Laws should welcome immigrants, not shun them

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BY MARK WEDDLETON

After the pizza and pop were cleared and the kids were bundled off to child care, the meeting came to order. The talk for the next hour was about the usual PTA fare: a family night at the Children’s Museum, the recent book fair, fundraising progress.

But this isn’t your typical PTA. You see, at Everett Elementary School it also goes by the name Asociación de Padres y Maestros.  Of the three dozen parents in attendance at the meeting, about half were recent immigrants from Mexico.

In his State of the State address last week, Gov. Dave Heineman highlighted the importance of parental involvement to the success of our schools. I teach at Everett Elementary and live in the school’s neighborhood. From my experience I can say these Hispanic families and many others like them are wonderful examples of the civic participation the governor envisioned.

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Let me share a few examples:

When the elimination of school busing created a particularly unsafe situation for kids living in the area of First and J streets, some of the parents got together and went before the school board. They successfully made the case that walking to school across three sets of railroad tracks and two major arterials was too dangerous for the kids. Thanks to this effort by Latino families, all children living in that area can now safely ride the school bus to Everett.

Every Wednesday morning there’s a parenting workshop at Everett. There are about 25 families that are regular participants, the majority Spanish-speaking. According to school counselor Mandy Peterson, “Some of these parents are so involved, they could be leading the group.”

I can always count on a high participation of Latino parents as chaperones on our class field trips. Recently, I sat down with the parents before one of these field trips to talk about all the family-friendly activities within walking distance. One mother shared, “I’d like for us to walk more but there’s very little street lighting on my block.” The talk alternated between English and Spanish as the parents strategized on how to approach the city government to ask them to correct this. They decided to find someone who could serve as an interpreter as they approached the city ombudsman.

Peach Street between 9th and 10th streets is the block with the city’s first bilingual Neighborhood Watch program. This kicked off last summer with a well-attended training program led by the Lincoln police department. About half of the two dozen on their roster are first-generation Latino families. A number of the newcomers on this block have become homeowners, giving them a greater stake in the success of the neighborhood.

Pat Anderson-Sifuentez, a leader of this effort and the director of the Neighborhood Service Exchange, put it this way, “They’re laying roots and taking responsibility for the community beyond their own family. When they get to a point like this — where they feel they have a place in the community — that’s good for everyone.”

That is good for everyone. She’s got it right. So when we promote policies that discourage this community involvement, aren’t we shooting ourselves in the foot? Yet that’s what we’re doing with laws that penalize immigrants.

And it’s not just illegal immigrants who are being dumped on. The governor’s budget proposal includes eliminating state food stamp and Medicaid benefits for legal immigrants who have been in the country for less than five years.

But what about those who broke the law to come here?

I’m not going to be the one to throw the first stone. My great-grandparents came here to escape poverty and build a better life for their families. What would they have done if U.S. immigration laws were as restrictive back then as they are today? Can I say for sure that they wouldn’t have come illegally?

School volunteers, concerned parents, civic activists, Neighborhood Watch members — these are just the sort of involved people that we need to make up the active citizenry that’s essential to a strong democracy. Where can we find them? Just look to our neighbors who have arrived here recently from south of the border.

For all our sakes, it’s time our laws — and attitudes — were updated to welcome these newcomers,  thus encouraging them to continue the contribution to our community they are making today.

Mark Weddleton hopes you’ll join him in following the example of these newcomers by getting active in the community.