Monday, October 10, 2005

One Confused Mexican

As a Mexican-American, I can't come to grips with the whole illegal immigration issue. It causes some mixed emotion and thinking. On the one hand, it should be stopped. On the other hand, it does bring good things. I'll give more details on both. I'll also go into what the real problem is and why it won't be solved. With any luck, this will confuse the hell out of you too.

Illegal Immigration Should be Stopped

There is always some ignorant Mexican who points out, "you want to stop illegals? How do you think you got here?" There used to be a brazero program that allowed Mexicans to cross into the U.S. to work. Believe it or not, Mexicans used to be able to come across the border without the need for a visa or other requirements like we have today. My grandparents on my father's side are from Texas. My dad was born in Uvalde. My grandparents on my mother's side were Mexican. They both came over to Texas to work under the worker program. My grandfather returned to Mexico, my grandmother stayed. She continued to work in the fields as a migrant worker. My mother was born in Donna. She was also a migrant, obviously. My grandmother found whatever means she had to legalize her status in the U.S. It took her years and plenty of money to get it done. That's how I'm here. I too was a migrant. I worked alongside plenty of illegals in my youth, both here and up north. When my family was too poor to make ends meet, we lived in Reynosa. I think my family and I paid our dues as Mexicans. I should not have to point this out. Yet, there is always some Aztlan asshole who questions my understanding of what it's like to be Mexican. Expletive withheld.

So, having said that, we should not have illegal immigrants. My father's side of the family, as far as I can tell, were already here. My mother's side of the family, came to this country and got naturalized. Before dying here, my grandmother even went so far as to become a citizen. She was able, with a lot of sacrifice, time, and effort, to be a legal immigrant. She was a single mother in a foreign land who spoke only Spanish. If she could do it, other immigrants can certainly come to the U.S. legally too.

My reasons for wanting to stop illegal immigration are several. First, Congress decided that people who fill out certain papers, pay certain fees, and jump through certain hoops can become resident aliens and eventually citizens. This is law. If persons circumvent the law, they are doing something illegal. By the way, by law, people, including us citizens, are required to enter into the United States via a designated gateway. If you cross the river or climb through the fence separating Mexico and the U.S., you are breaking the law and are subject to prosecution. Of course, the injustice is that it only applies to citizens. Illegals cross often and are merely detained, processed, and deported so that they can try again. If you are a citizen and cross into the U.S. illegally, you're screwed. That's the basis of the first reason that illegal immigration should be stopped. Congress went through the trouble of defining who should cross where and how. Anything outside of that is illegal. Illegal aliens are already starting off on the wrong foot. They are breaking a law. Why have the damn law if it is insignificant?

The second reason for opposing illegal immigration is that the people who come over have no chance to live the American dream. Illegals can't get credit, can't vote, can't demand higher wages, can't invest for retirement, and generally live with no sigificance. So, I oppose illegal immigration out of compassion. I want immigrants to be able to participate in things like voting, saving for retirement, home ownership, the freedom to walk without fear of deportation, and the ability to demand better wages with the freedom to change jobs if necessary. Often the Aztlan jerks believe that allowing unfettered immigration is compassionate. How is that when it condemns the immigrants to live like fugitives? They would argue that there should be no law making these people illegal. You know, there are many things that should not be, but are. This is not Utopia. In my opinion, I should be paid about $70k per year because people earning that much often report that they are happy with their lives. In the real world, I make $15k. Big difference between what ought to be and what is. BIG! If we stop people from coming over illegally, they can come over legally and can actually benefit from the things the rest of us do. It's not a wishful thought, it's a fact. No fear of being deported, the freedom to seek a better paying job, the freedom to borrow for a mortgage, the freedom to fight an employer who abuses his workers, and so much more. It's more compassionate to want more for these people in the long-run rather than letting them come over illegally for a fast buck and a lifetime of poverty. Yes, their compassion shines like a lit fart.

Another reason for opposing illegal immigration is that we don't know who is crossing. It would be great if we could limit illegal immigration to poor "campesinos" looking to help their families back home. The sad truth is that we can't. Any literate person can pick up the newspaper and find articles about the Marasalvatrucha 13 gang entering the country. Recently, members of this gang killed their coyote. OK. So these Central Americans look like Mexicans. I personally have met, chauferred and dumped CHINESE mojados. People like Raza Unida, MALDEF, and all the other pseudo-Mexicans pretend that the gangsters, drug dealers, and other criminals are not coming over. There is an old Mexican saying about "luz en la calle, y obscuridad en la casa". This refers to those people who go all out to help strangers, but don't lift a finger for their own family. That's what these hispanic groups are. They stick up for non-Americans and screw us over. If we could control the quality of illegals, maybe I'd give it a fair shake.

For every MS-13 gang member that comes over, you know that there will be drug dealing and murders. They don't come over for some multi-cultural exchange. They are here to help bring down our country. The Chinese mojados? Come on! If Chinese, who don't look Mexican in the least, can come over the border, what chance do we have against anti-American muslims who sort of look Mexican? So, in order to help those few Mexicans who are seeking a better life, these pseudo Mexicans are willing to screw the rest of us over. The bad guys that come over with the poor campesinos kill our family members. They sell drugs to our kids. And, someday, they may explode a dirty bomb where we live. That's very compassionate for the illegals, but terrible for your own people in America.

You "compassionate" people know where you can stick your compassion. My Mexican upbringing tells me that I need to look out for my own first. My own are the people of this country, which include LEGAL immigrants who had enough respect for our country to do things right. You put my family at risk when you allow criminals to cross the border. That is not acceptable. Please accept my sincerest F-U, you and your misguided compassion. We should seal the border now.

Why Immigrants are Good

Illegal immigration is actually good for business. I mean this seriously. You see, Congress created the minimum wage. There are also labor laws. If you are earning minimum wage, your employer is essentially telling you, "if I could pay you less, I would". You can keep a lot of money by paying your employees less than minimum wage and avoiding labor laws. Illegal immigrants are perfect for this. Many of our wealthy people here got that way because they charged the market price for their work but cut costs by hiring illegals. They will work for less than minimum and they won't complain about work conditions. Americans won't do many jobs that illegals will do. I worked in the fields up in Wisconsin and here in Texas. In all my experience, I saw plenty of mojados but not black or white people. I didn't see any asians either. In the Rio Grande Valley, our illegal population is the cause of so many inexpensive goods and services. Why do you think that your $200,000 is able to buy so much house? In other parts of the country, $200,000 is a starter home. So, in some respects, illegals raise our comparative standard of living.

Legal immigration has more benefits. There are a couple books out there. One is The Millionaire Next Door, the other is The Millionaire Mind. I don't remember the author, look it up on Amazon. Anyway, their survey data show that a large portion of first generation millionaires are immigrants. They figure that this is because immigrants, who are used to hustling back in their home countries bring that mindset to the states. And, they hustle themselves into good money. Our own people, on the other hand, are taught to go to college and get a job (from an immigrant, probably). Our young are not taught to be entrepreneurial. We are taught to look to others for our good fortune. Roberty Kiyosaki spells this out well in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Sadly, many immigrants bring jobs to Americans, who seek jobs. However, these are legal immigrants. The illegal ones do have entrepreneurial spirit; I know several. But, they really can't take that spirit anywhere. They are here illegally. If they get too big, they get deported.

Immigration could also help our country with the looming collapse of Social Insecurity. As you may be aware, when Baby Boomers begin to retire, they will be cashing in their Social Security money, and cashing out retirement plans. On top of that, our precious Baby Boomers will be using the prescription drug benefit and Medicare. With more young,imported blood entering the country and paying payroll taxes, the more solvent the Social Security system will be. God help me, I agree with President Clinton on this. Even so, notice the difference. Only legal immigrants can help us in this way. Illegal immigrants don't pay an income tax and actually cost the country money for indigent care and other "free" services.

Legal immigrants bring jobs and become milionaires, whereas illegals take jobs and stay poor. Legal immigrants can also help your country in the looming financial crisis. If we force all immigrants to come over legally, isn't that better for them AND us? But I guess that's not compassionate.

Why Nothing Will Happen

There are two reasons why nothing will happen regarding illegal immigration. The first reason is Democrats. The second reason is Republicans.

With respect to Democrats, they will oppose anything that George Bush proposes and supports. The guy can't get any credit. They criticize him because he does something and they criticize him if he doesn't. Notice nothing significant has come out of the Democrat camp. If GW comes up with an idea, they could propose their own version. You don't see that happen. What often happens is that they oppose his idea simply because it's his. If he toughens things up on the border, he's a racist. If he doesn't do anything, which he isn't, he's not doing enough to ensure our safety. Groucho Marx has a song, "I don't care what it is, whatever it is, I'm against it!" That's the theme song for modern Democrats.

With Republicans, we have no luck as far as sealing the border either. If Bill Clinton was the first black president, George W. Bush is the first Hispanic president. Of course, the press, more than 80% Democrat according to a poll of journalists, won't give him that distinction. Republicans have gained ground by increased support by Hispanics, thanks largely to GW. Of course, Republicans are loathe to bite the hand that they imagine feeds them. I only hear Newt Gingrich proposing anything and warning the Republicans that their inaction will come back to bite them. Of course, he doesn't have an elected office and constituents. The Republicans can't seem to get over the fact that they will get bad press regardless of what they do. They also forget that they are the majority in Congress. They always cave whenever Dems start calling them bigoted, Christian (the press has made it an insult to be called Christian these days), homophobes. Spineless wonders.

So there you have it. What is a person to think about immigration? By all ways that I see it, legal immigration is the best solution. We should seal the border and improve the legal immigration process. Legal immigrants do provide vital spirit and taxable income. Illegal immigration has its benefits for those willing to take advantage of the resource. For the rest of us, illegal immigration is a danger because of the inherent lack of quality control. We can't guarantee that only hard working Mexicans will come over. We also get criminals, drug dealers, and perhaps even terrorists. I see an upside from immigration, so long as it is legal. The downside of illegal immigration is too great to continue our current lack of action. My slogan, if I ran for office, would be "Mojados No! Inmigrantes Si!" Of course, I'd never get elected. Although our culture here doesn't consider "mojado" derogatory, merely a description of legal status, the English translation is considered bad. There goes my chance at office.

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