All week long I have listened to many different opinions on the Mexican illegal alien issue. One fellow will say, "build a big fence." The next person thinks we should send the National Guard down to protect the border. Religious people do not want it to become a federal crime to help illegal aliens. Republicans want to throw Jesus in jail and Democrats want to let terrorists dance across the border.
I believe everyone in this country should have documentation. You should be a citizen, or have a valid visa. Your green card should be legal. If you are on vacation, you should have a passport, travel plans and funds. This stuff is basic. Most countries follow this kind of procedure. I would not want to be in a foreign country without valid ID.
If to do this means building a big fence... So be it. We can afford the 9 billion dollars. I think using the National Guard would be just a temporary fix. The National Guard has other important duties to tend to.
However, with that said...
I am very bias when it comes to this topic. I am only the second generation of my family to be born in America. My grandfather came to this country from Italy, looking for a better life.
It would be easy for me to say.. "My grandfather did it the right way.. He became an American, he filled out the paperwork. He learned English and he worked hard." But this is not the whole truth. My grandfather did all of those things. I am very proud of him and it took great courage. But, basically, he saved enough money for a ship ride to America. He landed at Ellis Island and filled out the paperwork and went on his way to start a new life. Legally.
Because my grandfather was from Italy, he was considered a political refuge. The American government, at the time, believed my grandfather was fleeing the government of Italy. My grandfather loved Italy. He was not fleeing for political reasons. He, like many people of that time (early 1900's), couldn’t make a living in Italy. He wanted to try America. If my grandfather could have made a living in Italy, he probably never would have left, regardless of the political system.
Today, it is not the same with Mexicans. I have heard it takes five to ten years to even be considered for citizenship. If you are Cuban and you can set one foot on American soil, you are welcome. If you are Iranian and you can make it here to America and you denounce the Iranian government. "Hell, pull up a chair buddy.. Let me buy you a beer. Tell me all about that wacky Iranian President som-bitch!" 20 years ago, if you were Russian and you defected to America.. We would put your picture on the front page of the newspaper.
But, if you were born in Mexico, you must turn around and go back to where you came from.
If science is correct, no human is originally from this country. We all came here from somewhere else. The first to arrive was ancient man. He arrived poor and hungry. This ancient man became the proud Native Americans. Native Americans were not too happy to see the white people arrive (poor and hungry.) Then the white people were not too happy to see other Europeans arrive (poor and hungry.) You should read some of the editorials written about my grandfather's generation and how people like my grandfather would destroy this country, lower property values, and cause crime.
Today, we are not too happy to see the Mexican people coming here (also poor and hungry.)
There may come a day when America cannot handle the population. But I do not believe that to be true of the present. As I drive across the states, the countless family farms that lay dormant. Food is so plentiful, people cannot make a living growing it. I see the wide-open spaces of America and I believe we can handle a million. Or ten million. Or fifty million more people.
Every new wave of immigrants creates a boom in this country. People need food, housing, and goods. They are not just bodies soaking up America and giving nothing in return, they are consumers buying fine American products. (Products that are made in China... But, that is another post.) History is proof that America can handle a wave of immigrants. Each new wave is bigger than the last. What we are facing today is nothing new.
My opinion, (which means nothing in this big world) we need to tighten the border. People must be here legally. We need to quit making it so hard for decent, hard working Mexicans to become American.
If not..
We may want to remove the bronze plaque that was placed at the Statue of Liberty in 1903, with the words from a sonnet that was written by Emma Lazarus in 1886. Of course I am talking about the world famous sonnet that reads in part...
"… Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
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!"
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