Toss 'Em Back Across the River
Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 08:03PM Toss 'em back across the river
Controlling anger has become a major problem for me in the face of all of the media hype about the immigration issue. It is difficult to accept the fact that there are so many insensitive, calloused people in this country. Look at the recent story of the high school student in New Mexico who was deported during her senior year. Her family had been residents in this country for years, had been law-abiding, with family oriented values and exemplary work ethics---then to have everything they had worked for destroyed ... inexcusable in this nation.
When posts and comments related to the immigration crisis are read, one wonders how many of the authors of those statements have ancestors who were immigrants once. Our immigration laws should be enforced: I think everyone will agree to that. But let's face it. They haven't been adequately enforced for over a half-century. Working alongside immigrants has been a way of life n this country for years. These people didn't wake up some morning and decide to break the law--laws that they didn't even know existed. They simply came here to work and make a few dollars to support their families.
There are many options for dealing with the immigration problem. Building walls that intimidate our neighbors is not an acceptable solution. It creates ill-will that will, in the future, be far more costly than the immigrant problem. For the immediate future we should use our resources to document illegal and legal immigrants; develop programs with an emphasis on overcoming language barriers and furthering individual educational needs. We can filter those individuals who have shown sincere intention of achieving citizenship and offering them a fast-tract to becoming legal citizens. For the others: either make an effort to be good citizens or face deportation. Does this equate to the so-called "amnesty" approach? I don't know, but my experience with immigrants has been that they are not criminals. They want a better life and we should do everything we can to assist them in achieving their dream. Otherwise, maybe we should tear down the Statue of Liberty
Immigration
Reader Comments (1)
Very interesting commentary. I think what scares me about this issue is the mob-like mentality, to round everyone up and just ship them off, even if they are making positive contributions to society, despite being illegal. There are alternative ways to solve this, as you suggest.