On The Immigration Issue
Apr. 10th, 2006 05:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I find it hard to swallow when people say that illegal immigrants who have been here for over 5 years don't deserve citizenship, since pretty much everyone who says it is a descendant of an immigrant. What does it matter to these people if the guy who came here to pursue the American dream and who is working to get there gets legal papers? Are they afraid their lawn service/busboy/nanny will want a legal wage?
I am all for making the border more secure but I don't see how making us more xenophobic accomplishes anything. Mexicans are the Irish of late 20th/early 21st century America - they do the work no one else will for less than they deserve and as a society we blame them for our societal/financial ills. It's easy to blame the new guy for the current problems.
The thing that pains me the most is that Americans are so fucking opinionated and so completely ignorant of their own cultural and political history. How about we put more energy into being good citizens and spend left time worrying about who else gets to be a citizen?
I am all for making the border more secure but I don't see how making us more xenophobic accomplishes anything. Mexicans are the Irish of late 20th/early 21st century America - they do the work no one else will for less than they deserve and as a society we blame them for our societal/financial ills. It's easy to blame the new guy for the current problems.
The thing that pains me the most is that Americans are so fucking opinionated and so completely ignorant of their own cultural and political history. How about we put more energy into being good citizens and spend left time worrying about who else gets to be a citizen?
no subject
Date: 2006-04-10 09:46 pm (UTC)