---
[ GUEST WORDS ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words)
# Which Immigration Story Will Prevail?
November 29 2021
Written by Andrew Moss.
[](https://www.addtoany.com/share)
IMMIGRATION WATCH - Like a gravitational field, there’s a narrative that exerts a powerful pull on U.S. immigration policy.
It features hordes of migrants besieging our southern border, bringing crime, and lured (as the latest version goes) by erratic border enforcement and a lenient Biden administration.
It’s a narrative as powerful as it is untrue, and it needs to be countered: not just for the sake of immigrants, but for the nation as a whole.
On November 19, when House Democrats passed a $2.2 trillion social safety net and climate bill, they left out a signature Biden administration commitment: a [Path To Citizenship](https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/11/19/immigration-biden-spending-bill/) for the 10.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Instead, they included in the budget bill a provision for a temporary status called “parole,” a five-year protection from deportation along with eligibility for work permits. If the provision is passed in the Senate, it will also give immigrants an opportunity to renew the protected status for another five years. But even that development is iffy. Senate negotiations on the budget bill, particularly on immigration, may be more grueling than in the House.
While some immigration advocates hail parole as a step forward, others decry it as a betrayal: an endorsement of a second-class status for millions of individuals, including DACA recipients, who have been contributing to their communities and working in essential fields (e.g. agriculture, construction, and health care) for many years. Clearly a narrative of menacing migrants held sway, as House Democrats in swing districts got nervous about being associated with “[Expansive Immigration Reform](https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/02/social-spending-bill-immigration-citizenship-518606).”
How can such a narrative hold so much power, particularly when opinion [Surveys](https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/2/4/22264074/poll-undocumented-immigrants-citizenship-stimulus-biden) show that Americans strongly support a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and millions of essential workers? One reason is that the story serves the interests of influential politicians, commentators, think tanks, and private detention companies, all of whom profit from it in one respect or another. When prominent individuals and organizations repeat the story often enough and loudly enough, its influence grows exponentially.
Early in November, 39 Republican Congress members representing border state districts [Wrote](https://www.scribd.com/document/537016824/Border-Republicans-on-Build-Back-Better-Act-11-3) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, urging them not to incorporate any immigration provisions, including parole, into the social safety net and climate bill. Citing the large numbers of border encounters recorded this year by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, they sought to paint the migrants’ presence in ominous terms, associating the migrants with criminality and arguing that, “we cannot afford to create new incentives to illegal migration in the midst of this crisis.”
In painting such a picture, the 39 Republicans ignored numerous [Studies](https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/criminalization-immigration-united-states) showing conclusively that immigrants, including unauthorized immigrants and immigrant youth, have lower crime rates than native-born citizens. These studies make clear that harsh anti-immigrant policies, including detention and expulsion, have [Little Value](https://www.pnas.org/content/117/51/32340) in fighting crime.
The 39 also ignore the powerful “push” factors that cause people to leave their homes in search of safety, freedom, and livelihood. Their negative narrative says nothing about the [Haitians](https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/haitian-migration-through-americas) who fled their country after a 2010 earthquake that left 217,000 people dead and 1.5 million homeless, nor about the political instability and violence that have racked the country after its president was assassinated this year.
Nor do they reference the [Hondurans](https://www.npr.org/2021/05/10/994065661/why-people-are-fleeing-honduras-for-the-u-s-all-thats-left-here-is-misery) left devastated and desperate by the back-to-back Hurricanes Eta and Iota last year, as well as by food insecurity, corruption, and extortion by gangs. Nor is there any mention of peoples from other countries where war, corruption, destitution, and climate-related drought and flooding have made life untenable.
It’s not in the interest of these 39 Congressional representatives, and their allies in the media and other institutions, to recognize another immigration story entirely: a narrative [Rooted In Law](https://immigrationimpact.com/2018/07/17/it-is-legal-to-seek-asylum/#.YZwB5C-B3q1), a narrative that sees immigrants as essential to [Revitalizing Entire](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/10/us/immigration-arkansas-population.html?searchResultPosition=1) regions and to maintaining a [Robust Economy](https://americanprogress.org/article/citizenship-undocumented-immigrants-boost-u-s-economic-growth/) as U.S. population growth declines.
It is in the nation’s interest to lift up that other story, for it is in this narrative that the seeds of another kind of nation are found: a country less fearful, more inclusive, more democratic, and more encouraging of human possibility and reinvention.
(*Andrew Moss, syndicated by* [*PeaceVoice*](http://www.peacevoice.info/)*, is an emeritus professor (English, Nonviolence Studies) at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.)*
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/107 "LA DWP | Save $4K, Green | Priority Ad")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/98 "Donna Tryfman - HS1-1")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/82 "LA DWP #2 (Power Savers)")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/111 "David DeJute Campaign")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/97 "Home - LA DWP #2 (Pay Water Bill Help)")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/112 "Anna Reitano Vertical R. Col")
## Get The News In Your Email Inbox Mondays & Thursdays
Message
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/110 "Something You Should Know")
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/component/banners/click/113 "Rhonda Haymon campaign")
---
## Featured CityWatch Stories
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33444-lahsa-is-gone-but-the-homeless-industrial-complex-lives-on)
### [LAHSA Is Gone, but the Homeless-Industrial-Complex Lives On](https://mail.citywatchla.com/los-angeles/33444-lahsa-is-gone-but-the-homeless-industrial-complex-lives-on)
HOMELESSNESS - Los Angeles’s homelessness program is in complete disarray, undermined by systemic gridlock, structural…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33434-karen-bass-trails-in-reelection-race-can-she-turn-it-around)
### [Karen Bass Trails in Reelection Race — Can She Turn It Around?](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33434-karen-bass-trails-in-reelection-race-can-she-turn-it-around)
WESTSIDE - As of September 27, 2026, Karen Bass is in a substantially weaker position than she was entering the June pr…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/finance/33442-the-settlement-bill-nobody-is-managing-inside-los-angeles-countys-sheriff-litigation-tab)
### [The Settlement Bill Nobody Is Managing — Inside Los Angeles County's Sheriff Litigation Tab](https://mail.citywatchla.com/finance/33442-the-settlement-bill-nobody-is-managing-inside-los-angeles-countys-sheriff-litigation-tab)
THE NAVARRO REPORT - Last month, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a $12.5 million settlement over t…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/voices/33461-are-small-businesses-and-workers-fighting-their-true-adversary-in-the-fast-food-battle)
### [Are Small Businesses And Workers Fighting Their True Adversary In The Fast-Food Battle?](https://mail.citywatchla.com/voices/33461-are-small-businesses-and-workers-fighting-their-true-adversary-in-the-fast-food-battle)
THE WORKPLACE - On Sept. 8, the Los Angeles City Council voted to get one step closer to expanding Fair Work Week to fa…
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33445-follow-the-money-the-underdog-vs-the-bike-path)
### [Follow the Money: The Underdog vs. the Bike Path](https://mail.citywatchla.com/neighborhood-politics/33445-follow-the-money-the-underdog-vs-the-bike-path)
PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY - Years ago, I was shooting ringside as a boxing photographer when I noticed Sylvester Stallone s…
---
## [ GUEST WORDS ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33419-they-tried-to-break-the-jewish-people-we-kept-building)### [They Tried to Break the Jewish People. We Kept Building](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33419-they-tried-to-break-the-jewish-people-we-kept-building)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33354-stop-lying-to-students-an-a-should-be-earned-not-given)### [Stop Lying to Students: An 'A' Should Be Earned, Not Given](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33354-stop-lying-to-students-an-a-should-be-earned-not-given)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33337-i-wasnt-there-on-9-11-after-october-7-i-understand-its-warning)### [I Wasn’t There on 9/11. After October 7, I Understand Its Warning](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33337-i-wasnt-there-on-9-11-after-october-7-i-understand-its-warning)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33338-quid-pro-no)### [QUID PRO NO](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33338-quid-pro-no)
[  ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33176-you-bought-the-home-sacramento-changed-the-rules)### [You Bought the Home - Sacramento Changed the Rules](https://mail.citywatchla.com/guest-words/33176-you-bought-the-home-sacramento-changed-the-rules)