Dispelling Immigration Myths & America's Obsession with Illegals

Immigration Myth: Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented immigrant" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist". I understand that the terminology is a bit of semantics since an "illegal alien" is someone that is here in contradiction to the laws of this country. In many cases, their school, work, or travel visa has run out, and they haven't returned to their home country. Obviously in some other cases, illegal immigrants arrive here on makeshift boats or cross the US/Canada or Mexico/US borders. Nonetheless, I don't like the quote because everyone that is here in this country with the exception of the Native Americans is here because their ancestors were immigrants; many of whom came here both legally and illegally from Italy, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Scotland, Bulgaria, so forth, and so on. Prior to the mass emigrations of the 1700's-1940's many of those who emigrated to the United States in the 1600's murdered the Native Americans who were the original legal immigrants to this country and oppressed the Africans through slavery until the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. That is the definition of "illegal immigration"--the displacement and/or forced subjugation of peoples who are the occupants of a geographical region. However, when most Americans speak of illegal immigration, they are stereotypically referring to "those" Mexicans and Haitians, among the poorest but hardest working immigrant groups. I have experienced both sides of the legal/illegal debate, so I'm a bit more passionate about the subject than some might be.



The United States will never seriously put "undocumented immigrants" out of this country because they are an unlimited source of cheap labor. Immigrants working on the migrant farms in Florida and working as hotel maids and housekeepers for the rich work those jobs because they can't get any other employment, despite their level of education in their home country. The owners of capital in this country love having millions of "undocumented immigrants" because they can pay them $1-2/hour to pick strawberries, oranges, tomatoes, etc., "give" them substandard migrant housing which they have to pay for (if you live in Florida you've may have seen these shacks), don't have to provide benefits, time off, education expenses, and avoid payroll taxes by paying them "under the table". Those in this country who love to talk about kicking out all the illegals would find it expensive to shop for groceries if they were paying $2/tomato instead of $.75-.85 which is probably what it would cost if the average American was performing such slave labor. Not to mention, the American workers would unionize which would drive up the price further while protecting the workers from employment abuse and work hazards which lead to on-the-job injuries.



Now I must ask, are immigrants of any ilk, not humans too? Do they not deserve to live free of the threat of death for daring to express their religious or political convictions in their home country? Do they not deserve to allow their family to enjoy a decent education and live a life better than that of their parents? Are we not all God's children? To answer "No" to these questions because of some "holier than thou", Eurocentric self-righteousness speaks to the fact that we are always looking for someone to hate because they are different or not as deserving as us. It is no longer politically correct to oppress those of African descent, so Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and the like are the "new Negroes".

The bottom line is that while certainly, being in any country illegally is against the law, we must not fault those whose purpose for getting into this country is making a better life for themselves and their families. The majority of these folks are not hardened criminals by any means. As a matter of fact, many of them have fled from political, social & economic persecution in their own countries. But once they are safely in the United States, they begin making a new life for themselves. Many of them through hard work put themselves and their children through school and work menial, back-breaking jobs which ordinary Americans would not take in order for their families to survive. As a matter of fact, immigrants to America save and send more money back to their families in their home country that in any other country in the world. with Haitian immigrants sending $1 billion abroad annually. They believe that although they may not actually possess the necessary documentation--i.e., valid visa/passport, social security card, green card, and certainly citizenship) they have the audacity to believe that the words of "The New Colossus" held inside the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island apply to them:

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, 1883

For more on America's obsession with "those people" refer to my earlier blog, "Vote for US, We'll Protect You from the Immigrants (October 10, 2008)".