Is there any issue the GOP’s far
right Frightfuls can’t turn into a cauldron of contention?
The
correct answer is “No.!”
The
latest issue to fall victim to the Frightfuls’ lack of empathy, disregard for
common sense, and intransigence is the discussion over reforming the nation’s
immigration laws. The Far Right specifically rejects the notion that the
11,000,000 so-called “illegals” who have been living and working in the United
States should be allowed to stay in their jobs, live in the nation, and earn
their way to full citizenship.
The
President, and a number of legislators think those persons who entered the
country illegally should remain and be offered a chance to become full -fledged
citizens. A recent CBS News poll found that a majority of Americans (51
percent) agreed with the President. A Fox News poll found that 66 percent of
Americans believe the undocumented should be allowed to apply for citizenship
if they meet requirements.
It’s
common knowledge that most of the undocumented workers who have been living in
the nation are hard- working and respectable. They have children who were born
here and are U.S. citizens. And throughout their stay here they have suffered
from the constant fear of arrest and deportation, and from the many
disadvantages of non-citizenship. That is unrelenting punishment of a sort. The
Frightfuls want to convert the punishment to life sentences.
It’s
only realistic—commonsensical—to acknowledge it would be impossible and
horrendous for the national image to try and deport 11 million people.
Otherwise what should be done? Would the Absurdists establish internment
camps? Create gulags, meaning slave
labor camps? Certainly not.
Among
other things, the President would
increase border security, create a temporary guest-worker system, require businesses to verify the citizenship
status of those they hire, reform the visa-granting system, and increase
incentives for admitting specially skilled foreigners. Importantly, he would
establish a set of requirements for the undocumented to meet in order to gain
citizenship.
There
are a number of solid and persuasive reasons to adopt the President’s
thoughtful outline. David Brooks, The New York Times’ brilliant conservative
columnist, argues, “The forlorn pundit doesn’t even have to make the
humanitarian case that immigration reform would be a great victory for human
dignity. The cold economic case by itself is so strong.”
Mr. Brooks points out that illegal
immigrants are not “socially disruptive.” They don’t “drain the federal
budget.” And there is increasing evidence that they don’t even cause the wages
of low-skill citizens to decline.
It’s
fair to say that when most people think of “illegal” immigrants they typically
think of Mexicans and others from Latin countries, for in the past they have
seemed to swarm across our southern border.
Americans can readily recall reports of “illegals” overwhelming U.S.
hospital emergency rooms, of damaging crops, despoiling wells, and stealing
poultry from border ranches. True some, maybe many, illegal border crossers
created nasty mischief.
But most
did not.
The
typical illegal has been desperate to provide adequately for himself or his (or
her) family. The illegal has done exactly what many U.S. citizens would do if
caught in similar circumstances. Having run out of options at home and
despairing of ever obtaining legal entry into their neighboring country, they
risked intense suffering and death to cross relentless desert areas to a place
where they might find work and survive.
Many,
if not most, of the illegals possess the fundamental qualities—the “family
values”—the GOP urges and presumably
esteems. In general the border crossers have shown the kind of persistence and
courage that most of us admire.
Sure,
some have created problems: Some are
criminals. Some are rowdies. Some are
unbelievably ignorant and, for instance, try to drive without licenses and
without really knowing how to drive. A number have been forced to obtain
fraudulent identification.
For
instance a small town Iowa police chief told Glimpse he had four guys in his
lockup who were arrested for drunkenness and brawling. The chief said:
“They all speak Mexican, which I don’t. They
all have identical phony identification.
Each one is named Rodriquez. So what do you do?”
There is not much talk about the
occasional Belgian student or the charming Irish bartender who has overstayed
his visitor’s visa for a decade or so.
We don’t bother much about such folks.
No, the unwanted illegal whom the
Frightfuls want to punish rather than help is typically brown or black, and
poor, and needy, and often desperate.
There’s a lady standing at one
entry to America. She stands tall with a torch in her bronze hand. On the pedestal
at her feet , are words the Congressional Frightfuls should heed. They say:
“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!”
For heaven’s sake Congress, give
11,000,000 of our neighbors a break.
--Gus Gribbin
>> The David Brooks column on
immigration is titled “The Easy Problem.” It appeared on the Times Op- Ed Page
on Friday 2/1/13.
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