It will soon be a year since Amor and Exile’s publication in May 2013, and although more people than ever are speaking out and making their stories heard as to why they need immigration reform, the political scene has not advanced much in 2014. At the end of December 2013, we posted a 2013 year-in-review that summarized all the happenings in immigration reform since we had completed our book manuscript. As we go on the road several times during late spring and early summer of 2014, and celebrate a year since our publication, it’s a good idea to take a look at where we’ve come from since January and where we find ourselves now.
January
The word on the street in January was that “late spring” was going to be the moment for immigration reform. But maybe September too. Wasn’t this what they said last year? http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/comprehensive-immigration-reform-congress-senate-house-2014-101612.html?hp=l2
In light of the renewed attempt to get immigration back into Congressional debates and to help American voters participate in the movement and inform themselves, the coauthors of Amor and Exile gave away nearly 1,500 copies of the Kindle version of Amor and Exile during 3 days in January.
John Boehner hired a shiny new immigration policy analyst for his office, and announced that a new House plan on immigration would be revealed soon: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/us/politics/house-republicans-to-offer-broad-immigration-plan.html?_r=1. Unfortunately, we never saw any results from that grand plan.
A big name in online media was getting pretty irritated by the delays in immigration reform four months ago. I wonder what Kos would have to say now? http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/28/1273128/-Republicans-still-being-dicks-on-immigration
American Families United, one of the advocate groups that helped draft HR 3431, traveled to D.C. to lobby on behalf of family-based immigration reform, and got four new co-sponsors for the bill. The hopes had been that less controversial, less overarching bills (a.k.a. piecemeal legislation) could pass the House more easily. But we still have no word on when and if debate on this bill could occur: http://americanfamiliesunited.org/news?mode=PostView&bmi=1510580
February
In the month of love and valentines, Amor and Exile went on the road a few times and met with broad support for reforming family-immigration. If only Congress could reflect what the majority of people seem to want.
Amor and Exile had the honor of being hosted in La Penita de Jaltemba, Nayarit for a reading, and a week later, a lively discussion of Amor and Exile was held at the Cabin in Boise, ID.
Some analysts seemed to think immigration reform was inevitable in February: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-02-07/the-end-of-the-immigration-debate
Nicole’s family joined her to speak about the Amor and Exile project to a group of Mexican fourth-graders at the Instituto Thomas Jefferson in Queretaro, Mexico. Even the eleven year olds “got it” better than some politicians seem to.
March
In a boost to its literary credentials, Amor and Exile was featured on TheRumpus.net, reviewed by Alison Parker: http://therumpus.net/2014/03/the-sunday-rumpus-feature-love-and-immigration-in-amor-and-exile-by-nathaniel-hoffman-and-nicole-salgado/
April
This seemed to be the month of debate where no one could really take responsibility for this mess. Obama and Congress kept tossing the hot potato back and forth to each other, as deportations, family separations, and the living in fear and hardship for millions of families continued.
Perhaps in foreshadowing to what might end up a series of painful-to-observe theatrical performances by politicians with an immigration issue prop in upcoming elections (at least for those of us affected by it), even Jeb Bush stepped out with his take on immigration, calling it an act of love: http://thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/04/07/3423496/jeb-bush-act-of-love-border-crosser/. As if these ladies don’t know that all too well.
Nicole was the hostess of a reunion of four American women in exile in her home in Querétaro, Mexico—one newly exiled in January and the rest exiled for more than seven years.
The Washington Post weighed in on Obama’s refusal to take resounding action on the immigration impasse: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/few-rewards-for-the-obama-administration-in-its-rigidity-on-deportations/2014/04/08/e5423db6-be9a-11e3-b574-f8748871856a_story.html
And in the winner of all ironic politics, despite Obama having the closest family ties to immigrants of recent presidents, he is the toughest president in history on immigration, with a whopping 2 million+ deportations since taking office—and yet, despite this record, for certain members of Congress, it’ll never be enough: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/24/gop-immigration_n_5206390.html
May
And in May, it looked like the right hand doesn’t even know what the left hand is doing… Boehner griped to Ohioans about the immigration impasse: http://www.chron.com/opinion/editorials/article/Immigration-impasse-5449547.php. I wonder what he wanted the Madison Rotarians to do about this—invite the Party over for Tea?
After so many people’s hard work on this issue, it’s really getting overshadowed by endless obstructionism. To say that cultivating optimism for a positive resolution this debate is challenging would be an understatement. In our book, and in conversation with the public, we’ve seen where we’ve been, and what we currently face. The part about where we go from here is to be continued.