Chicago Debate League 2013/14 Core Files
AC: Critical Immigration Affirmative 163
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1AC: Critical Immigration Affirmative 163Contention One is Inherency: Despite promises to make the immigration process from Mexico into the United States easier, the government continues to deny millions access to the American dream. 1) Americans cling to the myth that legal immigration is possible for those who want it, but that is a fantasy used to hide an abandonment of our ideals of equality and justice. SMITH, 11 [Nathan, author of Principles of a Free Society and blogger at The Free Thinker; “What If Justice Demands Open Borders?” 5/13, Google's cache of http://www.american.com/archive/2011/may/what-if-justice-demands-open-borders/ as taken on 6/17] Americans want to see themselves as a country open to immigration, a country, as in President Obama’s remarks this week, where “anyone can write the next chapter in our story,” where “what matters… is that you believe that all of us are created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights,” and where “in embracing America, you can become American.” But the law states otherwise. As Obama said, “as long as current laws are on the books, it’s not just hardened felons who are subject to removal, but sometimes families who are just trying to earn a living, or bright, eager students, or decent people with the best of intentions.” What he did not mention is that most people who apply for visas do not get them, and, anticipating this, most people who would like to come do not bother to apply. Gallup polls have found that one-quarter of the world’s population wishes to migrate, and 165 million wish to come to the United States. Only 35 million immigrants live in America. Why don’t the rest come? Because they can’t. “In general,” according to the State Department, “to be eligible to apply for an immigrant visa, a foreign citizen must be sponsored by a U.S. citizen relative(s), U.S. lawful permanent resident, or by a prospective employer.” Even if you have that, you are likely to be rejected, particularly those seeking employment visas, of which far fewer are available than demanded. Those without sponsorship can apply only for the diversity visas lottery, with odds of admission at just over 1 percent from Europe and Africa and under 0.5 percent from Asia. So it’s not correct to say “anyone can write the next chapter of our story.” Only for a favored few is legal immigration an option. Yet we don’t like to admit this, so Obama repeated the myth that illegal, undocumented immigrants have “cut in front of the line.” This assertion pretends there is a line, and all any willing migrant has to do is wait his turn. This pretends there is a recognized right to migrate, and potential immigrants only face some administrative delays in exercising it. But the presupposition is false, and it makes little sense to blame someone for cutting in line when legal immigration was never an option for him. Why do we cling to this myth that anyone can get in line and come to America? Mostly because our values demand it. We aspire to be a country of “liberty and justice for all.” To accept frankly that some people are excluded from America for life because of their place of birth would make nonsense of this claim. So we try to forget about them. President Obama, and most Americans, want to find a happy medium. We want to be a place where “anyone can write the next chapter in our history;” and yet we want to accept only the “best and brightest.” We want to be humane to those already here illegally, without creating incentives for more to come. But that happy medium doesn’t exist. We can persist with the present muddle, in which people break the laws on a large scale because they benefit by doing so. Or we could try to close the borders and do whatever it takes—abandoning all scruples about inalienable rights and liberty and justice for all— and figure out some way to redefine what it is to be American that does not depend on our historic ideals. Or we could try a third option: resolutely examine what those ideals really demand of us, and do that, even if means changing a lot of bad habits and taking a few risks. 1AC: Critical Immigration Affirmative 164Thus, my partner and I stand in solidarity with Latina and Latino immigrants from Mexico by demanding that the United States federal government substantially increase its economic engagement toward Mexico by providing full economic citizenship benefits to persons in Mexico. 1AC: Critical Immigration Affirmative 165Contention Two is My Story. 1) My name is ________, and this is how immigration struggles have shaped my experience. [Debaters should share their story or experiences here, either of their own relationship to immigration policy or that of a friend or family member] 2) This year’s debate resolution requires examination of the Border between the United States and Mexico as a physical boundary which is policed through state violence by governments, but Whiteness creates a symbolic border that subordinates Mexican-Americans as inferior. 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]
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