Monday, August 31, 2009

Immigrant? We're All Immigrants Here


Ever since Congress has begun the debate on healthcare reform Lou Dobbs has found a new topic and has backed off his ongoing crusade against illegal immigrants. Nevertheless, this is a subject that still divides the country along ideological lines, every bit as much as does healthcare reform.

This is a topic that is on my mind, specifically, because I am a teacher in a school that is 2/3 Latino. A great many of my students are new immigrants to the U.S. An unspecified number every year are what we in education refer to as "undocumented immigrants." For our purposes here, undocumented=illegal.

One of the things that I hear most often from the uninformed is that illegals are coming here and getting free healthcare and government assistance. I ask these people to think for a moment what they are saying. If a family is here illegally, they are ineligible for any government assistance. They don't get access to healthcare any more than anyone else in this society. What do we think the hoopla in D.C. is about anyway? Further, if an illegal were to apply for government assistance, it would come to light that they are illegal and they would be deported. Get real people.

Another objection to illegal immigrants is that they are taking jobs away from American citizens who were born here. I don't think so. Illegal immigrants come here to live a better life than they had wherever they came from. The fact that they do live a better life here than in the countries of their origins is testimony only to the fact that they had a pretty miserable existence before. Most find work that pays pitifully low wages and live below the poverty line. Unscrupulous employers provide them with work while paying below scale, below minimum wage, because they know they can get away with it and increase their profits.

What this essentially means is that the illegal works and spends and becomes a positive force in the economy while flying below the radar. Their lives are generally better here than it was where they came from, but is still pretty miserable by American standards. Who do we think is picking the fruits and vegetables that go to our grocery stores? Who are these people who mow lawns and clean houses? Who buses the tables and washes the dishes in our restaurants? Hard-working people who just want a better life for their families.

The sad thing is that when their children do well in school, they often can't go to college to move up the socioeconomic ladder and achieve the American dream. They aren't here legally. Their parents can't afford to pay for college tuition. They can't apply for financial aid. If they did they would get their families deported. They may be better off in the U.S., but they aren't allowed to fulfill their potential because of immigration laws.

Often when we hear people speak of illegal immigrants, what they are actually saying is code for Mexican. There is a lot of anti-Mexican sentiment in the U.S. Anti-immigrant sentiment is a disguise for ethnic discrimination. It is true that we have a large number of illegal immigrants in this country who hail from Mexico. It is also true that we have illegal immigrants who come from Ireland, Poland, China, and who knows where else. I don't hear an outcry about illegal European or Asian immigrants, though.

People complain about immigrants not speaking the language, about not being socialized into the American way. Working in a school with large numbers of immigrants, what I see is that the first generation struggles with the language, struggles with the customs. Then the successive generations become just as American as the rest of us. This has always been the way. In the late 1800's there were huge German neighborhoods in Chicago where you would be hard-pressed to find an English speaker, and where you were more likely to find a restaurant that served schnitzel than beef stew.

I suppose the point of all this is that if a person is working, if they are a contributing member of a society they should be given a green card. They should be made legal. Then they can pay taxes like the rest of us and contribute to society fully. Honestly, I'm far more concerned about people who are born in the U.S. who won't work and who engage in criminal activity. Can we deport them? No, but we want to deport people who will obey the law and work hard. The U.S. is still a place where an immigrant can get ahead. Just remember that almost all of us are immigrants here and the Native Americans must have been pretty annoyed when all of the white guys started showing up. "There goes the neighborhood."

2 comments:

  1. Very thoughtful post - good points! You have more students than you realize because of this great blog. The problem I hear most often is that they don't pay any taxes but they use resources, and taxpayers don't want to be burdened even more. I am guilty of some of these assumptions too and it is good to hear your reasoned viewpoint from hands-on experience.
    Huge issue and it certainly does divide the nation.
    As always, I like the view. Thanks.

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  2. The using resources is being used in the argument to try to defeat healthcare reform as well. The claim is that illegals (undocumented aliens) will have access to government provided health insurance. Patently untrue once again.

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