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Matos and Rivera-Forastieri Thursday in the WNHH studio.
As New Haven immigration-rights activists scramble to fight a new round of deportations, a leading organizer spoke not just about what’s wrong with our government’s current policies — but about what an ideal federal immigration policy might look like.
The organizer, Kica Matos, addressed that question Thursday at the end of an episode of WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
Matos — who lives in Fair Haven and who as a former top city official who lives crafted New Haven’s immigrant-friendly municipal ID card program — currently works as director of immigrant rights and racial justice at the national Center for Community Change. She was joined in the studio by Ana Maria Rivera-Forastieri, director of advocacy for Junta from Progressive Action, which has been on the front lines of organizing efforts in town this week against the latest raids. (Read about that here.)
Matos was asked what America’s immigration policy would look like if the next president asked her to serve as head of the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agency.
Who, she was asked, would be allowed to enter the U.S.? And who wouldn’t?
Those who made the cut included immigrants who are already in the U.S., refugees as well as those who are crossing the border in search of asylum. She talked about the need to strengthen U.S. refugee policy and ensure all those entangled in the immigration system have access to lawyers.
Would anyone be turned away at the border?
“I am not an advocate of open border polices. I never have been, even at City Hall. I do think we have to have some way of regularizing who comes in and out of this country. I certainly would not allow in people with terrible criminal records. I would be much more generous in terms of who we let in to the country. I would extend the numbers.”
Would she keep quotas in place?
“I would make them more equitable,” Matos responded. “I would increase them. But yes, I would keep quotas.”
At the same time, she said, she would alter foreign policy to decrease the demand for immigration.
“We have created situations in Honduras, in El Salvador, in Guatemala, where we have so screwed up the domestic governments [that] people flee in desperation. So we have an obligation as an extremely wealthy country to engage in responsible foreign policy so we don’t destabilize countries and feed money to despots. We have to find ways to stabilize governments and find ways for people to want to stay in their [home] country,” Matos said.
Matos and Forasteri also spoke about the work that national and local advocates have done to educate the community about the raids that are taking place around the country. JUNTA and ULA have launched an extensive Know Your Rights Campaign, and have joined the national chorus of organizations pushing the Obama Administration to stop deportations.
Click on or download the above sound file to listen to the full episode, in which Matos and Rivera-Forastieri spoke at length about New Haven’s evolution as an immigrant-embracing city over the past decade, their personal paths to the work they do now, and current fights here and nationally to protect immigrant rights.
While I wholeheartedly respect Ms. Matos' experienced take on this issue, there is some lack of reality here. Get everyone an attorney? The immigration laws in this country are riddled with twists and turns that make the head spin. The process should be one where only the most difficult of cases would have need for an attorney. Applying for a green card should not cost thousands of dollars on top of filing fees. This is a horrendous practice in this country. Deciding whether to eat or to pay the attorney. The entire system can and must be simplified. I am not advocating for rules to be laxed, but instead for the regular individual to have full access to a system that for years has required thousands of hard earned dollars to be turned over to attorneys fees because they are the only ones who can navigate the system.