Illegal Immigration - Another Perspective

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Illegal Immigration - Another Perspective

Dear Sir or Ms:

They still don’t get it. Demagogues like Congressman Tancredo rail about “Illegals” but fail to see the real “ illegals,” the cause for “illegal” immigration, employers. The cause for the immigration enigma is two-fold: employers that knowingly hire undocumented workers, and a bad immigration law.

First, we have to wipe the sleep from our eyes that the media, lobbyists, and Congress have placed there with their bad logic. When you read, hear or see anything about immigration, the estimates are alarming: 12 million undocumented workers in the United States!

The argument and all the attempts to resolve the problem of immigration immediately jumps to illegals from Mexico and Central America. Notice when the electronic media speaks of illegal aliens brown faces appear on our screens. They are talking about Mexican illegal aliens, not the whole 12 million.

There are, if the estimates are anywhere correct, 5.7 million undocumented workers from Mexico and Central America. The rest are from Europe, Africa and elsewhere. Notice too that the discussion in Congress over national security and lack of enforcement never includes the latter half of the problem. Rarely does it mention the other border: Canada which is where the 9/11 terrorists used to enter this country to do their evil deed.

The most salient step in the progression of the argument on immigration, is a clever qualifier that seals off any attempts to truly resolve the part of the formula on what to do about those already here: amnesty. That says that no one is seriously considering a solution to the problem. All solutions discussed to date in conjunction with the guest worker program are a form of amnesty. They are promptly discarded.

The only alternative to amnesty is mass deportation. In terms of cost, that is even more costly than the asinine 2,000-mile solid wall. There is talk even of a double wall (talk is cheap). The racists in the House of Representatives, using the national security argument as justification, would spent your tax dollars in building a fence along the Mexican border. These are the very same legislators that railed against the solid Berlin Wall and applauded President Ronald Reagan when he called for Mr. Nikita Khrushchev to tear it down.

The demagogues got one thing right. One of the causes for millions of workers being in this country without the cover of law is lack of enforcement. But there are two sides to this equation on enforcement: the need-driven campesinos and the exploiters, the employers. The latter have professional associations, chambers of commerce, lobbyists ensuring that the law makers know their place, using campaign contributions as premiums, and using Congressmen as a mouthpieces on this issue.

You can continue to hire more and more border patrol officers ad infinitum, but the key is employer sanctions, enforcement of the law for employers who will wink and turn away when legal documents are being discussed.

They know who is here illegally. They are the ones who ultimately hire them.

These employers want not just good workers - that they can find in this country. They are after workers who will work for chicken feed, do the work of two or six, who won’t complain even if mistreated or exploited, and who don’t require paid benefits.

There are some good employers, to be sure, compassionate, fair, and desirous of making life better for other human beings. These righteous employers too are , nonetheless, violating the law.

If enforcement is the solution, as some say it is, then we already have a law on the books. All it takes is to enforce it.

A bad law is in the making, to replace an existing bad law. The problem of immigration is a bilateral problem, trilateral - if you are color-blind. The southern border is the gateway for the perceived problem, by those who want a scapegoat, illegal immigration from Mexico and Central America. If you are truly concerned about national security, then you look to Canada. That is where the terrorists came in, not the Mexican border.

The existing law is bad because it is woefully unrealistic. If we have 12 million undocumented aliens, as the Pew Hispanic Center says we do – remember 5.7 million from Mexico, Central America, and South America, the Spanish-speaking world, the rest from Europe, Africa and other parts of the world, then the threshold for admission, the numbers assigned to each country for legal entry is wrong, specifically with regard to Mexico, Central and South America, the Spanish-speaking world.

This reminds me of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans and the logic which argues for righteousness. The immigration is a bad law. It creates lawlessness. People who need to feed their families will risk their lives, even, in search of honest work. They will go around, crawl under, climb over any fence. Because they are determined enough and the need is great.

What crime do they commit to rate a felony? They want honest work. They travel hundreds, even thousands of miles, through deserts, snake infested brush country, endangering their lives paying $2-5,000.00 dollars to coyotes, now a major industry that challenges drug smuggling. You remember theWar Against Drugs. The generals and chief strategists in that war are still in Congress. They are now planning a war on illegal aliens. You the taxpayer should draw some comfort in that.

I don’t believe for one minute the argument that illegal immgrants take jobs away from American citizens. The ones who cry the loudest refuse to do these tasks, the work of dulos, clods, servants, to use the Christian nomenclature, like the washing of the feet of the apostles, the Master volunteered to do.

Righteousness calls us to see this problem in the light of the Gospels, especially this week: Holy Week.

Separate fact from fiction. See immigration between continents and ideologies, and the true reason for immigration. Do not let “buzz words” like “amnesty” and “national security” fog your mind. Call or write your legislators. Give them the benefit of your unfettered opinion. Take the lead. There is a void in leadership in this state and this nation on this subject.

This is not the end of this war of words. It is too juicy a subject, cannon fodder for one party against the other for the general election in November 2006 and the presidential election next year.

Mr. G. G. Garcia
Machesney Park, Illinois
prairieyaqui@yahoo.com

I am a writer and former senior staff assistant to a former Governor of Texas, with extensive study and research on the immigration issue. I wrote a column for my hometown weekly newspaper for over a year, from a U.S. native, son of immigrant parents from Mexico, Coahuila and Guanajuato. I also served in the Nixon White House as an associate director of the President’s Cabinet Committee on opportunities for the Spanish Speaking.

Other posts that may interest you at websource: PSL
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Comment: Strange coming from Mr. Garcia, esp. him once being in the Nixon White House. Alas, what do I know since I am ignorant of all that I do not know!?!

I thought what was interesting about his perspective on immigration as a 'hot' social issue was the idea that it also involves non-Mexicans and brings up pertinent facts about the U.S.-Canadian northern border.

We should use our minds, think for ourselves and be open to a diverese variety of different opinions, analyses and perspectives from other people, not believe in stuff because of our colleagues, peer pressure or the official Party line.

De Todos Para Todos





c/z