These days I don’t pay as much attention to what’s going on in my homeland (the USA). I don’t live there, so I’m not bombarded with the media every five minutes and that keeps me safely out of the loop as far as politics are concerned. In college (during the the G.W. Bush years) I was very active politically, I went to protest rallies and sent letters to my senators and congressmen. Now that Obama is in the Whitehouse I’ve laid off a bit. I do still occasionally watch CNN international, so I am aware of the new Arizona law allowing police to detain anyone they “reasonably suspect” of being in the USA illegally. It also makes it a crime not to carry immigration papers. I think this new law is absolutely ridiculous. First off, immigration is a federal issue, not a state issue. Secondly, this is just giving law enforcement the power to arrest anyone. I’m so glad I don’t live in Arizona. Anyway, for the last five years I’ve thought the USA is becoming a police state, and that one of the main reasons why I don’t want to live there, but it wasn’t until today that I got really pissed. Interestingly enough, it was a Facebook profile update that did it. Not one, but two of my friends on Facebook added this as their update:
JUST SO I UNDERSTAND THIS...YOU PASS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YRS HARD LABOR, YOU PASS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET SHOT. YOU PASS THE AMERICAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET A JOB, DRIVER'S LICENSE, ALLOWANCE FOR A PLACE TO LIVE, HEALTH CARE, EDUCATION, BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SPENT SO YOU CAN READ A ...DOCUMENT. WE CARRY PASSPORTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES OR FACE JAIL TIME. REPOST IF YOU AGREE
Ummm I’m sorry, are you retarded? Are you really saying the USA should be more like North Korea and Afghanistan? This is just about the dumbest thing I have ever read. I almost just deleted my FB account right then and there, just so I don’t have to read this stupid ignorant shit anymore.
Illegal immigrants come to the USA TO WORK. They cannot get a driver’s license without proof of legal immigration status. They cannot get welfare, even foodstamps, without a driver’s license. Yes, they can get emergency health care, but what is the alternative? Ask for their papers and if they don’t have them, let them die? I really hope I don’t forget my papers the next time I’m rushed to the hospital.
The United States was founded by immigrants. The people who lived here originally (the MEXICANS and Native Americans) have either assimilated or live on tiny, shitty reservations. I think that people forget that borders are imaginary lines drawn by the people in power. These are people lives we are talking about. All immigrants want is to provide for their families. I think we can all relate to that. They deserve that right. They deserve the right to be legal in the USA. I know, personally, how difficult it is to leave everything and everyone you know behind and try to start a new life in a new country. This should be rewarded! You shouldn’t be thrown in jail for this! Our country was built on the backs of slaves and the hard work of immigrants. Learn the history and don’t be a ignorant asshole.
So for this “immigration problem” I have two solutions:
1.) Make the companies pay. Who should go to jail? The business owners who hire illegal immigrants. Fuck you for hiring people below minimum wage with no workers comp or health insurance and not giving a fuck when they are arrested and thrown in jail. You make me sick.
2.) Legalize the illegals with a guest worker visa. Do a background check (just like I had to do to come to Korea) and give them at least 90 days. After that they have leave. Then they can come back with a new visa. Simple. Many other countries do this. Also, make the immigration process easier and more expedient. It should not take 20 years to become an American citizen. Everyone working in the USA should be paying taxes and have access to workers compensation in case they are hurt.
I really think Americans need to take a long look in the mirror and start treating everyone with respect and dignity. These ridiculous immigration laws make us look absolutely horrible in the eyes of the world, not to mention they are just simply wrong. They make me ashamed to be an American.
What's funny is that so many Americans assume people want to sneak in for their health care. If the health care system is so great, then why is a reform badly needed and why is medical bankruptcy a huge issue? In order to get care, you'd pretty much have to emergency health care -- like anyone's going to deliberately put themselves in danger like that to get "free health care."
ReplyDeleteThat accusation alone makes me want to discredit those people on the spot.
You are so right RE making employers responsible. Nobody would enter USA illegally if they couldn't get work.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to crack down on illegal immigration. Give automatic citizenship to any "illegal" who turns in their boss for hiring "illegals." Throw the bosses in jail. There. Problem solved.
ReplyDeleteas an american and one who in 2 and a half years been to 49 of 50 states to see what makes my country great and less than great,you op are full of shit! illegals from mexico (and other countries)are getting dls in places like wa state. i know this because i worked with many of them.for less than 11 an hour.because employers seek them to work.cuz their cheap.they get welfare , medicade and if they are lucky a woman pregnant to get citizen status.
ReplyDelete@Valerie. Actually, I think you missed the citations in my post. They will show you that your claims are incorrect. And you can't become a citizen just by having a child in the USA. That child would be a citizen, but the parent would not, unless they went through the proper immigration procedures. Thanks for stopping by though!
ReplyDeleteI can only speak about Southern California, since I live here in the area. I think the issues with illegals have a lot to do with these people having children, who grow up to be in gangs. There are over 700 gangs just in Southern Cal, and there is a resentment that these types of people are not raising their sons or daughters properly, and they turn out to be a burden on society, where we need more police, more security, and more medical facilities because of the violence.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing to me that conservatives claim to be against privacy invasions like the government collecting census data or DirtyPhoneBook but want the government to become grossly invasive in asking people for IDs and invading the workplace to scan for Mexicans.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it, this is just about racism. Talk about gross hypocrisy.
Great post. I find some of the comments disturbing though. I have spent the last year doing research about war era anti Japanese movements in the united states and elsewhere and find a lot of correlations. First of all the idea that any immigrant working for less than minimum wage is scaming the system absolutely reprehensable. How is it that we blame illegal immigrants for ruining the economy when the millionares, excuse me billionares, nearly destroyed te economy via a mix of toxic assets that would be considered massive fraud in any other industry.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, this law like Japanese internment functions via a racist profiling procedure designed to persecute not only immigrant non- citizens but American born citizens as well. This law violates numerous constitutional amendments. For instance, the fourteenth amendment, which was passed in an attempt to prevent slavery from returning to the united states. Our democracy can only work when all citizens are equal under the law and when all guests are treated humanely. Before anyone paints mexicans as greedy parasites they should remember the US government began Mexican migration into the us via the bracero program, which by the way helped feed americans during world war 2 and after.
Finally the argument that foreign labor drives down wages is as old as slavery. No one has ever been able to prove it. Unproven as it may be however, it has been used by nativist groups as an excuse to terrorize immigrants like when anti-Chinese labor groups drove Chinese workers out of Tacoma by burning down their homes in the 1880s.
Please do not ressurect institutionalized racism in America again. We fought to long and hard against it in favor of personal freedom, for a century and a half, to let it go unchallenged right before our very eyes.
@ R A Hegwood. Hell of a comment. You sir, hit the nail on the head.
ReplyDelete@R.A. Hegwood. Thank you for your well thought out remarks! As a fellow historian, I always appreciate a reflection on how history influences the present. It's easy to forget, especially if we never learn about it in the first place. :) Amanda
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