Crossing Boarders

You know, Arizona, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. I stated quite firm that while your anti-illegal immigration tactics were on the borders of morality, they were not inherently evil. One of my commenters even pointed out that I had the early draft of the bill and the legislation was much more reasonable than people were saying. Now what do I hear, Arizona? You're trying to push in a bill that would refuse a birth certificate to children of illegal immigrants born here in the states... I just can't can't find the words to understand that, it's beyond me.

Illegal Immigration has been a topic of discussion over the past couple years, and though it seems to have died down, the good people in charge of Arizona are here to keep the issue hot it seems. You hear it all the time, you hear the term Undocumented Workers from those against harsh immigration laws, you hear the words racist for those for. You hear that they're stealing jobs from Americans, and you hear the counter that it's jobs American's don't want. It confuses me sometimes cause when it gets right down to it... It's illegal.

Now I'm not about to go all hard headed conservative on you here. I'm not going to forget that at some point in the past my own family came blinking into the sunlight off some boat, just looking for a new life. I have nothing but compassion for those who come to this country for the reason of helping their family, they're good people and hard workers. But the problem is my family did it all by the books, and every cent they made they paid taxes. And that's the issue, that's the 'problem' with Undocumented Workers, they don't pay taxes despite living in this country.

Most illegal immigrants, and hear me when I say most not all, come to this country to work and then send money back to their family in their native country. These people take cash, and then do not put it back into our economy. Their dollar doesn't go to funding everything that's needed to make the world around us run, now I'm trying very hard not to come off as some ignorant prig, but it just seems so very wrong to take money you gained from working in one country and not helping the country run through taxes or aiding the economy.

Now I'm not about to be all one sided, I'm not here to generalize, there are many illegal immigrants who do come here and spend the money they make here in America, they still don't pay income tax, but they do put that money back into the economy. But you know what? It's not all that fair to them... These people are paid pittance, they're paid pennies on the dollar for backbreaking labor. They gain no benefits, no health insurance, they have no workman's comp, union protection, or even job security. There is no regulating something that is illegal, and the men hiring these immigrants under the table are taking an unjust profit from it all.

Now I know what many people will say, if we only hire legally, locally processed goods and services will be more expensive, and I can tell you as a man who makes very little money that I'm willing to pony up the dough. Yeah it's nice that those strawberries are so cheap, but what you don't realize is that it's only cheap because a man was slaved away for a 14 hour day picking them and probably only made fifty bucks for it.

Illegal Immigration is illegal, it's illegal for a reason. I know it sounds cruel, I know it sounds elitist. I know that families that come to this country only seek the chance to thrive, and I want them to be able to, but I don't think they should be doing it illegally. Compassion is one thing, but letting it make you blind to a system that hurts the immigrants just as much as it hurts everyone else is not something you should let happen. Whether you think all current illegal immigrants should be made legal or not, something needs to be done to help these people make a fair wage, and help them from breaking the law just to pay for a small home. I'm willing to pay the difference, are you?

Cotton was really cheap back in the day too.