Home of Today's Common Sense

Submitted 5/26/2004
I read Mr. Navarrette’s article in The Herald of May 26 and agree with much of what he has to say about the importance of Latinos and I believe that most Americans are also aware of the importance of all immigrants who have respected American law and immigrated legally.
The problem is that undocumented immigrants have not respected the rule of law and in fact are criminals. They create serious problems for other immigrants attempting to find the dream of “American Freedom”.
Just as there are other immigrants of Latin descent aside from Mexicans, (Asian Hispanics, Carribean Hispanics, South American Hispanics) there are undocumented immigrants of other nationalities that have failed to respect our laws in there arrival here. If the first act of an individual upon arriving in a new land is a criminal one, albeit one driven by survival, can a nation that depends on the rule of law expect more from them?

In most cases the undocumented live their lives as good people working hard and being exploited because of the tenuousness of their status; but they are still in violation of the law and have not been screened to eliminate those who would attempt to destroy the country.
When they seek services, most folks in a position to, are inclined to help them because they are empathetic; which is typical of the American spirit. Local authorities are just folks also, who know what hardship is and may not identify an immigration violator if they are not forced to.
The net result is that some bad mangos sneak in and poison the otherwise good barrel, in the minds of a majority of Americans. The outcome is a call to seal the borders with the military, make humanitarian services difficult to secure for everyone who looks or sounds different, etc.
Worse yet is that good, honest people who respect the rule of law cannot get a visa to come to the United States because of those that have stolen their place by coming here illegally.
Who is to blame? Unfortunately – We are! We cannot convey to our “representatives” in a way that they will listen to, the crucial need to have a consistent, understandable and enforceable set of immigration laws that will provide for the needs of that part of the workforce that Mr. Navarrette so articulately described. A workforce of folks that will go on in the future to create new businesses to further supply products and services we haven’t even thought of yet.
Additionally, in case you haven’t noticed, the improved economy has made it possible for many of the “baby boomers” to retire. School systems all over the country are looking for teachers because of the ones that retired and because that many have gone to more financially rewarding parts of the economy. In just one school system in a small community nearby has hundreds of teacher vacancies overnight. The news papers all over the country are also full of ads to recruit medical personnel – offering signing bonuses!
These vacancies must also be filled and there just aren’t enough unemployed, with proper backgrounds to fill all the positions.
New, properly documented immigrants are needed in this segment also.
These immigrants not only will contribute to our society but they will contribute the taxes that will support our politicians in the manner that they have become accustomed and they will contribute to social security thereby allowing us old folks to retain that modicum of assistance in our golden years.