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Published Brownsville Herald July 18, 2011

I have been re-reading many opinions related to immigration issues and listening to many that on other issues I usually agree with. One in particular is the excellent article some years ago in The Brownsville Herald titled “Immigrants still wanted in hard times.” Mr. Ruben Navarrette hit the nail on the head when he said that “what Americans should know by now, even if some are reluctant to admit it: Immigrants were an undeniable and indispensable factor in the nation’s economic growth over the past decades.”
Many blame foreigners for many of our social ills. Such isolationism and scapegoating frightens me enormously. These perceptions frequently have preceded wars and some of the most embarrassing reactions in our history. Who wants to see a re-enactment of the incarceration of the Japanese in World War II or similar obscenities toward other national groups?
There are calls to close our borders to all “foreigners” and install martial law in the name of security. This scares me because our national survival depends on the infusion of new peoples to our “melting pot” and to continuously remember how our country was formed in the first place. Most new immigrants improve our work force with new enthusiasm and reinforce our understanding of how bad it could be, with stories of what caused them to come here seeking a better life and new opportunities. More »