In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings and the killing and capture of the perpetrators, immigration reform opponents used the overseas origins of the bombers to call for delay. Proponents are fighting back, decrying the use of the tragedy to make political points.
The two bombers, brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokar Tsarnaev, were immigrants, originally from Chechnya and Russian republics, who reportedly came to the United States about a decade ago. Dzhokar became an American citizen in 2011.
They cam with their parents, emigrating legally, following all the rules and regulations required by the arcane immigration process currently in place. Yet that did not stop them from becoming terrorists - domestic terrorists, at that. S many have noted, the Tsarnaev brothers spent the majority of their formative years in the United States, attending American elementary and high schools, then colleges, and they cannot be considered anything but American.
Yet some conservatives have pointed to their actions as a reason to reconsider providing a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
"How can individuals evade authorities and plan such attacks on our soil? How can we beef up security checks on people who wish to enter the U.S?" said Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa earlier this week?
Supporters of the bill have now begun a counterattack, pointing out that undocumented people are harder to track than legal immigrants, or immigrants who could become legalized through the new immigration bill.
"The Senate bill includes no fewer than four separate background checks as immigrants move from the shadows to citizenship. It tightens the rules on employment verification and includes new ways to prevent misuse of Social Security numbers. It has an entry-exit visa system to monitor traffic at borders and ports," the New York Times writes in an editorial published today.
"We need to focus on what we can do to eliminate threats like what happened in Boston, but to tie them to our conversation on the need for immigration reform is misguided, in my opinion," said Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley of Iowa, in response to his congressional fellow's assertion.
Indeed, the Senate bill requires an increase in border security before any undocumented immigrants can apply for citizenship. They are already in the country; to continue to keep them in the shadows makes everyone less safe.