Written by Cecile Lawrence   

The I-word, media and immigration reform

By Cecile Lawrence

Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the U.S. Congress is reported in the politically obsessed media outlet, The Hill, on Thursday, May 23, 2013, as having said that undocumented immigrants who become U.S. citizens under immigration reform will not have access to Obamacare or to Medicaid. The thing is Pelosi did not use the term “undocumented” according to the report, seemingly choosing to repeat “illegal” over and over. To a liberal reader the report gives the impression that perhaps she is unaware that no human being can be “illegal” as a person’s right to exist does not fall under any man-made law anywhere. To a regressive reader the term would most likely be very appropriate.

But even Republican Marco Rubio used the term “living in the United States illegally” as reported in the Washington Post also on May 23, 2013. Colorlines has been having an ongoing campaign to get media and the public in general to stop using the I-word. But wait, did Pelosi actually use that term or is something else going on here?

Speaker Pelosi also said, again according to The Hill, that “that has always been the Democratic position” presumably referring to denial of access by undocumented immigrants to health care coverage under Obamacare or Medicaid. It is very revealing that the position of the Democratic Party, in concert with the Republican Party, is that people who emigrate to the U.S. without going through the INS turnstile, and become citizens under so-called immigration reform, are free to work, travel, etc. in the country, just like anyone else whether a citizen by birth or having carefully navigated the INS cattle chute but if they get ill, they’re on their own even though the illness might be putting everyone else at risk.

However, to try to make sure Speaker Pelosi actually used the I-word, putting aside for the moment her position as a Democrat on whether or not redeemed immigrants should get insurance coverage for their health care, I did a little bit of research. Is she deserving of one or two critiques, individually and as a leading mouthpiece for the Democratic party?
Talking Points Memo’s report about Pelosi’s statement used the term “unauthorized immigrants” in their header. This still is problematic as it also aims to objectify. But the journalist quotes Pelosi as actually saying "Undocumented people will not have subsidies in the Affordable Care Act.” Why did the reporter change the adjective she used? How can a person in his or her status as a person be authorized or not authorized? This is a misuse of the word as one can only be authorized or not authorized to do or not do an act. Saying that an undocumented immigrant is someone not authorized (by the state) to be in the country is very different from saying that the person him or herself is an unauthorized person.
Therefore, unless I’m missing something, it seems clear that it’s the reporters Sahil Kapur of Talking Points Memo and Mike Lillis and Russell Berman of The Hill who are stuck in the place of dehumanizing this group of people. CBS News is also on this band wagon of dehumanizing as in their video report of Rep. King’s statement on the issue, the header is “I'd choose Obamacare over "amnesty" for illegal immigrants” but nowhere in the video of King speaking does he ever use the term “illegal immigrants.”
One can thus conclude that specific reporters and editors of three varied media, The Hill, Talking Points Memo and CBS News, are determined to continue to give life to the I-word, regardless of what the person being interviewed or being reported about actually said. They’re pandering to a right-wing racist audience out there. So much for the myth of the media being liberal.
Therefore I’m left with just one, but important, criticism of Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Party on this issue. Their position that redeemed immigrants should not have health care coverage whether it’s Obamacare or Medicaid.

Maybe even Medicare is also excluded from access by redeemed immigrants. This is foolish, penny-wise, politically motivated policy, lacking in any consideration for the public health of U.S. citizens by birth, by naturalization, visitors, tourists, in short every single human being in the country or even out of the country. The droplets from a sneeze do not discriminate and can spread from stairway railings in the subway to door handles at home. This short-sighted position provides yet another reason for a nationwide system of single payer health insurance, with everybody in, nobody out, including redeemed immigrants as well as visitors, whether authorized to be in the country or not.

The position of the Green Party is that health care is a human right. Every person regardless of his/her status no matter how one slices it, has a right to health care. This makes moral as well as public health and economic sense. Whatever our political orientation, we need to put more pressure on the Democrats to have some spine and and do the right and moral thing by passing single payer into law as soon as possible, in spite of the craziness of the Republicans. These are not people who will agree to anything that is not racist, punitive, backwards or ignorant.

Cecile Lawrence has a Ph.D. and a J.D., is a published author of several articles as well as co-editor of a book of essays Movements in Time: Revolution, Social Justice and Times of Change. She has run for office as a Green Party candidate.