I'm glad that you said that. Imagine how it feels for someone like me who came here legally with a lot to offer, did everything by the book, paid all my taxes and SS, and went through all the proper channels to become a permanent resident. Now I see these hordes of people who thumbed their noses at the law, being given greater opportunities than those of us who toed the line every minute. It's very discouraging to say the least.
I think I agree with you more than I agree with Billy. The notion that these desperately poor illegal immigrants being attracted to the US by jobs and being exploited by US companies as cheap labor are somehow a threat to our national sovereignty and our geographical borders is a laughable notion usually supported by people who really just want to machine gun poor Mexicans.
I mean I understand completely how you feel Thorn. When my wife was waiting for her permanent residency to be approved she couldn't work and it took nearly a year for her to get her permanent residency approved. In the meantime there was a construction crew of mostly illegals building a house across the street. Seeing them thumb there noses at the law was truly frustrating. Particularly considering we really needed the money that my wife, who did it the right way, could have brought in if she could have worked.
But let's look at this realistically and humanely. These illegal immigrants are human beings. They are not our enemies! They are not a military threat as the right wing rhetoric of propagandist would have us believe. They are desperately poor people, for the most part, who just want an oppurtunity to take care of their families.
Then consider your situation and my wifes. Both middle class, both from middle class families with good educations (in your case an excellent one) and marketable skills. Neither one of you is either a strong back or cheap labor type. Neither one of you faced a situation as difficult or as bleak as the typical illegal. You could have stayed in Canada and my wife in the Philippines and you both would of still had meaningful middle class lives and the affluence to meet more than just basic needs.
So let's put the blame where it squarely belongs. On those who would create the conditions that would cause these people to leave their homes to come here in order to find jobs. Let's blame it on the corrupt cabal of cleptocracies in latin America that oppresses so many of it's citizens forcing them to live in hopeless poverty and let's blame it on the business interest here who are more interested in a source of cheap labor then our laws or national interest.
The immigration problem is an easy one to solve. If the government throws your ass n jail for 2 years and fines you $50,000 per violation, (read per illegal immigrant employed) then this shit would come to a screeching halt. The jobs would dry up. The illegals would go home.
Until that happens then all the talk about immigration reform is just that, talk and those who talk militantly are just wannabe Kluxers with their white robes hidden in a closet who really just want a good reason to kill poor brown people.What we have to be is careful that these poor people are not painted up to be some sort of threat that requires violence to resolve. That would be insane and immoral. There just poor people looking for work.
