Yesterday, Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, gave a speech in which she confirmed that the country is ready for immigration reform and that the administration is committed to pushing for it in 2010. She cited an increase in border security and surveillance, worksite enforcement, decreased immigration flows, improvements in technology, and public support from community leaders as signs that it is time to enact what she referred to as “the three-legged stool” plan :

I’m referring to what I call the “three-legged stool” that includes a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here. That’s the way that this problem has to be solved, because we need all three aspects to build a successful system. This approach has at its heart the conviction that we must demand responsibility and accountability from everyone involved in the system: immigrants, employers and government. And that begins with fair, reliable enforcement.

The pathway to legalization in the above plan will include the requirements that have been discussed for many years now and with which we are all familiar:

On top of this, in order to have fully effective law enforcement, we need Congress to create the legal foundation for bringing the millions of illegal immigrants in this country out of the shadows, require them to register and pay all taxes they owe, and enforce the penalties that they will have to pay as part of earning legal status. Let me emphasize this: we will never have fully effective law enforcement or national security as long as so many millions remain in the shadows.

While it is good to hear confirmation that a pathway to legalization is still part of the immigration reform agenda and that the issue has not been completely forgotten, it is disappointing to see that the Obama administration continues to engage in the rhetoric of fear and criminality:

We’ve revised and standardized our immigration-enforcement agreements with state and local law enforcement to make sure that these agencies are effective forcemultipliers in our efforts to apprehend dangerous criminal aliens. We’ve expanded the Secure Communities program, which identifies illegal aliens being booked into local jails. Yesterday, we marked the end of the first year for this program, which is being used by 95 jurisdictions and has identified more than 111,000 criminal aliens.

Napolitano forgot to mention that the 287 (g) and “Secure” Communities programs have come under increased scrutiny in the past year due to the hundreds of cases of wrongful deportation or detention that have been documented by the media and migrant advocates. This has resulted in costly lawsuits against the agency and local partners, mostly with charges of racial profiling and denial of due process. How then can we call these policies “fair and reliable”? Does anyone feel any safer when ICE arrests and detains women who have been abused and have conditional legal status, traumatizing them once again ? Or when minors spend their days in detention simply because they were arrested, even though no charges were filed?

The focus on programs and policies which technically concern a very small part of the undocumented population creates an illusion of action while ignoring their failure. In addition, this has the potential to instill and feed fear of the Other through generalizations that could be perceived as validated by the practices of ICE agents. In the meantime, many forget that there are changes that  could be made immediately or in a very short time, such as halting deportations, suspending 287(g) and “Secure” Communities programs, passing the DREAM Act and UAFA.

This administration needs to not only walk the walk, but also talk a more humane talk. We know that legalization will improve the lives of many, but it won’t undo the effects of the language and trades used to attain that goal.  Get ready to make some hard choices because it looks like they’ve run out of “change” a while ago.