[Vision2020] Illegals

[keely emerinemix]

Kai, I was raised in Tucson, only an hour from the border.  My mother and 
her partner are active in Humane Borders, which provides water to immigrants 
crossing the Sonoran desert.  And I've seen tarpaper and corrugated plastic 
shacks in Coahuila, Chihuahua, and Sonora that should hold tools and 
machinery, but instead house families.  Most of the people I worked with had 
only a few years of schooling, if that, and have been working since they 
were children.

I'm also aware that hospitals, schools and, much less often, jails and 
prisons are suffering under the weight of illegal immigrants who require 
services.  I've seen the effects of compassion fatigue from providers as 
well as the effects of underfunding in their agencies, and my tax dollars 
pay for those services, just like yours, Kai.  And, just like the tax 
dollars paid by undocumented workers in the U.S.  I'm not arguing for open 
borders, but neither will I assume that legal immigration is accessible and 
simple enough for anyone with a few months and a few bucks to avail 
themselves of.  The folks I worked with were sub-literate, undereducated, 
desperately poor, and had almost no power, economic or political, in their 
home country.  (Not surprisingly, but tragically, lighter-skinned Jaliscans 
scorned darker residents of the Districto Federal, who in turn loathed the 
Oaxacans, who spoke about being glad they weren't some other, 
darker-skinned, group.  It seems that racism demands that its voice be 
heard, even among those who suffer from its effects courtesy of the 
majority).  Legal immigration, while certainly preferable, is unattainable 
for those who most need relief -- the  poor.  I've known a few people who've 
immigrated legally, and I've known many more who arrived without papers, 
were granted amnesty in the mid-80s, and now are citizens with a greater 
respect for the duties thereof than most native-born Americans I know.

There is one woman in this world who I consider the sister I never have.  H. 
  arrived here when she was 3; her family crossed over illegally and moved 
from orchard to orchard, field to field, with the crops.  She's 38 now, a 
paraprofessional in the public school system, U.S. citizen, wife, and mother 
of four beautiful daughters who, like their mom, are fully bilingual (OK, 
one's only 6 mos. old, but she will be!).  She and her husband are 
soon-to-be homebuyers, attend a local church, pay their taxes and root for 
their girls' soccer teams.  She is a consummate citizen, neighbor, and 
friend; again, if I have a sister in this world, it's her.  But it wasn't 
her green card or her U.S. citizenship that gave her such strength of 
character and such a sense of responsibility; those things were bestowed 
upon her because of them.  Most of the people I know who began like Hilda 
will end up much like her, to all of our benefit.  Her family didn't start 
out with anything, but her eldest daughter will begin college next year.  
The presumption that somehow the totality of la familia Ramirez' life in the 
United States boils down to a "soaking up" of native-born Americans' 
pensions and VA benefits is more than a little offensive and entirely 
inaccurate.

It's difficult for me to see how anyone can salute the $400 billion we've 
spent in Iraq and yet feel justified in denying medical benefits and 
education to immigrant children.  Someone has reached his hands deep into 
your pockets, Kai and Matt, but guess what?  It's a white guy from Texas, 
born in privilege and steeped in avarice and corruption, who's soaking up 
your future and that of your children.

keely



From: "Kai Eiselein" <fotopro63 at hotmail.com>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Illegals
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 05:41:46 +0000

Keely,
I believe you are a bit misguided. The problem is not with "legal" 
immigration, its with "illegal" immigration.
Having spent most of my youth living along the U.S. - Mexico border, I know 
full well "why" people want to come here. From some of the windows in my 
high school, one had full view of the slums of Nogales, Sonora. I've seen 
the beggars on the streets, kids trying to sell trinkets or shine 
shoes...missing school in order to help feed their families.
I know this will sound horrible, but it is the truth: A family of 5 in an 18 
foot trailer? Believe me when I say it is a step up for some families, who 
may have come from nothing more than a tin, cardboard and plywood shack with 
a dirt floor.
The pressure that is being put on our border areas by illegal immigration is 
horrendous, hospitals are failing because of the cost of indigent care, 
local services are at the breaking point, crime from rampant unemployment is 
outrageous. (I believe Santa Cruz County, Arizona averages somewhere around 
24% unemployment) This situation HAS to be brought under control.
Have you thought that if there were fewer illegals, there would be fewer 
employers using the threat of deportation to force workers into living and 
working in the conditions you describe? Take away that fear and workers 
might be more inclined to report such incidences. And employers would be 
less inclined to use the tactic, knowing there would be legal penalties.
Secondly, why don't you ask some immigrants who arrived here legally about 
how THEY feel about illegals? I think you'd be surprised about the anger 
they have about those that didn't.
Those that are here legally, jumped through the hoops, did the paperwork 
went through the waiting and the hassles, the rest just broke the law and 
gave a slap in face to those that did it the right way.
My parents sponsored two people from Mexico to immigrate here and my 
grandmother became a citizen when I was a teenager, I've seen what it takes 
and I've seen the pride on thier faces when they've become citizens.
I've given water to illegals in the Sonoran Desert, while out hunting and 
sent them on their way and at other times tracked them down and helped take 
them into custody, because my hunting partner was a Border Patrolman or an 
Immigration agent.
I've called it in when they'd come to our house asking for work, water or 
food. (I did give them water and food.) Cruel you say? Not nearly as cruel 
as the desert, when one doesn't know how to survive in it. The morgue in 
Tucson is filled with the unidentified bodies of people that have died in 
the desert. I wasn't being cruel, I may have saved a life.


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