No Immigrants Please!
There is great national fervor throughout the U.S. about the subject of immigration. It is both an ongoing political football and it comes at a time of political races that exasperates the subject. It raises questions of extreme protectionism at the expense of certain of our own industries. The argument that Hispanics are taking the jobs of typical working Americans is mostly hysteria. The question that comes to mind is just what is it that we are all discussing? Are we really looking at the right problem?
In the early 1600′ds immigrants came here that did not speak the language(s) spoken here (Iroquois, Cherokee, etc). In the 1800′ds hordes of immigrants came here that spoke virtually hundreds of languages, and somehow it all worked. Now, we are faced with immigrants who come here and do not speak the language, and we suddenly want to close the doors.
I live in a town that exemplifies all of the related problems. Just 3,500 souls live in a couple of tiny communities twenty-two miles from the nearest town in one direction and forty-four miles in another. Palm Springs is actually only fifteen miles away, but crows don’t fly over the 11,000 mountain between us. Now that we are established here, there are those in my town that would put up gates on the roads at the foot of the mountain we live on, and not allow passage to any not already residents here.
I think we are forgetting something. We are all either immigrants or the children of immigrants (at some level). We indeed have a border security problem, but we do not have an immigrant problem. We don’t even really have a problem with illegal immigrants – there are very few who would do us harm. Therefore, almost everyone who comes here does so for a better life – does that sound familiar?
We probably should take action that would restrict the sheer numbers of people coming in from our southern borders, but there is an easy and solid way to do that – invest in the economy (not the corrupt politico’s) of Mexico.
Realistically, no one wants to leave home if home is a good place to be. But if there is a good reason, they will leave – and they should be able to. Cuba may soon be acceptable to the United States, and we would invest in the Cuban economy as we once did. Cubans and Mexicans in a better environment would not flock here as they now do.
The only real argument about the current flock of Hispanics is that the current group foolishly want to speak only their native languages as some kind of protection against losing their home environment. In the 1800′ds, most immigrants were happy to speak the new language while retaining their native language for family gatherings. My recommendation to new immigrants is to speak English during the work week and their native language on the weekend. Certainly, teach the home language to children. This way everyone retains their native language, yet they can get better jobs and improve the economies of both themselves and their adopted country.
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Tags: Economy, Immigration, Job, Patriotism, Public Opinion, Security, Teen
