Placing all the blame on illegal immigrants is just wrong
I would like for a single reader to tell me that even one of their ancient ancestors was born in America. I would of course delight in telling that person that this is virtually impossible. Even our American Indians ancestors migrated from elsewhere to America. Thus every person alive in America today must trace their roots back to their immigrant ancestors who either came here willingly, mostly seeking a better life, or were brought here unwillingly as slaves.
For the past thirty years or so our elected from both parties have clearly allowed the immigration of many millions who have come here “illegally” mainly from Central America and Mexico. A few years ago I met an Ivy League Professor of economics who had served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisors during the terms of Presidents G. W. H. Bush and Bill Clinton. This fellow posed a key question that I had never considered; “Do you think it’s realistic to think that if America’s leaders, with the world’s strongest military, did not want this illegal immigration that we could not stop it”? Of course, if we indeed could not…God help us if an armed enemy invades from the South. If you want to learn more about his explanation of why this immigration was not only allowed but desired, please read part 1 of this series.
The first question you should ponder is the one the economist posed. Do you really think we could not have stopped them if we had wanted? Do you think that it is accidental that we have such restrictive policies for legal immigration through our front door while openly allowing millions to enter illegally through our back door; and that these aren’t somehow connected in the twisted but purposeful logic of our collective leadership that has failed our country in so many other ways over so many years? If our elected leaders at the very highest federal levels were in on this for at least three decades and did virtually nothing to stop or even slow down the flood of immigrants…who should really be blamed? We need to each look within ourselves and take an imaginary journey; begin by imagining that you had been unfortunate enough to have been born in Mexico or one of the other Central American countries with long histories of poverty, and you saw absolutely no possible way to lift yourself or your family out of this condition. What would you do? Would you just accept your fate and like countless generations before simply live lives of impoverishment, and pass that heritage on to your children? If instead you then learned that the greatest country in the world, you know the one, the famous land of opportunity, had clearly decided to allow people like you to enter their sacred land of freedom and opportunity, what would you do? It was officially illegal to enter this way, but the front door was locked and the back door was not only open, no real efforts were being made to restrict entry. What would you do? It started with a trickle of some of the bravest people imaginable. They knew that the trip would be personally dangerous and yet they risked their very lives in the journey that had to be taken. They also knew they faced the risks of being arrested and imprisoned, or simply being returned to the border to find their own way home.
Have any of us not benefitted from this immigrant labor in some way? Will those of us retiring in the next few decades refuse to accept the taxes paid by their children to support our retirement? Do you think it’s the morally right thing to do to force these people to live in the constant fear of deportation? Can you even see a Hispanic appearing person anywhere and not wonder if they are here legally? How do you think it would feel to be in their shoes? Have you ever noticed when you are out and about and you pass by one of these folks that they won’t likely look you in the eyes? They don’t want to be noticed for a very good reason…they are terrified of being kicked out of America…even if they have, as most are, been good neighbors, paid their taxes, bought property, even started businesses, and have children who are legally American citizens.
At the end of all of this it seems to me that we have to remember that these are ordinary people who have come here for the same reason that most of our ancestors did. We need to stop pointing the finger of blame at only the immigrants…because you know as well as I do that most of us would have done exactly the same thing if we were in their situations. If a finger of blame must be pointed…it should be aimed at our collective leaders over the past thirty years or so who have committed the real crimes of allowing and encouraging this illegal entry. Like we the people…these poor people have been the pawns and victims of our corrupt government.
These are my opinions. What do you think?
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