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Mickey Ibarra served as assistant to former President Bill Clinton and was the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. He was born in Salt Lake City to a Mexican father and American mother, but grew up in foster care. Before beginning his career in politics, he taught at-risk high school students in Spanish Fork. In March, he donated his collection of photographs, correspondence and other memorabilia documenting his career at the White House to the University of Utah Marriott Library. He also recently gave a speech at the Hinckley Institute of Politics on his journey from schoolteacher to public servant, the importance of being involved politics, and the issue of immigration.

How does a high school teacher end up working at the White House?

My road to the White House was paved by the National Education Association, the teachers union I had the privilege of working for for 16 years of my professional career. But actually it started sooner than that: The person who sparked my interest in government, public service, campaigning, elections and our great democracy and the need for engagement was my high school government teacher, Mr. Steinberg.

I had the privilege of attending high school in Sacramento, the capital of California, so government and politics were certainly available to students who wanted to engage. Mr. Steinberg would provide extra credit for attending a city-council meeting, a school-board meeting. It was Mr. Steinberg who gave me extra credit for attending my first presidential campaign rally and major speech; it was delivered by Hubert Humphrey in 1968 at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. And as I heard him speak, I can tell you it sent tingles from my toes to the top of my head. And it was that interest established in high school that propelled me to decide that I was going to figure out a way to engage in public service. And it also provided the seed for wanting to first do that as a teacher. So I was a political-science major at BYU with no intention ever of attending law school. I wanted to be a teacher. And I had an opportunity to do that for five years starting as a teacher at a public alternative high school.

photo source: Brigham Young High School
Class of 1969

That teaching experience led to my political experience with the Utah Education Association. I was a first-year teacher and attended my first national convention of the NEA as a delegate with the UEA. When I walked in that auditorium in Minneapolis and saw 15,000 of my colleagues in convention, many of them of color, it got my attention. This is the organization that I want to be a part of.

photo source: Brigham Young High School
Class of 1969 

I went from a volunteer to a staff member becoming their political manager, which put me responsible for leading the charge of the NEA to endorse Bill Clinton in 1992 for president. then served in the staff of the Clinton/Gore re-election campaign in 1996, posted up at the headquarters in Washington, D.C., and with our re-election, again the first Democrat to be re-elected president since Franklin Roosevelt, I was invited then to serve at the White House as the assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs.

“I prepared myself for that opportunity. Did I ever believe that an opportunity to serve the president would come my way? No. And is anybody ever fully prepared to be at the White House? I don’t think so. But I was prepared to be asked, and I got that chance, and here we went.” 

Why does the United States need immigration reform?
The issue of immigration is personal to me. It is more than a debate around public policy; it is personal, given my history. My father came to this country as a bracero in 1945, and his first labor camp was in Spanish Fork. My father was undocumented for 30-plus years, even though he served in the U.S. Army, had his own business. You don’t need to be documented to make a contribution. And everyone should be documented. But what we’ve got is a system that’s absolutely broken. It actually encourages people to come here without documents, because they’re not going to wait in line for five years to get a visa to come work here if their families are in need of help now. Who would do that? So, yes, that’s an issue that remains a priority for me, and I’m very troubled and concerned about what I see happening—states, including Utah, taking off on their own to decide what immigration law is going to look like. The most extreme case in Alabama, where they’ve turned teachers into immigration agents who can turn children in and their families in if they suspect that they may be undocumented. They have given license to racists in this country who now are emboldened to do the unthinkable. A nation trying to turn back the clock to the Jim Crow days of the ’60s and ’50s and earlier that I thought we had addressed. That’s very unfortunate and not up to the standards that America ought to be all about.

What misconceptions do people have about immigration reform and immigrants?

(1) They’re taking away our jobs.” That’s just nonsense. They’re not taking away anybody’s jobs. Ninety percent of them are doing jobs that none of us would do. Talk to the farmers about how important these workers are to them helping them harvest their crops—to make a profit, to stay in business. So that’s one of the misconceptions. The United States needs that labor; they need that workforce. And without it, they’d be in very difficult circumstances.

(2) They’re just here to freeload; they’re taking down benefits from us”—again, silly. I would say, as a class, there are no harder-working people in the world than the Latino community in this country. They’re not here to freeload, they’re not here to get something for nothing; they’re here to make a living. And are there exceptions to that? Of course there are. But I feel confident in saying that the vast majority of those residents in this country, who are without documentation, would love to figure out how to become documented. And the vast majority of them are also being taxed, and paying their taxes. If we’d come to our senses and document these folks, we’d even realize more taxes from them, and that would be a good thing.

What concerns me is we have so many people giving license and cover to racists. I’m not suggesting everybody who opposes immigration reform is racist.

USHLI Announces Mickey Ibarra Medallion for Excellence in Government Relations

(3) We have a right to protect our border. That’s a responsibility that we have. And that’s what argues for comprehensive immigration reform so we can secure our borders. We’re not going to secure our borders simply by building a taller fence. That’s not going to work. It’s got to be a combination of things, and my hope is that I’ll live long enough to see our country embrace a comprehensive approach in order to deal with this issue. It was Ronald Reagan who was the last president to try and deal with this in a responsible manner, which included providing more than 3 million undocumented residents with amnesty. So if Ronald Reagan can get it done, I’ve got to believe that we ought to keep hope alive for that, too.

What would successful immigration reform look like?

In its broadest context, one, we’ve got to provide for security, to be sure. Two, we’ve got to figure out a sensible visa program that allows for demand to match the supply. Something that’s reasonable. Asking somebody to wait in line for five years so they can come here and work as a dishwasher is nuts. So we’ve got to figure that out, that whole ebb and flow of the workforce—that’s a big piece of it. [Also] how do we deal with at least 11 million undocumented residents now? Do we really think we’re going to ship that 11 million back to the country they came from? I don’t think so; it’s just ridiculous. We’re not going to do that, it’s not possible to do that, and it’s stupid to do that. Should there be a penalty [for being undocumented]? Absolutely. Should there be requirement for them to learn English? That’s fine. Should they be responsible for paying their taxes and all that sort of thing? Absolutely. Should they have to show proof of employment for five, six years, whatever it is, yes. But those criteria can be set, and where they’re met, there ought to be a path to being made legal residents of this country.

It may not be possible to adopt comprehensive immigration reform; I do think it’s possible for us to make incremental progress. For me, step one is addressing the Dream Act: the idea of providing a pathway, an opportunity, for youngsters who were brought to this country by their parents and no responsibility whatsoever for being here without legal status, and have done the right thing and graduated from high school, ought to be provided the opportunity to continue their education here. And if they graduate and stay out of trouble, be provided a pathway for citizenship—that ought to be an easy one. So I’m all for taking a look at taking a bite of the apple rather than trying to swallow the whole thing. It seems to be the Dream Act is where we ought to start.

With Congressman Luis Gutierrez

Why is it important to be involved in politics?

When people disengage from their civic responsibilities, when they check out, others check in. And unfortunately that seems to be too often the extremes of both ends of the political spectrum. And that’s not good. What we need to do is have every citizen of this country embrace the responsibility that they have to engage. This is a democracy. Democracy requires participation. It’s very important to ensure that we engage, that we register, that we vote, that we support candidates who reflect our views and that we hold them accountable for doing the right thing for us, rather than simply reflecting the views of, in many cases, an extreme minority. Some suggest that we get the government that we deserve; I think we deserve better. And to get better, we’re going to have to do more engagement.

What’s your favorite part of being involved in politics?

photo source: Mickey Ibarra, founder and chairman of the Latino Leaders Network (LLN) presented Julie Stav with the Eagle Leadership Award at the 30th LLN Luncheon. Photo by Steve Canning.

Helping people; putting people first. That was the theme in 1992 of Bill Clinton: putting people first again. And that’s really what makes politics and public service one of the most noble endeavors of all. When it’s understood that your core responsibility is helping people accomplish all they can with their God-given talents, helping them overcome the obstacles to success, helping someone has a great reward that I enjoyed at the White House. I was in a position, and I realized that—that very few people get an opportunity to do—to help someone.   

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