Immigration law needs overhaul, panelists say

MCT REGIONAL NEWS

By John Stark

The Bellingham Herald, Wash.

(MCT)

Mar. 17--BELLINGHAM -- The recent raid at Yamato Engine Specialists demonstrates the need for an overhaul of U.S. immigration laws, according to panelists who spoke Monday, March 16, at a public forum.

''We've got to have laws that make sense, and laws that we can enforce, and laws that we can follow," said Pramila Jayapal, executive director of Seattle-based OneAmerica, an immigration reform advocacy group.

Bellingham immigration attorney Scott Railton argued that workers who have established themselves in a community should be given some opportunity to legalize their status.

''The laws weren't being enforced for years and years," Railton said. "The government was looking the other way. Now they (immigrants) are in our communities, in our churches, and in our schools, and the laws of the game have changed."

About 100 people turned out for the forum at St. Luke's Community Health Education Center, sponsored by Community to Community Development of Bellingham.

Jayapal said those who immigrate illegally are responding to the U.S. economy's demand for their labor, and both the workers and the economy should have more legal avenues for meeting that demand.

Current U.S. laws severely limit the number of visas available for both skilled and unskilled workers, Jayapal said.

''Even if you wanted to be here legally, there is absolutely no possibility," Jayapal said.

One audience member, Ken Holmes of Bellingham, told panelists he sympathized with the plight of many immigrants, but he still had a problem with people who violate the law. He accused the panelists of edging around that issue.

Jayapal replied that people have a duty to challenge unjust laws. She contended that immigration raids that separate husbands and wives, or parents and children, are not appropriate in a nation that prides itself on family values.

''Sometimes we may have laws that are out of sync with the values of the country," she said. "We can make the laws match what our values are."

Although millions of immigrants have indeed broken U.S. laws, their labor benefits everyone else, Jayapal said, and they should get an opportunity to work legally.

''You pay much less for a tomato in the grocery store because there are undocumented workers picking that tomato," she said. "Nobody wants to be illegal ... What they want is to be in full compliance with the society that they live in."

Attorney Railton also argued that immigration reform should include better rights of due process for those charged with violating immigration law.

He noted that those who enter the U.S. illegally are typically charged with civil, not criminal offenses. While that sounds less onerous, it has some serious disadvantages for people rounded up in an immigration raid like the Feb. 24 case at Yamato, where 28 workers were taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

Anyone charged with a criminal offense has a right to an attorney, Railton said, while those facing deportation must rely on the limited resources of nonprofit agencies if they cannot afford their own legal help.

''You have limited rights in a civil hearing," Railton said. "They can hold you a lot longer without the same standards of proof."

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