are permanently
different from us and inferior to us. -
3:37 - 3:42And the third question is whether
immigrants are parasites. -
3:43 - 3:46Are they dangerous to us?
And will they drain our resources? -
3:47 - 3:51Here, the nativist answer is yes and yes,
-
3:51 - 3:54immigrants pose a threat
and they sap our wealth. -
3:56 - 4:00I would suggest that these three questions
and the nativist animus behind them -
4:00 - 4:04have succeeded in framing the larger
contours of the immigration debate. -
4:04 - 4:09These questions are anti-immigrant
and nativist at their core, -
4:09 - 4:15built around a kind of hierarchical
division of insiders and outsiders, -
4:15 - 4:16us and them,
-
4:16 - 4:19in which only we matter,
-
4:19 - 4:20and they don't.
-
4:21 - 4:25And what gives these questions
traction and power -
4:25 - 4:27beyond the circle of committed nativists
-
4:27 - 4:31is the way they tap into an everyday,
seemingly harmless sense -
4:32 - 4:33of national belonging
-
4:33 - 4:36and activate it, heighten it
-
4:36 - 4:38and inflame it.
-
4:39 - 4:43Nativists commit themselves
to making stark distinctions -
4:43 - 4:46between insiders and outsiders.
-
4:46 - 4:50But the distinction itself is at the heart
of the way nations define themselves. -
4:51 - 4:54The fissures between inside and outside,
-
4:54 - 4:59which often run deepest
along lines of race and religion, -
4:59 - 5:02are always there to be
deepened and exploited. -
5:03 - 5:07And that potentially
gives nativist approaches resonance -
5:08 - 5:11far beyond those who consider
themselves anti-immigrant, -
5:11 - 5:16and remarkably, even among some
who consider themselves pro-immigrant. -
5:16 - 5:21So, for example,
when Immigrants Act allies -
5:21 - 5:24answer these questions
the nativists are posing, -
5:24 - 5:25they take them seriously.
-
5:25 - 5:28They legitimate those questions
and, to some extent, -
5:29 - 5:32the anti-immigrant assumptions
that are behind them. -
5:32 - 5:36When we take these questions seriously
without even knowing it, -
5:36 - 5:40we're reinforcing the closed,
exclusionary borders -
5:40 - 5:42of the immigration conversation.
-
5:43 - 5:45So how did we get here?
-
5:45 - 5:49How did these become the leading ways
that we talk about immigration? -
5:50 - 5:51Here, we need some backstory,
-
5:51 - 5:53which is where my history
training comes in. -
5:53 - 6:00During the first century of the US's
status as an independent nation, -
6:00 - 6:03it did very little to restrict
immigration at the national level. -
6:03 - 6:06In fact, many policymakers
and employers worked hard -
6:06 - 6:08to recruit immigrants
-
6:08 - 6:10to build up industry
-
6:10 - 6:14and to serve as settlers,
to seize the continent. -
6:15 - 6:18But after the Civil War,
-
6:18 - 6:23nativist voices rose
in volume and in power. -
6:23 - 6:28The Asian, Latin American,
Caribbean and European immigrants -
6:28 - 6:31who dug Americans' canals,
-
6:31 - 6:33cooked their dinners,
-
6:33 - 6:35fought their wars
-
6:35 - 6:37and put their children to bed at night
-
6:37 - 6:40were met with a new
and intense xenophobia, -
6:40 - 6:44which cast immigrants
as permanent outsiders -
6:44 - 6:47who should never be allowed
to become insiders. -
6:48 - 6:51By the mid-1920s, the nativists had won,
-
6:51 - 6:53erecting racist laws
-
6:53 - 6:58that closed out untold numbers
of vulnerable immigrants and refugees. -
6:59 - 7:02Immigrants and their allies
did their best to fight back, -
7:02 - 7:05but they found themselves
on the defensive, -
7:05 - 7:08caught in some ways
in the nativists' frames. -
7:09 - 7:14When nativists said
that immigrants weren't useful, -
7:14 - 7:16their allies said yes, they are.
-
7:17 - 7:22When nativists accused
immigrants of being others, -
7:22 - 7:24their allies promised
that they would assimilate. -
7:26 - 7:32When nativists charged that immigrants
were dangerous parasites, -
7:32 - 7:35their allies emphasized
their loyalty, their obedience, -
7:35 - 7:37their hard work and their thrift.
-
7:38 - 7:42Even as advocates welcomed immigrants,
-
7:42 - 7:48many still regarded immigrants
as outsiders to be pitied, to be rescued, -
7:48 - 7:50to be uplifted
-
7:50 - 7:52and to be tolerated,
-
7:52 - 7:58but never fully brought inside
as equals in rights and respect. -
7:59 - 8:06After World War II, and especially
from the mid-1960s until really recently, -
8:06 - 8:08immigrants and their allies
turned the tide, -
8:08 - 8:12overthrowing mid-20th century restriction
-
8:12 - 8:16and winning instead a new system
that prioritized family reunification, -
8:16 - 8:18the admission of refugees
-
8:18 - 8:21and the admission of those
with special skills. -
8:22 - 8:23But even then,
-
8:23 - 8:27they didn't succeed in fundamentally
changing the terms of the debate, -
8:27 - 8:30and so that framework endured,
-
8:30 - 8:35ready to be taken up again
in our own convulsive moment. -
8:36 - 8:38That conversation is broken.
-
8:39 - 8:43The old questions
are harmful and divisive. -
8:43 - 8:46So how do we get from that conversation
-
8:46 - 8:51to one that's more likely to get us
closer to a world that is fairer, -
8:51 - 8:52that is more just,
-
8:52 - 8:54that's more secure?
-
8:55 - 8:57I want to suggest that what we have to do
-
8:57 - 9:01is one of the hardest things
that any society can do: -
9:01 - 9:05to redraw the boundaries of who counts,
-
9:05 - 9:08of whose life, whose rights
-
9:08 - 9:11and whose thriving matters.
-
9:11 - 9:14We need to redraw the boundaries.
-
9:14 - 9:18We need to redraw the borders of us.
-
9:19 - 9:25In order to do that, we need to first
take on a worldview that's widely held -
9:25 - 9:27but also seriously flawed.
-
9:27 - 9:29According to that worldview,
-
9:29 - 9:33there's the inside of the national
boundaries, inside the nation, -
9:33 - 9:37which is where we live, work
and mind our own business. -
9:38 - 9:41And then there's the outside;
there's everywhere else. -
9:42 - 9:45According to this worldview,
when immigrants cross into the nation, -
9:45 - 9:48they're moving from
the outside to the inside, -
9:48 - 9:51but they remain outsiders.
-
9:51 - 9:55Any power or resources they receive
-
9:55 - 9:59are gifts from us rather than rights.
-
9:59 - 10:04Now, it's not hard to see why
this is such a commonly held worldview. -
10:04 - 10:08It's reinforced in everyday ways
that we talk and act and behave, -
10:08 - 10:11down to the bordered maps
that we hang up in our schoolrooms. -
10:12 - 10:15The problem with this worldview
is that it just doesn't correspond -
10:15 - 10:18to the way the world actually works,
-
10:18 - 10:20and the way it has worked in the past.
-
10:21 - 10:26Of course, American workers
have built up wealth in society. -
10:26 - 10:28But so have immigrants,
-
10:28 - 10:31particularly in parts of the American
economy that are indispensable -
10:31 - 10:34and where few Americans work,
like agriculture. -
10:35 - 10:36Since the nation's founding,
-
10:36 - 10:41Americans have been inside
the American workforce. -
10:42 - 10:47Of course, Americans have built up
institutions in society -
10:47 - 10:49that guarantee rights.
-
10:49 - 10:51But so have immigrants.
-
10:51 - 10:54They've been there during
every major social movement, -
10:54 - 10:57like civil rights and organized labor,
-
10:57 - 11:00that have fought to expand
rights in society for everyone. -
11:00 - 11:04So immigrants are already
inside the struggle -
11:04 - 11:07for rights, democracy and freedom.
-
11:08 - 11:12And finally, Americans
and other citizens of the Global North -
11:12 - 11:15haven't minded their own business,
-
11:15 - 11:17and they haven't stayed
within their own borders. -
11:17 - 11:19They haven't respected
other nations' borders. -
11:19 - 11:21They've gone out into the world
with their armies, -
11:21 - 11:24they've taken over
territories and resources, -
11:24 - 11:28and they've extracted enormous profits
from many of the countries -
11:28 - 11:29that immigrants are from.
-
11:30 - 11:36In this sense, many immigrants are
actually already inside American power. -
11:37 - 11:42With this different map
of inside and outside in mind, -
11:42 - 11:45the question isn't whether
receiving countries -
11:45 - 11:47are going to let immigrants in.
-
11:48 - 11:50They're already in.
-
11:50 - 11:53The question is whether
the United States and other countries -
11:53 - 11:57are going to give immigrants
access to the rights and resources -
11:57 - 12:01that their work, their activism
and their home countries -
12:01 - 12:05have already played
a fundamental role in creating. -
12:06 - 12:09With this new map in mind,
-
12:09 - 12:13we can turn to a set of tough,
new, urgently needed questions, -
12:13 - 12:17radically different from the ones
we've asked before -- -
12:17 - 12:21questions that might change
the borders of the immigration debate. -
12:23 - 12:27Our three questions are
about workers' rights, -
12:27 - 12:28about responsibility
-
12:28 - 12:30and about equality.
-
12:33 - 12:36First, we need to be asking
about workers' rights. -
12:36 - 12:41How do existing policies make it harder
for immigrants to defend themselves -
12:41 - 12:43and easier for them to be exploited,
-
12:43 - 12:46driving down wages, rights
and protections for everyone? -
12:47 - 12:50When immigrants are threatened
with roundups, detention and deportations, -
12:50 - 12:53their employers know
that they can be abused, -
12:53 - 12:55that they can be told
that if they fight back, -
12:55 - 12:57they'll be turned over to ICE.
-
12:57 - 13:00When employers know
-
13:00 - 13:03that they can terrorize an immigrant
with his lack of papers, -
13:04 - 13:06it makes that worker hyper-exploitable,
-
13:06 - 13:09and that has impacts
not only for immigrant workers -
13:09 - 13:11but for all workers.
-
13:12 - 13:15Second, we need to ask questions
about responsibility. -
13:16 - 13:20What role have rich, powerful
countries like the United States -
13:20 - 13:22played in making it hard or impossible
-
13:22 - 13:26for immigrants to stay
in their home countries? -
13:26 - 13:30Picking up and moving from your country
is difficult and dangerous, -
13:30 - 13:33but many immigrants simply do not have
the option of staying home -
13:33 - 13:36if they want to survive.
-
13:36 - 13:37Wars, trade agreements
-
13:37 - 13:40and consumer habits
rooted in the Global North -
13:40 - 13:45play a major and devastating role here.
-
13:45 - 13:49What responsibilities
do the United States, -
13:49 - 13:51the European Union and China --
-
13:51 - 13:53the world's leading carbon emitters --
-
13:53 - 13:58have to the millions of people
already uprooted by global warming? -
14:00 - 14:03And third, we need to ask
questions about equality. -
14:04 - 14:08Global inequality is a wrenching,
intensifying problem. -
14:08 - 14:11Income and wealth gaps
are widening around the world. -
14:12 - 14:15Increasingly, what determines
whether you're rich or poor, -
14:15 - 14:16more than anything else,
-
14:16 - 14:18is what country you're born in,
-
14:18 - 14:21which might seem great
if you're from a prosperous country. -
14:21 - 14:26But it actually means
a profoundly unjust distribution -
14:26 - 14:31of the chances for a long,
healthy, fulfilling life. -
14:31 - 14:34When immigrants send money
or goods home to their family, -
14:34 - 14:37it plays a significant role
in narrowing these gaps, -
14:37 - 14:39if a very incomplete one.
-
14:40 - 14:43It does more than all
of the foreign aid programs -
14:43 - 14:45in the world combined.
-
14:47 - 14:49We began with the nativist questions,
-
14:49 - 14:52about immigrants as tools,
-
14:52 - 14:54as others
-
14:54 - 14:55and as parasites.
-
14:56 - 14:59Where might these new questions
about worker rights, -
14:59 - 15:01about responsibility
-
15:01 - 15:02and about equality
-
15:02 - 15:04take us?
-
15:04 - 15:09These questions reject pity,
and they embrace justice. -
15:10 - 15:14These questions reject
the nativist and nationalist division -
15:14 - 15:15of us versus them.
-
15:15 - 15:18They're going to help prepare us
for problems that are coming -
15:18 - 15:23and problems like global warming
that are already upon us. -
15:23 - 15:27It's not going to be easy to turn away
from the questions that we've been asking -
15:27 - 15:30towards this new set of questions.
-
15:30 - 15:32It's no small challenge
-
15:32 - 15:36to take on and broaden the borders of us.
-
15:37 - 15:41It will take wit,
inventiveness and courage. -
15:41 - 15:44The old questions have been
with us for a long time, -
15:44 - 15:47and they're not going
to give way on their own, -
15:47 - 15:49and they're not going
to give way overnight. -
15:50 - 15:52And even if we manage
to change the questions, -
15:52 - 15:54the answers are going to be complicated,
-
15:54 - 15:57and they're going to require
sacrifices and tradeoffs. -
15:58 - 16:02And in an unequal world, we're always
going to have to pay attention -
16:02 - 16:05to the question of who has the power
to join the conversation -
16:05 - 16:06and who doesn't.
-
16:07 - 16:09But the borders of the immigration debate
-
16:09 - 16:11can be moved.
-
16:11 - 16:14It's up to all of us to move them.
-
16:15 - 16:16Thank you.
-
16:16 - 16:19(Applause)
- Title:
- Our immigration conversation is broken -- here's how to have a better one
- Speaker:
- Paul A. Kramer
- Description:
-
How did the US immigration debate get to be so divisive? In this informative talk, historian and writer Paul A. Kramer shows how an "insider vs. outsider" framing has come to dominate the way people in the US talk about immigration -- and suggests a set of new questions that could reshape the conversation around whose life, rights and thriving matters.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 16:31
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for Our immigration conversation is broken -- here's how to have a better one | ||
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Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for Our immigration conversation is broken -- here's how to have a better one |