Bill Ong Hing

Deporting our souls : values, morality, and immigration policy

Introduction: hysteria and shame 1. Illegal immigration: give them a parade 2. Deporting our souls 3. Promoting family values and immigration 4. Misusing immigration policies in the name of homeland security 5. A welcome wagon for new Americans Epilogue: a policy of humanity.

Beyond the Rhetoric of Assimilation and Cultural Pluralism: Addressing the Tension of Separatism and Conflict in an Immigration-Driven Multiracial Society

Immigration is quickly changing the racial demographics of the United States. In so doing, it is creating both tensions and opportunities. The author responds to those who advocate restricted immigration as the solution to racial problems. He refutes the underlying assumptions of such Euro-immigrationists: that the United States has a solely white, Christian, and European heritage, and that other immigrants have failed to acculturate. Furthermore, cultural pluralism in a multiracial society has several benefits, including its connection to constitutional principles and its advantages in both the global and the increasingly diverse domestic economy. In turn, the author takes cultural pluralists to task for not grappling sufficiently with interethnic conflict and separatism. While interethnic conflict and separatist sentiment are exacerbated by societys exclusion ofpeople of color, they are problems that cannot be ignored. The author articulates a new approach to cultural pluralism in a broader definition of America. This new approach would respect diverse views and cultures, including the right of separatists within communities of color. It would also require adherence to a common core of values, including respect for the laws, for the democratic political and economic system, and for equal opportunity.

Deporting Cambodian Refugees: Justice Denied?

Until recently, the United States did not deport refugees convicted of crimes to the communist-dominated countries of Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. After all, these refugees had fled persecution, and diplomatic ties between the United States and these countries are not particularly strong. But in March 2002, the United States convinced Cambodia to each month accept the repatriation of a few of its nationals who have been convicted of aggravated felonies. These individuals have served their sentences in the criminal justice system, and the vast majority either fled the killing fields of Cambodia as toddlers or were born in Thai refugee camps. Is justice really being served by their deportation?

Asian Americans and Immigration Reform

Asian Americans have a lot to gain from progressive immigration reform. Today, our relatives abroad make up the bulk of those who are on a waiting list that can last almost two decades in some categories. Many young men and women from our communities face deportation even though they have grown up in the United States. Some are subjected to harsh Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and detention policies. Of the estimated twelve million undocumented immigrants in the country, demographers tell us that more than 10 percent are from Asian or Pacific countries. Many undocumented Asian Americans are college or college-bound students who have been praying for the passage of the DREAM Act so that they can get legalized and contribute more fully to U.S. society.Perhaps most importantly, Asian Americans should care about immigration policies because even the most cursory review of Asian American history informs us that immigration laws and enforcement have shaped and reshaped our communities since the 1800s. Today, every Asian American subgroup, with the exception of Japanese Americans, remains predominately foreign-born. And when anti-immigrant restrictionists wage attacks on newcomers, it should not take much to realize that the targets could be us, because in fact, the target is us.In this essay, I first review a handful of policies that relate directly to issues affecting Asian immigration. Then I turn to other big immigration policy questions that all Americans, including Asian Americans, should contemplate. Addressing those questions directly and without delay is an important step in resolving the tension over immigration that affects all communities of color in the United States.

Ethics, Morality, and Disruption of U.S. Immigration Laws

In this essay, I review Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement tools and what I feel is the unnecessary havoc that they wreak on immigrant communities. In the process, I describe the resistance to these policies by immigrants and their supporters who have attempted to disrupt the enforcement tools. Immigrants and their supporters are attempting to raise awareness of better strategies to resolve whatever problems are perceived to exist. I also argue that the disruptive tactics by immigrants and their supporters have actually helped to push the Obama administration into engaging in disruptive innovation of its own with respect to how to approach certain classes of removable immigrants.Administrations and officials who engage in these enforcement approaches need to be held accountable to fair-minded, humanistic-thinking Americans. These actions have occurred on our watch, and we should not stand by idly. Thus, I also submit that we should devise methods of holding officials accountable, perhaps by creating a public oversight group along the lines of citizen oversight panels of police departments that would focus on the anti-humanitarian effects of immigration enforcement.