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missroseroseAlthough I tend to restrict myself to relatively few corners of the Internet, one thing that I've been seeing with alarming frequency is the hysteria regarding illegal immigrants that seems to be pervading our culture. Even in my relatively hermetic online existence (the only thing remotely resembling an online community that I read with any regularity is LiveJournal, and I rarely venture outside my sparse friendslist on such), it seems to be penetrating - I see articles about it on MSN when Messenger pops up, I see people arguing about it whenever the Snopes feed pops up with a related page, I see people flapping their hands in the air and acting desperate about something that has almost no bearing on their lives.
I understand that it's human nature to distrust people whom we perceive as Not Like Us, and thanks to centuries of nationalism that currently translates to "people who are not from our country". If this wasn't the USA, I could better understand why people so openly revile and fear those from other countries - millenia of living in small tribal groups that were almost constantly warring with each other has pretty well ingrained the "us against them" mentality into our system, to the point where it's as close to hardwired as you can get without going to the genetic level.
But this is the United States of America, a country that was founded on a higher ideal than that. Aren't we taught in school that this is the greatest country in the world, because anyone who is willing to work hard can get ahead and achieve wealth, regardless of their social background? Aren't we told that part of what makes our culture great is its diversity, its ability to allow people to live and love and worship and celebrate however their conscience dictates and still be part of something greater than themselves?
Reading some of the responses to the immigration debate, I find myself wondering if these people grew up in the same country that I did. Certainly, they say, they welcome immigrants who go through legal channels; it's simply the "border jumpers" that they hate, because obviously they're criminals or why wouldn't they go through the legal process? I somehow doubt any of these people have actually examined the legal process for becoming an American citizen, but it's a fantastically convoluted, inefficient and unfair system. I've had some limited contact with the case of a political refugee who fled his country and claimed asylum and whose case took more than a decade to come to completion, during which time he was in constant danger of being imprisoned or deported (which would've essentially been a death sentence). What heinous criminal activity did he engage in while waiting for his case to be confirmed or denied? When not being called to testify or hauled off to jail, he married, worked steadily, had children, and generally lived day to day like the rest of us. While somewhat less draconian in its implementation, our non-refugee immigration system is a mess, and hard enough for someone born in America to navigate, let alone someone unfamiliar with our customs, especially our inordinate fondness of paperwork. (I won't even get into the statistics as to the miserable portion of natural-born American citizens who can actually pass the citizenship test. I guess citizenship is as easy as anything else to take for granted when it's something you've always had.)
But aren't these people stealing our jobs? I fail to see the logic to this question. First off, when was the last time you saw an illegal immigrant (or, for that matter, a legal one) working in a job that you'd actually want? Agricultural, fast food, janitorial and maintenance - we need someone to do these low-paying, backbreaking and thankless jobs, as there sure as hell aren't very many Americans who will do them when (thanks to their language skills and education) they can get better-paying administrative positions with benefits. Secondly, the more people that there are in a given country, the more jobs are created - after all, they're going to want to eat and drink and consume merchandise and be entertained just like the rest of us.
Beyond all of this, though, is the source of the "problem". Consider for a moment the fear and danger that illegal immigrants go through on a daily business - fear of discovery and deportation, the danger of becoming sick and unable to support oneself with no safety net, the desperation of trying to make ends meet (and in some cases, send money back home) when one is limited to the most physically demanding and lowest-paying jobs our society offers. Not exactly a very rosy scenario, is it? Now consider how many people live through this on a daily basis, because to them it is a better situation that what they would have in their home country. Despite being among some of the most disadvantaged and trod-upon in our world, it's still a better life than they would have in the world that they're from. Have any of the people who constantly rail against illegal immigrants done anything to improve the situations in these countries? Volunteered for the Peace Corps? Donated to Amnesty International? Anything?
I think the saddest part of this whole debacle is how much humanity is lost in this constant arguing. The way some people talk, you'd think immigrants have horns and tails and pitchforks. The fact is, these are just people - maybe people from a different culture or background, but still people like you. There may be some criminals in the bunch (just as there are in our culture), but the vast, vast majority of them simply want to have some sort of stable existence where they can live day to day without fearing for their lives (be it through political change, starvation, or any number of reasons people come here). And because America (for all its flaws) is one of the greatest countries in the world, they come here, legally if they can, often illegally if they can't. How can we fault them for wanting something better for themselves?
A hundred years before I was born, a poet named Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet about the Statue of Liberty, which sealed the statue's role (and our country's role) as welcoming to those who came from other lands seeking a better life for themselves. More than a century later, it seems the intent of her words are all but forgotten, lost in our fear of others whom we perceive as "not like us". Will we ever be able to forget that fear enough to once again justify Liberty's role as the welcoming mother of the desperate? Can we as a whole regain that attitude of optimism and abundance and tolerance that made us one of the greatest countries in the world, the place where so many potential immigrants dreamed of living? Can we conquer our smallmindedness and baser human instincts and find it within ourselves to take those next few ever-important steps toward a peaceful world society?
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, "The New Colussus", 1883
I can only hope.
I understand that it's human nature to distrust people whom we perceive as Not Like Us, and thanks to centuries of nationalism that currently translates to "people who are not from our country". If this wasn't the USA, I could better understand why people so openly revile and fear those from other countries - millenia of living in small tribal groups that were almost constantly warring with each other has pretty well ingrained the "us against them" mentality into our system, to the point where it's as close to hardwired as you can get without going to the genetic level.
But this is the United States of America, a country that was founded on a higher ideal than that. Aren't we taught in school that this is the greatest country in the world, because anyone who is willing to work hard can get ahead and achieve wealth, regardless of their social background? Aren't we told that part of what makes our culture great is its diversity, its ability to allow people to live and love and worship and celebrate however their conscience dictates and still be part of something greater than themselves?
Reading some of the responses to the immigration debate, I find myself wondering if these people grew up in the same country that I did. Certainly, they say, they welcome immigrants who go through legal channels; it's simply the "border jumpers" that they hate, because obviously they're criminals or why wouldn't they go through the legal process? I somehow doubt any of these people have actually examined the legal process for becoming an American citizen, but it's a fantastically convoluted, inefficient and unfair system. I've had some limited contact with the case of a political refugee who fled his country and claimed asylum and whose case took more than a decade to come to completion, during which time he was in constant danger of being imprisoned or deported (which would've essentially been a death sentence). What heinous criminal activity did he engage in while waiting for his case to be confirmed or denied? When not being called to testify or hauled off to jail, he married, worked steadily, had children, and generally lived day to day like the rest of us. While somewhat less draconian in its implementation, our non-refugee immigration system is a mess, and hard enough for someone born in America to navigate, let alone someone unfamiliar with our customs, especially our inordinate fondness of paperwork. (I won't even get into the statistics as to the miserable portion of natural-born American citizens who can actually pass the citizenship test. I guess citizenship is as easy as anything else to take for granted when it's something you've always had.)
But aren't these people stealing our jobs? I fail to see the logic to this question. First off, when was the last time you saw an illegal immigrant (or, for that matter, a legal one) working in a job that you'd actually want? Agricultural, fast food, janitorial and maintenance - we need someone to do these low-paying, backbreaking and thankless jobs, as there sure as hell aren't very many Americans who will do them when (thanks to their language skills and education) they can get better-paying administrative positions with benefits. Secondly, the more people that there are in a given country, the more jobs are created - after all, they're going to want to eat and drink and consume merchandise and be entertained just like the rest of us.
Beyond all of this, though, is the source of the "problem". Consider for a moment the fear and danger that illegal immigrants go through on a daily business - fear of discovery and deportation, the danger of becoming sick and unable to support oneself with no safety net, the desperation of trying to make ends meet (and in some cases, send money back home) when one is limited to the most physically demanding and lowest-paying jobs our society offers. Not exactly a very rosy scenario, is it? Now consider how many people live through this on a daily basis, because to them it is a better situation that what they would have in their home country. Despite being among some of the most disadvantaged and trod-upon in our world, it's still a better life than they would have in the world that they're from. Have any of the people who constantly rail against illegal immigrants done anything to improve the situations in these countries? Volunteered for the Peace Corps? Donated to Amnesty International? Anything?
I think the saddest part of this whole debacle is how much humanity is lost in this constant arguing. The way some people talk, you'd think immigrants have horns and tails and pitchforks. The fact is, these are just people - maybe people from a different culture or background, but still people like you. There may be some criminals in the bunch (just as there are in our culture), but the vast, vast majority of them simply want to have some sort of stable existence where they can live day to day without fearing for their lives (be it through political change, starvation, or any number of reasons people come here). And because America (for all its flaws) is one of the greatest countries in the world, they come here, legally if they can, often illegally if they can't. How can we fault them for wanting something better for themselves?
A hundred years before I was born, a poet named Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet about the Statue of Liberty, which sealed the statue's role (and our country's role) as welcoming to those who came from other lands seeking a better life for themselves. More than a century later, it seems the intent of her words are all but forgotten, lost in our fear of others whom we perceive as "not like us". Will we ever be able to forget that fear enough to once again justify Liberty's role as the welcoming mother of the desperate? Can we as a whole regain that attitude of optimism and abundance and tolerance that made us one of the greatest countries in the world, the place where so many potential immigrants dreamed of living? Can we conquer our smallmindedness and baser human instincts and find it within ourselves to take those next few ever-important steps toward a peaceful world society?
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, "The New Colussus", 1883
I can only hope.
