US immigration debate should make Kenya examine its own policies

America went to the polls on Tuesday, ending months of campaigns pitting real estate mogul Donald Trump against seasoned lawyer and bureaucrat Hillary Clinton.

US politics had never witnessed a more polarising, bare-knuckled campaign. Many people around the world have keenly followed the key highlights of the campaign and especially the immigration reforms debate.

According to PolitiFact, Trump wants mass deportation of about 11 million illegal immigrants, building of a wall along the border with Mexico, and a ban on immigrants from certain countries.

Clinton, on the other hand, wanted a pathway to citizenship, immigrant integration, and protection from deportation. Although the two contenders favoured tighter, secure borders, their approaches on how to go about this were on opposite ends of the scale.

Immigration is a major sovereignty issue for any state and is, therefore, almost always a priority for any person seeking to be the president and commander-in-chief of any country.

Both Trump and Clinton have been criticised as being too anti-immigrants and too pro-immigrants respectively, which points to a fast-growing need by the US for well-thought-out immigration reforms. This desire for genuine reform may be one of the main reasons Trump carried the day.

Kenyans were keen on the outcome of the elections, and particularly immigration reforms because many of them or their relatives live in the US while many others harbour dreams of moving there.

Estimates put the number of Kenyans living in the US in excess of 100,000, more than a third of whom are illegally there.

Regardless of their status, these Kenyans work and send money back home, helping in developing the country. Many of these Kenyans dreaded a Trump presidency and probably favoured Clinton’s regime owing to its pro-immigrant stand.

BEEN ELECTED

There is anxiety among Kenyans in the US, especially those without a valid immigration status, because the man whom many wished not to be the president has been elected. For many in Kenya, it is wait-and-see if it will be even more difficult to be granted a visa to the US.

Even if Hillary Clinton had won, her presidency would have only offered a temporary reprieve for Kenyans living in the US illegally and perhaps seen the continuation of the current Kenya-friendly visa regime, but she would still have been under a lot of pressure to secure the borders of the US and stem the flow of illegal immigrants.

Any way you look at it, for the 45th president of the United States of America, it will not be business as usual because the talking shop is now closed and real work must start. 

The immigration debate should arouse our conscience as Kenyans and make us look inwards to see how we manage our immigration and the state of illegal immigration in the country.

A few months ago, the President was categorical that Somali refugees must go back to their country, which elicited debate both locally and internationally.

Recently, illegal Nigerian immigrants were arrested, creating a huge debate on Twitter, with Nigerians accusing Kenya of mistreating their fellow citizens until the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry came to Kenya’s defence by stating that all Nigerians citizens must abide by their host country’s immigration laws.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Kenya has many illegal immigrants, but the agencies responsible for enforcing immigration laws may not have the capacity to deal with all the cases.

In managing our immigration policy, we must be willing to consider the different perspectives, as presented in the US debate. This includes those who believe, like Donald Trump, that all illegal immigrants must be deported.

Then there are those who believe, like Hillary Clinton, that there is a need to be humane in dealing with illegal immigrants. There are also those who believe in well-thought-out immigration reforms.

As we approach our own elections next year, let us put our presidential contenders to task to explain their agenda on immigration.

For instance, what is the best way to deal with refugees and stateless persons? What are their plans to get fairer visa processes for Kenyans? What do they think is the best way to engage African countries for visa-free travel across the continent?

And it would be interesting to know what their engagement with a Trump presidency would be in the face of his threat to deport illegal immigrants.

Either way, immigration is a topical issue that we should not sweep under the rug. 

George Mucee is an immigration consultant and practice leader at Fragomen Kenya. [email protected]