Chicago Debate League 2013/14 Core Files
AC Harms: A/t - #3 “Other Immigrants Face Discrimination” 179
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- 2AC Harms: A/t - 4 “Representations Don’t Shape Policy” [1/3] 1 80
2AC Harms: A/t - #3 “Other Immigrants Face Discrimination” 1791) Whiteness succeeds by pitting racial minorities against each other. We will not take the Negative’s bait and argue that Mexicans are the most important immigrant, but the Latina/o experience offers a unique mechanism to challenging racism because of the ways the Mexican border is policed and because Mexicans are legally white but excluded from Whiteness. This viewpoint can be expanded to include other minority experience as well. Extend our TRUCIO-HAYNES evidence. 2) There are other immigrant stories to be heard, but the law tries to co-opt Hispanic identity by classifying us as White. The identity must be taken back. MARTINEZ, 97 [George, Associate Professor of Law, Southern Methodist University; “The Legal Construction of Race: Mexican-Americans and Whiteness;" 2 2 Harv. Latino L. Rev. 321]
[Kevin, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, University of California at Davis School of Law; “"ALIENS" AND THE U.S. IMMIGRATION LAWS: THE SOCIAL AND LEGAL CONSTRUCTION OF NONPERSONS;" 28 U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 263 1996-1997] Race as a social construction has been thoroughly analyzed. However, surprisingly little has been written about how the alien is socially constructed as well. The alien is made up out of whole cloth. The alien represents a body of rules passed by Congress and reinforced by popular culture. It is society, often through the law, which defines who is an alien, an institutionalized "other," and who is not. It is society through Congress and the courts that determines which rights to afford aliens. There is no inherent requirement, however, that society have a category of aliens at all. We could dole out political rights and obligations depending on residence in the community, which is how the public education and tax systems generally operate in the United States. Indeed, a few have advocated extending the franchise to noncitizen residents of this country, a common practice in a number of states and localities at the beginning of the twentieth century. Many alternatives to the term alien exist, including "person," "immigrant," or "undocumented worker." My point in this essay, however, is not to offer an alternative terminology. Rather, my hope is to illustrate how the term alien masks the privilege of citizenship and helps to justify the legal status quo. Similar to the social construction of race, which legitimizes racial subordination, the construction of the alien has justified the fact that our legal system offers noncitizens limited rights. Alien terminology helps rationalize the harsh treatment of persons from other countries. Consider the terms of the public debate. Today's faceless "illegal aliens" are invading the nation and must be stopped or we shall be destroyed. Such images help animate, invigorate, and reinforce the move to bolster immigration enforcement efforts and seal the borders. The images that alien terminology creates have more far-reaching, often subtle, racial consequences. Federal and state laws regularly, and lawfully, discriminate against aliens. It is sanctioned by the Constitution, which provides, for example, that the President must be a "natural born citizen." Under certain circumstances, discrimination against aliens is legally permissible. In contrast, governmental reliance on racial classifications generally are subject to strict scrutiny and ordinarily are unconstitutional. Because a majority of immigrants are people of color, alienage classifications all-too-frequently are employed as a proxy for race. Alienage discrimination, though over inclusive because it includes persons who are not minorities, allows one to disproportionately disadvantage people of color. California's much-publicized Proposition 187 is an example of this phenomenon at work. Although debate during the tumultuous campaign centered on aliens, specifically "illegal aliens," the Mexican-American leaders in California knew which specific group of aliens at which the measure was truly directed. With that in mind, it is not surprising that "[w]hite voters supported the proposition at about a two-to-one ratio while Latinos overwhelmingly opposed it by over a three-to-one margin." My point is that the terminological issue is not simply a word game. Alien terminology serves important legal and social functions. Alexander Bickel perhaps said it best in the context of analyzing citizenship: "It has always been easier, it always will be easier, to think of someone as a noncitizen than to decide that he [OR SHE] is a nonperson ... ." In Stephanie Wildman's words, "language veils the existence of systems of privilege."' Lucinda Finley put it differently though with the same flavor: "[1]anguage matters. Law matters. Legal language matters." Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2011 2011 -> Voices of the Old Sea Norman Lewis 2011 -> Malevil Robert Merle 2011 -> The Elephant Keeper’s Children Peter Hoeg 2011 -> Jv packet •Mars Colonization Affirmative •Mars Colonization Negative 2011 -> Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) omb no. 1024-0018 2011 -> All America Looks Up to Virginia;” Virginia and the Declaration of Independence 2011 -> Rao bulletin 2011 -> Christopher Columbus was born between 25 August and 31 October 1451 in 2011 -> The Battle of Frenchtown (1855), Washington Territory: the Political and Demographic Context rev 9/4/11 2011 -> Seti aff •seti neg •Asteroids Aff Download 3.16 Mb. Share with your friends:
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