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Even illegal immigrants want illegal immigration stopped.

By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

   August 30, 2006

 

  

 

     In any town hall meeting were a speaker to ask the audience those wanting illegal immigration to stop to raise their hand, in all likelihood raised hands would total the audience.. Similarly, in a meeting with illegal immigrants was the same question to be asked, the results would likely be the same. In fact there is near universal agreement that illegal immigration should stop. So what’s the problem?

 

One of the major problems is that those attending such meetings are not the ones who benefit directly from illegal immigration, and those who do, are not in attendance. In such meetings, has anyone seen farmers who employ a great number of illegal immigrants? Or hotel owners/operators, or chain restaurant owners/operators? Of course, not. They don’t attend such meetings wherein the finger would be pointed in their direction as great if not leading contributors to the problem.

 

 And in the case of a meeting with illegal immigrants who also want illegal immigration to stop, it is because they want it to be legalized. What they have to gain by stopping illegal immigration is the obvious, make a home in the United States of America, which was the dream of the greatest percentage of all those who immigrated in years past. Who can blame them for that?

 

However, the real problem for most Americans regarding illegal immigration is the sheer numbers. In particular, the numbers from Mexico and Central America, which Americans tend to lump into one making the combined groups close to 70 percent of all illegal immigrants in the US today.  The most recent official number is 10.5 million of which better than 7 million are from Mexico and Central America.

 

And that is what is most disturbing – the numbers. If those numbers were a few hundred thousand and stayed employed in farms and dairies, and not be seen in shopping centers where the “owners” of the country frequent, there would be no problem.

 

Set aside the presence of racist and bigots of which unfortunately our country has too many and to a large degree hijacked the issue, what we still wind up with is people who feel overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of illegal immigrants whose color of skin, culture and language differs from the mainstream of American society.

 

This is not racism or bigotry. It is simply that people anywhere are clannish. All of us feel a level of comfort among our own. Conversely we feel a level of discomfort among people who are different than we are; whose attire, diet, music and language are strange. In social gatherings there is hesitation on what to say, how to act, so such meetings are often not enjoyed.

 

Throw into the mix the socio economic differences between the bulk of those immigrants from Mexico and Central America and the discomfort grows even more acute. Then due to such economic differences, as they’re as a majority, at the bottom pay scales, we find that they use social services for little or no contribution, and discomfort grows into rancor.

 

Such high numbers also represent a very high level of discomfort in that these folks were they to be legalized, added to the 25 or more million descendents from the same countries would in coming years, as their numbers grow, gain political clout of such potential as to be the swing vote in national elections, and eventually even one of theirs could become the leader of the free world.

 

And that represents utter panic. The nation of European descendants, presently still the majority, cannot find within themselves the comfort to elect a woman, or a black, or an Asian or an Arab or even a Native American to the highest office in the land. But, if the immigration of the brown people from Mexico and Central America with the population growth they and their children represent continues, Euro-Americans would not be the ones making the ultimate decision. It would be made for them.

 

So what to do?

 

We are faced with a crossroad. On the one hand, we can resort to violence, push them back across the border along with US citizens of such heritage. In so doing, we lose the nation’s soul. On the other, we can demand fair and equitable immigration laws from our present leadership with energetic border and workplace enforcement, and work with Mexico in helping their people stay at home. And, we can go back to being Americans, helping newcomers make the transition into the American way of life so they feel welcomed and Americanized.

 

Most importantly, we need open and candid discourse, free from demeaning and insulting language, keeping bigots and racist in and out of government at bay

 __________________________________________________________

Patrick Osio, Jr is Editor of HispanicVista (www.hispanicvista.com). Contact at: Posiojr@hispanicvista.com

(The opinions expressed by Patrick Osio, Jr. are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of HispanicVista.com, editorial board of advisors or it’s contributing writers.)

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

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