Immigration debate at ECC a friendly one
Two sides of the immigration debate came together for a common cause Tuesday -- to bring the spotlight back to a troubled issue.
About 80 community members turned out to hear Elgin Community College's Organization for Latin American Students' immigration debate and forum.
Student organizers, who had initially expected a presence from local Minuteman project members, were relieved to see the event progress without a hitch, club member and ECC student Juan Garduno said.
Squaring off were Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and Brian Perryman, former district director for the Immigration and Naturalization service.
Hoyt and Perryman answered questions about immigration law, language barriers, education and economic policies collected from ECC students and faculty in past weeks.
They also tackled several written questions from audience members.
Responding to a question about how an immigration reform policy with a pathway to citizenship would affect the American economy, Perryman said the country's leaders must reassess the needs of the United States.
"What kind of jobs do we want to have people come and work in? Do we need teachers? Doctors? We don't want to create a permanent underclass with our immigration policy."
There is a real demographic need for immigrants, Hoyt said. "It has to do with the aging of our population and our relatively low birth rate."
The U.S. has a situation right now in which high-skilled immigrants can come here legally, Hoyt said. "Low-skilled immigrants have a much more difficult time."
That practice, he said, "doesn't work anymore. It's not an adequate system."
Asked what is the United States' responsibility toward deportation and the immigrant community, Hoyt advocated eliminating the immigrant underclass through legalization pathways.
"Why have we succeeded as a nation of immigrants? Because you have a stake (in things) and your nation has a stake in things. We don't have a permanent class of outsiders," he said.
Should English be the country's official language? "I find that (idea) inflammatory," Perryman said. Fluent English, as well as Spanish, should be required for all who live in the country.
Both Perryman and Hoyt agreed that the immigration debate needs solutions, fast.
"It's disgusting the immigration debate has gotten so ugly we're taking out our anger on children," Hoyt said.
"We need to seriously rethink our practices," Perryman agreed.
The point of the debate, said Gabriel Alvarado, an Latin American student group member from Hanover Park, was not to incite anger. "We want to bring the spotlight back to the issue, with the hope politicians come to a rational, humane and logical consensus."
Arezou Kashani, an ECC student from Crystal Lake, decided to come to the debate after seeing a number of fliers on campus. "Being an immigrant myself, I figured why not? I'd like to see what this is all about."
Current presidential candidates, Kashani said, "don't seem to want to say anything about the issue -- it's like it'll hurt their campaign. It needs to be talked about," she said. "I'm glad at least they're doing it here."