Immigration

Chapter 1

This is a subject that is hard to talk about because some people want to make it about race. For me it has nothing to do with race but everything to do with what is right and what is wrong. This country was built on immigration. People came here from all over the world to make a better life for themselves and their families. That was good for them and good for the country. They wanted to be Americans. They didn’t want to be Germans or Japanese or French living in The United States. They wanted to be Americans. That is the way it has to be if immigration is going to work. That is the way this country was started. Now that this country is up and running and I must say, very successful, many people still want to come here and make a better life. Once upon a time all you had to do was get here and start your new life. That’s not the case anymore. Now there are rules of law for immigration into this country.

Some people who want to come here will follow the law and wait to come here legally. Others will and have come here illegally because they want a better life. I understand them wanting a better life. I believe most people want a better life. I just believe it must be done the legal way. The other option is to allow anyone and everyone to come here to become citizens whenever they want. I don’t think anyone would think that is a good idea. We can’t just let everyone in. That would be a recipe for disaster, given the current terrorist climate that exists today. Unfortunately while many seek to destroy this country and all that it stands for. Many others only want to make a better life and call it home. If there was a way to differentiate between the two, open boarders would be great. The problem is that it can’t be done. Another problem is - there are people who follow the law and do all that is asked of them to become citizens. It would be very unfair to them if we allow some to become citizen when they entered illegally along with millions of others. If we grant amnesty to the illegals that are here now, what incentive would others have to follow the law?

I was watching the news and they were interviewing a man who said he been in this country, illegally, from Mexico for more than 40 years. He was married and had children but still illegal. The part that upset me the most was that he needed a translator. How can anyone live, work and raise a family in this country for more than 40 years, not be able to speak English. The answer is because we make it very easy for them, almost everything is bilingual. If an immigrant truly wants to be one of us then they must be like us. That means they must learn to speak the language. If we provide all or most information in multiple languages, there is less incentive to learn English. Language is the one thing that binds or unifies a society. This is also a safety concern for me. This is a true story that happened while I was in the military and it relates. I was working in the emergency room at an air force base one weekend. The rest of the hospital for the most part was closed. An Asian woman in her late 50s or early 60s came in clutching her chest. She didn’t speak English so we had to assume she was having chest pain. We ran an EKG, drew blood and took her vitals. We were guessing at the language she spoke and making calls to find a translator. It took some time but a translator was found and came from home into the E.R. to bridge the language gap. When all was said and done, the lady had indigestion. The point is this could have been a life threatening situation. If we put more pressure on people living here to learn the language it could save their life and we all could be better off.

Chapter 2

It is hard to have a rational conversation with some people on this subject because passions run very high. People that believe in amnesty for those that are here illegally like to call those who oppose them, racist. Being called a racist in America is a very bad thing. The problem is when you are called a racist it is hard to prove that you are not. Most people will back down to avoid the racist label. Since it is just me putting my thoughts down on paper and I know in my heart I’m not a racist, I will not worry about it. If this gets published then that will be a horse of a different color.

In general there are two groups of people that support illegal immigration and amnesty for them. People of Latin decent and those who wish to exploit them. I’m sure there are people outside those groups who are in favor of amnesty but I am speaking in general. I have asked people who favor amnesty if they think we should have immigration laws and they always say yes. I ask if they think people should be able to go back and forth across the boarders as they wish without boarder security and most will say no. When you break it down and ask the questions one at a time most people will not favor illegal immigration. They want to help poor people coming here to support their families. I understand that and I too would like to assist them. I also understand that we can’t help everyone. If we as a nation are not secure we will not be able to help anyone and that includes ourselves.

Most of the attention is focused on the Mexican people. Some would say all of the attention is focused on the Mexican people. I’m sure others are here illegally. I think we should target all people. Maybe Mexican people are the majority of people coming across the southern boarder but they are not the only ones here illegally. There are people who fly into this country legally and never leave. There are people who drive across the boarder legally and decide to stay. No matter how they get here, if someone is here illegally and we allow them to stay, it is wrong. If we target one group of people while leaving others alone when both are breaking the law, them we are wrong. If we are truly a nation of laws then those laws must apply to all people equally. If the legal system allows people from Europe to stay here while targeting Mexican people, then the system is wrong. If people from Asia are allowed to stay and the people from Mexico are not, then the system is broken. If people from Africa are allowed to illegally migrate to the United States and justice turns a blind eye then that is injustice to us all. A great man once said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

I wish I could say that I had all the answers to all the problems that face this great nation, but I don’t. This country has some very complicated issues it must deal with. As far as I can see there are no simple answers. Immigration has to be near or at the top. It is not as complex in general as it is made out to be. It only gets that way when it is broken down to individual families. I will attempt to break it down and explain it the way I see it.

People come here because the feel the can earn more money here than they can in their home land. They need it to provide for their families. I have nothing but love for people who want to provide and make a better life for their family. The problem is it must be done the right way. When it is done the wrong way people can and will use that against them. They will be paid less than what is legally allowed for the labor they are providing. They can be forced to work in unsafe environments. They may be forced to work longer hours then what is legally allowed. They can’t complain because they themselves are breaking the law may be forced to return to their homeland. Even though they are not being treated fairly it is better than what they have back home so they will stay quiet. The people who employ them know this and are making more money by pay illegal wages. This is where it gets complicated. The families and people enter this country illegally. They settle down, give birth and raise a family. The child or children by birth are American citizens and the parents are not. The question then is should the child or children be deported with the parents. Some would say this is a difficult case and I don’t think it is at all. The child or children should go with the parents unless they have someone here to care for them. Some would say it is unfair because the child is a citizen. I say when the child is old enough to care for themselves they can return. Parents are separated from their children everyday because the parent broke the law. For some reason there are people who think this is different. The child may be 9 or 10 years of age and have been here all their life. They have a home, in school, and have friends here. I agree with that argument because it does seem like it is unfair. The thing about it is that life itself at times seems unfair. When you have laws and rules that apply to everyone and some choose to break them due to their perceived necessity. The person or people being caught may feel the system is unfair. My example for this is rather simple. Let’s say I have three children. I have been in my home for fifteen years and never been late on any of my bills. My wife and I along with my fictional children all love our home. Now let’s say my wife and I both lost our jobs. Without having the money to pay our bills we would have to leave our home that we all love dearly. We would have to leave because there are rules to living in a home and raising a family. There are rules we must follow in life itself. In this case, we must pay the mortgage or rent each month to stay in the home. Even though we want to continue to live there, without the money we would be forced to leave. If we all only follow the rules and laws that are convenient to us this country would look a lot different. We can not allow people to break the law because we feel sorry for the law breakers. Everyone feels sorry for someone. People who are in favor of illegal immigration like to point at the children because they know that is a soft spot for most Americans. When you make decisions based solely on emotion I believe you will make the wrong choice.

Chapter 3

It is funny to me when I hear people describe illegal immigrants as hard working, law abiding people. They may be hard working but I find it difficult to call them law abiding. They broke the law when they entered the country. They break the law every day that they stay in this country. They break the law every time they work without permission from the federal government. Those are just the laws that I know about, there may be others. I without a doubt agree that most are hard working. Here in Las Vegas I see Mexican people doing manual labor and that is not easy work. I just refuse to ever say that the ones that are here illegally are law abiding when they are breaking laws every single day. I will say that if you ignore the laws that the illegal immigrants have broken, then they are law abiding people. When you think about it the same can be said about everyone, including the people in prison. When you ignore the laws they have broken then they become obeyers of the law. If you agree with that then the next question I would ask is. What makes this group of people so special that they should be given amnesty? After you answer that question, I have another. Should all people in the United States illegally be given amnesty or only the Mexican people? Still more questions. Do they have to be from what is considered a poor country? Is Mexico really a poor country or poorly governed? What should the parameters be that allow a person or group of people to willingly break the law? Keep in mind this is federal law. Last question is do laws even matter?

Some would say that illegals don’t take work away from Americans. I disagree with that and I will tell you a true story to show that is not the case. I know someone who needed to have their front and back yard landscaped. They told me they called a few companies and got estimates. The cheapest one said $1000 for the front yard and $4000 for the back yard. The estimates came from licensed contractors. Before they decided on a contractor to do the work a friend told them about a group of illegals that would do the work really cheap. After looking at some work the men had done and liked what they saw they decided to use them. They contacted the workers and agreed on a price of $2,500 including tip. They used these men, saved quite a bit of money and were happy with the work they did. If these men were not around a legal company would have made around $5000. Because of this story I know for a fact that illegal immigrants do cause Americans work. It is my understanding that this group of men did several jobs in that neighborhood so it caused Americans more money than I previously stated. Therefore when people say illegals do the work Americans will not do. That statement is not complete. What they should say is Illegals do the work that Americans will not do for the same price.

When you look at the way the economy is you can’t fault people for trying to save money. Still that doesn’t make it right but I understand. If the economy continues to get worse people will more than likely hire illegals more frequently? People try to cut corners and save as much money as they can. Hiring these workers allows them that luxury. Even some of the people that are against illegal immigration will hire them if they are hurting for money and they need to get the work done. I include myself in that statement. I have never used them but if the conditions were bad enough I would think about using them and I am strongly against them being here. I don’t believe I am alone in the way I feel.

When I look at the people from Mexico I see people I see people who want a better life. Their government doesn’t provide much in terms of social services. There is not much work available to them at livable wages. Social services and wages is something they can get here in the United States without much effort. They can make more money here illegally than they can legally in Mexico. The Mexican government doesn’t force the employer to pay them a fair wage. The Mexican government doesn’t force the employer to provide a safe work place. I don’t claim to be an expert on Mexico. I have only been to Tijuana. When you cross the boarder headed to Tijuana you see lots of slum looking areas and I can understand people wanting to leave. I know people who vacation in Mexico and they talk about how nice it is in places like Cancun, Guadalajara and Acapulco. That makes me wonder why the illegals don’t migrate to the nicer places in their country. If it is their government they have a problem with then why don’t they have marches in Mexico like they do here in the United States. It is my understanding that Mexico is a democracy in theory. On paper Mexico is a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches similar to that of the United States. Senators are elected to six-year terms. The congress is composed of a senate and a chamber of deputies. Of the 128 senate seats, 96 are filled by direct election and 32 are chosen by proportional representation from party lists. The president is elected by popular vote for one six-year term and cannot be reelected. Consecutive reelection is also prohibited for all legislators. In the lower chamber, 300 deputies are directly elected to single-member districts and 200 are on basis of proportional party representation. Deputies serve three-year terms. It is an openly corrupt system where bribery is the way things get done. Much like that of the United States only they are more open about it. As bad as their system is one would think they would vote to change the way things are done there rather than come here to change the way things are done here. I even saw a man being interviewed as an illegal immigrant holding a Mexican flag. He was saying through a translator that he is a proud Mexican man and loves his country. All I could think while watching him was if you love your country so much and truly proud of it then why did you leave. If all that he was saying was true why didn’t he stay and try to fix the things he perceives to be wrong or broken in his beloved country. Like I said I am not an expert on Mexico or the laws of the country. It just seems that if the people from Mexico can come here and organize themselves and hold rallies and marches. They can organize peaceful protests for the rights they want in cities across the United States of America. If they can do all of this here do you not think they should have the same passion in their homeland of Mexico? In their defense maybe they have tried or they are trying and it has not made it to the news or things that I have read here in the states. If they are trying and the government is suppressing them then maybe our government should get involved. GOD knows our government gets involved in everything else. In general I am not in favor of interfering in other countries affairs but when their policies or injustices directly create problems for the United States them we must get involved. The best interest of this nation and its citizens should and must always be paramount. That is something I feel our political leaders have lost sight of. That short sightedness is mostly due to special interest groups and the people they represent. Their desire to profit off the backs and labor of the illegal immigrants is the only thing that matters to them. It is in their best interest for things in Mexico to stay the same if not to get worse.

Let’s face it, there are lots of us who would do the same thing if we were in the shoes of the Mexican people and I include myself. I’m not saying we all would do it but many of us would. If you are hungry enough and feel you have no other options. Many would steal rather than starve too death. When you add in seeing your family suffer, your choice becomes much easier. In most cases people will rationalize it in their minds that no one is being hurt. Even when they do realize that someone is or could be affected by their actions. They can still rationalize and say they are only one person breaking the law so the harm is not that bad. The problem is when you multiply that slight hurt by millions of people the hurt becomes great. Great harm is being done to this country by illegal immigration. It is difficult for me to understand that our political leaders don’t see this. Then again maybe I am not seeing the picture correctly. As I have said before I am a very liberal person and I feel sorry for the Mexican people but the way they have chosen to deal with their problems is wrong. The answer is not to illegally migrate to the United States. The Answer must be to stay home make the necessary changes in Mexico. My analogy for this is: my neighbor has lots of things wrong with their house. Broken windows, leaking roof, doors will not close and broken locks as well as many other things. They are behind on their mortgage and don’t have the money to catch up or make the much needed repairs to their home. One day when I get home from work I find that they have broken into my home and refuse to leave. I ignore them at first then they start to invite their family and friends to join them. Then they start to tell me how I need to add more rooms to my house and fix things that are going wrong with my house, like the windows, doors, locks and leaking roof. It is hard for me to believe that anyone would think that this would be okay. Anyone and everyone would be outraged if this was to happen to them. I find no difference between that example and illegal immigration.

These people are poor and they want to improve their way of life. They want to provide for their families. I see nothing wrong with that. The Mexicans are a proud people and they want to support their fellow countrymen. I totally understand and respect that. What I don’t understand are those people who support those who willingly break the law because the law stands between them and financial success. The law is there for a reason. If we are not going to enforce the law, then those laws should be removed from the books.

Chapter 4

Have you ever asked yourself why the law is not being enforced? All the other laws are being enforced, as far as I know. The only answer I can come up with is: someone is making lots of money by ignoring the problem. Think about it: if you owned a business and hired illegals, you could save lots of money. You could save on no health insurance, no taxes, and no worry about sick pay. They can pay below minimum wage. Also there is no paper trail with illegals. So as you can see there are advantages to using illegals. I don’t think the savings are going to be passed on to the consumer. The owner is going to sell their product for as much as possible. It is not illegal to get as much money as you can, but I think it is wrong. Just because it is legal doesn’t make it right. If people would do the right thing we would not need the laws. The thing is that laws are not always right, because people make them. Also, the lives of people are so complicated and that makes it difficult. The laws can’t be fair to everyone but should reflect the needs of the population as a whole. I am yet to hear any government official explain how not enforcing the existing laws is beneficial to the population. You don’t hear it done, because it is not fair and it is not right.

I’m not sure what the solution should be. I don’t think the local police should be out trying to round up all the illegals. I don’t think they should be checking the legal status of every person on routine traffic stops. If it is things like, DUI, car chase, Assault & Battery, Robbery or anytime an arrest has to be made; that is when I would want the legal status checked. I would also go as far as to say if someone applies for social services, the social security number should be checked. If the number and name does not match, then the federal government should be notified. It could be an immigration issue or identity theft.

If you are a business owner, you should always match the name and social security number. Again, when they do not match, the proper notification must be made and documented. When this is not done the business owners should be required to pay a heavy fine for each employee with a bad social security number that was not checked. If all of this is done, it will not get rid of all the illegals but most of them would return home. I would not want to spend taxpayer’s money to hunt illegals. It would be much cheaper and easier using existing laws to pressure them into returning to their home country. Even doing all of that I’m sure we will still have some here. I know it is not a perfect plan. I don’t and would not want to hunt them down like animals. Just to pressure them into returning home. It would also catch some of the people out there committing identity theft. I’m not saying that illegals are hard criminals, but they are breaking the law by being in this country.

What I don’t understand is the regular, everyday person like me. We don’t, as they say, have a dog in this fight. Why do people like me support illegal immigration. I know we are a very giving people in general. We like to help others. This is a good thing and would love for that to continue. We should always want to welcome all who want to come and assimilate. We should want to help those who are less fortunate than we are. We should not want to assist others to the detriment of ourselves. This is one of the times that I don’t think many people are looking at the big picture. We all need to look at the big picture. We would all agree that this issue is really hurting us. This is not about race. It is about what is right and what is wrong. We as citizens of this really great country must do the right thing. We can not look to the government or political leaders to do anything. Everyone should know by now that big business owns the government and the people elected to run it. That includes both parties, Democratic and Republican. The parties are not going to help us. We must do this for ourselves. We must come together as one. We must think for ourselves. We must not go along just because someone associated with our political party said so. We must pay attention to those who support this issue and vote against them. If there is a business that supports illegal immigration then we must not do business with that company. The only thing that companies care about is making money. They don’t care about people. The only way they will respond is if they start to lose money. When they find out that they are losing money, they will make changes. If enough people care about this country and make it known, companies will respond. I know I can not change anything by myself, but I am doing what I can.

When Exxon spilled oil and didn’t clean it up, I stopped buying gas from them. To this day I still don’t buy gas from any station that has an Exxon sign on it. If more people felt the same way I do and did the same thing I am doing: what do you think Exxon would do? If I have a big problem with what a company is doing or something it has done, I don’t do business with them.
I don’t think I would ever hire an illegal to do work for me; even as bad as times are, and it would save me money. I would not hire them because I feel it would be wrong. It would be wrong because of what I believe in. More important, in my eyes, it would be wrong for the country.

Chapter 5

We as Americans in the past had pride in our love of our country. Now I’m not so sure anymore. Now it seems like we have more pride in our political parities, than we have in our country. I for one am proud to say that I am an American first and above all else. The only things that exceed my love of country are my love of God, my wife and family. I don’t call myself “African-American”. I call myself an American. I have only one citizenship. I define my race as black, but I am one hundred percent and nothing but American. Even though I love this country very much, I can still see that there are many things wrong with it. I love it enough to want to see it doing better. I think it says a lot for us when people from other countries think enough of this country to want to move here. They are saying our country is better than theirs. It is so much better; they are giving up their homeland to become one of us. That should be a compliment. The thing is; it is only a compliment when it is done the right way. I put lots of emphasis on the “right way” part. If someone looks at my house and yard and likes it and wants to see inside, that is a compliment. If someone breaks in just to look around, even if they don’t steal anything, this is an insult to me. Some might say the illegals broke into the country, not my home. I feel that this country is my home. If you really respect this country, you also respect its laws. Our laws are what make this country special.

For many people this has become a touchy subject. As I have said before, when some people talk about this, it gets turned around on them and it becomes a race issue. If you really listen to people talk about it, you will find that it only becomes a race issue when the defenders have lost the discussion. People can’t have a discussion and exchange ideas anymore. Now when they talk they are trying to show you where you are wrong and they are right. If they think they are wrong, it is a blow to their ego. It should not be about ego. It should be about exchanging ideas and understanding how other people think or feel about the subject at hand. I’m sure everyone knows someone who is not capable of having a discussion; with them it always turns into an argument.

It amazes me how American citizens will rally to stop people from speaking out against illegal immigration. They will get together to suppress a citizens’ first amendment right to speak freely. As I watch this being acted out on my television screen, what I am seeing is a group of American citizens, not illegal’s, trying to prevent another group of American citizen from speaking out against noncitizens breaking the law. Why would anyone want to stop me from saying that I don’t want people to be free to break the law without any repercussion? Most of the people who protest are in what I call sheep mode. They are just following the crowd. Most of them could not put together two sentences without repeating talking points. It’s not their fault. Most people are followers, not leaders. Most people will think for themselves to a point. Once they are within a group they stop thinking and start following. If we would all think for ourselves, using rational thought, void of emotion; most of our problems would go away. That still would not stop our political leaders from trying to bend us over.

Recently the Democrats tried to pass an amnesty bill for illegal immigrants by attaching it to a war funding bill. This bill would have allowed illegal farm workers to have a path to citizenship and stay in this country. If this is really important, why does it need to be attached to another bill? Why does it not stand alone? I don’t believe it takes a rocket scientist to figure out who is paying the politicians to push that bill. Farmers pay the illegals next to nothing while saving millions by not using American citizens. It is not hard to understand why the farmers want to keep illegal’s in this country. If the illegal’s leave they will have to pay citizens a fair wage. They don’t want to do that and they don’t have to. As long as Democrats and Republican leaders are for sale, business will continue to buy.

The Mexican illegal’s are in a unique position. The Republicans want to use them to make lots of money for them and will fight to keep them in the country as long as possible. The Democrats want to use them to get their votes and will fight to keep them in the country as long as possible. I don’t believe either party cares about them as a people when there are no cameras around.