Ted Kennedy and Immigration: A Legacy

Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy, who entered life's last long slumber earlier this week, has received many eulogies and tributes hailing his formidable record of concrete reform and advocacy on behalf of the working, the disabled and the poor.

Given the prominence of the healthcare debate today and his own particularly vigorous efforts to push Obama toward national healthcare near the waning days of his life, media have rightly focused on the effect his death might have on the fate of healthcare reform.

But there is another major matter in the national spotlight to which Kennedy also contributed significantly, starting much earlier in his career: immigration. Youth activists and young aspiring policy makers can derive lessons from Kennedy's earlier experiences and the changes set into motion during his tenure.

Kennedy's first and perhaps most noted immigration achievement was to help abolish the decades-old quota system that favored white immigrants (those from northern Europe) over Asians and Latin Americans in 1965.

"This bill goes to the very central ideals of our country," he said at the time in Congress. "Our streets may not be paved with gold, but they are paved with the promise that men and women who live here -- even strangers and new newcomers -- can rise as fast, as far as their skills will allow, no matter what their color is, no matter what the place of their birth."

Mark Krikorian, head of the anti-immigration Center for Immigration Studies, calls the 1965 law "the first big thing that [Kennedy] really drove himself. Since then, he's been making immigration policy for the country.”

Famously, he also asserted at the time that the bill would not dramatically alter America's ethnic composition, whereas in reality the demographic balance sheet has shifted significantly due to immigration from the global south's top talent and most desperate denizens.

Ted Kennedy also helped secure Congressional approval for the Refugee Act in 1980 and six years later backed a separate measure that brought three million American residents out of the shadows while also punishing employers who hired the undocumented.

More recently, the 2007 immigration reform proposal that materialized because of Kennedy's collaboration with Sen. John McCain ultimately failed, but that did not stop him from pursuing more open immigration policies for fleeing Iraqis, or supporting the DREAM Act, which would open education and citizenship pathways for American-raised children of immigrants.

While it's impossible to survey the full extent of his immigration advocacy efforts and their end results in the space of a blog post, what's clear is that even in the face of some defeats, change can be achieved through key pieces of legislation pushed through on the bedrock principle that this country's ideals transcend the ultra-nationalistic garb in which these ideals are often cloaked.

M. Junaid Levesque-Alam writes about America and Islam at his website, Crossing the Crescent, and for WireTap, where he is also the immigration blogger.