Immigration Gaslighting

Clients have been discussing feeling shocked, disoriented, fearful, and angry in the wake of the election. I will make additional posts later with recommendations of how to cope with the new reality we find ourselves in, but one of the most damaging parts of what has happened to many is the gaslighting that has characterized the immigration debate. Whenever we experience gaslighting, it is helpful to remind ourselves that our judgment is sound, look for information from sources other than the gaslighting source, slow down, and apply critical thinking. Following, I will break down what is crazy-making about the immigration dialectic.

The simple solution and why it won’t happen:  

Solution:  Redirect funds to create, track, and approve  a new status of lawful prospective immigrant. Increase immigration/asylum court capacity so that immigrants aren’t waiting for years inside the US for their cases to be adjudicated.  This status shall be available to an applying noncitizen who meets certain requirements, including being continually present in the United States, submitting to monitoring/tracking, and passing background checks.  Use the system created in Texas – or a similar one– which holds employers accountable for the immigration status of their workers using a phone app which generates a QR code to be scanned in at the beginning of each shift.  Build in a control to increase/decrease the number of cases to be approved subject to volume of applicants and the US unemployment rate.

Why it won’t happen:  It isn’t politically expedient to a political party that values consolidating power over solving a problem, and their power is consolidated by making people afraid.  The solution above was (minus the technology aspect) the substance of the bipartisan immigration reform bill which a presidential candidate succeeded in scuttling for political gain.  It worked.