Does this make me a bad liberal?
I've been pondering the immigration issue for the last several months since it's been in the news. Perhaps, being an immigrant myself, I am more qualified to comment on the issue than many of the pundits who are doing what essentially amounts to spouting well-cloaked racist gibberish.
I'd like to begin by saying that I have a long track record, not only on this website but in real life, of being as big a bleeding heart as they come.
Nevertheless, I'm having an strangely difficult time reconciling my views about immigration with the rest of my world view, yet oddly I can find no compelling reason to change it.
Read On....
I am a small business owner. Many of my employees are Hispanic (let's face it, the current debate isn't about immigration, it's about Mexicans). A rather large proportion of my business comes from Hispanic clients. I live in a town that is nearly 50% Hispanic. My significant other is half Mexican. And as I said, I'm an immigrant myself....the non-white kind. What I mean to say is, the basis for my view on the matter is not due to my dislike or some deeply held bias against an ethnic group.
My father comes from a large family. One of his sisters emigrated to the United States with her husband a little over 40 years ago. The year I was born, my aunt - an American citizen by then - applied for a "green card" for all her siblings.
I don't know how much you know about how the immigration system works...but it's a complex system which takes into account, among other things, the country of origin and how many visas are allotted to it based on the flow of immigrants and the "category" under which you apply for immigration - sibling spouse, parents etc.
When I was ten years old, my family's turn finally came to be granted a permanent resident visa. Even then it wasn't automatic or even a simple process.
We had to go through a medical exam to ensure we had been vaccinated against diseases and that we weren't carrying any diseases to the U.S. (If one is HIV positive, for example, a visa is not granted). We had to get fingerprinted and had an extensive background check performed by the American (FBI) as well as local authorities at the behest of the American Embassy. We had to prove that we were fluent in English.
We had to prove, and this is a rather subjective process open to interpretation by the immigration officer "interviewing" you, that we had the intent of establishing residence in the U.S. and severing ties to the old country.
My aunt, our "sponsor" had to certify that she had the wherewithal to support us and ensure that we wouldn't become destitute or become a "public charge" upon our arrival to the United States.
There were many other details, several "interviews", many forms to fill out and fees to be paid. The law requires that, what was INS back then, be self-funded and not a burden on taxpayers...which meant that a lot of the fees were quite hefty, especially given the exchange rate between the two currencies. There were also some - for the lack of a better way to put it - bribes, essentially the grease that kept the wheels turning...instead of, say, having a consular officer put our file at the bottom of the pile.
The final step is when an American consular officer - as opposed to several locals who perform a lot of the vetting - sits down and decides if he wants to let you in to the country...if you're worthy. Lucky for us, we were.
From the time we were notified that it was "our turn" to get processed for an immigrant visa - a process that took ten years by itself - it was another two years until we had the visa in our hands.
All that to say, that my family went through a very arduous process to have the right to call this country our home.
And now we have millions of Mexicans who just stroll over the border and demand the right to be treated equally. That's quite unfair.
I don't care what color your skin is or what you call the bread you have for dinner. If you want to come to this country - a place I've made my home and a place you want to call home too - do it legally...pay the respect due to the place that allows you to have a new beginning regardless of your beginnings in life.
It doesn't help that the bulk of these illegal immigrants are exactly the sort of people we DON'T need more of...generally uneducated without any skill or expertise in any particular line of work or trade, other than general manual labor.
There is no medical examination, no vetting process, no background checks.
The bulk of these migrants also belong the the lower socioeconomic classes - not a bad thing by itself...but generally those groups have a higher crime rate, less education, less desire for upward mobility via the hard-work route, a higher instance of depending on the social welfare system etc.
There is a stark contrast between the illegals and the immigrants processed and admitted via the regular immigration process, like my family. Yes, all immigrants, both the legal and illegal kind, want a better life for themselves and their families...but that's where the similarities come to a screeching halt!
But you know what, I'm willing to ignore all of that. The liberal in me forgives a father for breaking a law when all he wants is a better life for his children.
But here's what I can't forgive. In the town I live in, there's Jewel, the grocery store and there's Carnicerias Jimenez - complete with the Mexican flag on its roof and signs in Spanish in the windows - where the "other" half of the town shops.
There's also the official school sponsored dance - like in every school across the country - and there is, what has come to be known as the "Mexican prom".
Cinco de Mayo - the entire town comes together for a celebration...4th of July, only half the town gathers.
I know that, as a country, over the past couple of decades we've gone from being a melting pot to being a salad bowl - and again the liberal in me thinks that has been a good thing, by and large.
But what we have here isn't a salad...it's a handful of plates, each dedicated to a different ingredient of a salad, but kept separate.
"These" people don't even appear to be making an effort to assimilate...to jump into the bowl with the others so that we may all learn from each other, grow closer together as a nation, and bring out the best in ourselves and others....if anything they seem to be making a distinct effort to the contrary and a statement that they are different and that's how they like it!
These people have the audacity to demand that their grievances be redressed, that they be given the gift of fairness and a legitimization of their standing from a system, and a people whose rules and laws they have deliberately and willfully disobeyed and usurped.
They have the gall to demand "their" language be given equal status and importance as "ours", while refusing to give the same consideration in return, by learning to communicate in a language that binds us all together as citizens of this country.
Yes, I realize that complicating the situation are many shades-of-gray situations like illegal immigrants with children born in the United States..children who are American Citizens. Or the sick or the elderly....and on an on the list goes.
But I don't care. Send them back. Tell them that we're a fair nation, a kind nation...but also a nation of laws that applies those laws fairly and with kindness and if they want to call this nation their home, they must obey the same laws as the millions of immigrants before them.
I say this knowing full-well that my "send them back" rhetoric sounds an awful lot like the fight-them-there-so-they-don't-kill-us-here rationale for war on "terror".
But we really are arguing shades of gray when we're complicit in the breaking of the law by affording the illegal immigrants rights they do not have because they broke the very law that they seek protection under or when we're bashing the current administration for spying on the American citizens illegally.
From where I'm sitting, it's a matter of deciding if we're going to be a fair and lawful nation or not.
Does this make me a bad liberal?