May Day! Or SOS?

This morning I turned on the TV for news and realized that we are once again facing May Day, the workers day it was once called in the USSR. Already back east some of the "workers" who are here illegally have started their annual rallies, marches and protests hoping to force this country to give Amnesty to millions of illegals who have come here by means other than Immigration. Seems to me that someone should have hung a banner at the White reading, May Day, May Day, the international signal for assistance when a ship or aircraft goes down, instead those of us who are citizens of this great nation will be treated to the displeasure of watching while this day plays itself out on our airwaves!

Time was in this great nation of ours when we had rules regarding immigration, no one just arrived here with out going through the necessary paper work, nor were they allowed to stay if they somehow came into the country illegally! It is high time that the United States stood up for what is right. We have legal citizens who were born here, worked their entire lives here and now must fight to get their Social Security because the system has been overrun with illegals. If the government does not continue to deport people who come here by unlawful means then we may as well throw in the towel and become Mexicans! The county schools, local medical systems and hospitals can no longer continue to give away free services, it cost each of us who pays taxes one third of our income just to support people who are not here wanting to become citizens. There are many things wrong with the way in which this nation has handled the influx of illegals in particular those who cross the international border between Mexico and the US. One point in particular is the fact that those who support illegal immigration do so under the guise of these illegals doing work that no self respecting citizen would do.

Let's just look at that one issue today. Someone recently sent me a movie that was a glorification of the Meixcan workers, it was titled "A Day Without A Mexican" and put these people in the light of "poor, abused and misused immigrants. If you read the laws of this country carefully regarding this issues this is what you will discover:

The United States set in place rules regarding immigration in the year 1952, and it stated in part the following:. United States immigration law was enacted in order to provide a central control of those citizens of other nations who wish to emigrate to the United States and become citizens, this law refers to the migration of non-residents to the United States those who make appropriate application and entry under the government policies. It further states that anyone who is a citizen of a foreign nation who wishes to enter the United States for the purpose of work, or for the purpose of declaring this country their domicile of choice must obtain Permission in the forms of Visa, or other documents prepared by the person wishing to immigrate and processed through the department of the INS.

This is and has been a major issue in the past 50 years, in states like California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas the influx of illegals over time has drastically changed the face of the culture within our own borders. It is not uncommon now in California to hear Spanish more often than English. It has caused a once excellent education system to become the laughing stock of the states around us. Why you may ask? Well, the state in an attempt to" help" these illegals became programs back in the early 70's to provide education for these children in their own language instead of forcing them into immersion programs that would have kept the main language in this state English. Just yesterday I had a phone call from a solicitor who automatically started off speaking Spanish making the assumption that with a rather strange last name I must be Hispanic. When I voiced my disapproval of the girl, she retorted to me," Well, you better learn to speak Spanish lady!" and hung up. Just one small example of how those Illegals have taken advantage of the goodness of our nation. By the 1980's every teacher in California was expected to have some Spanish speaking abilities, once when applying for a job I was asked in Spanish if I spoke the language and when I replied in five other languages I was excused from the interview. It isn't uncommon either to go up to a clerk in a store and ask something in English only to be told " No Englase, espanol." With these few examples I expect you get where I am going with this.

I am not as someone once said, " Anti Immigration!" no, I am however against anyone who sneaks across our border and stays here without at least attempting to become legal. Indeed I know many individuals Mexican and other nationals who are very proud of the fact that they learned English, took Citizenship Courses as required by the INS and became legal citizens. However, those good immigrants also took on our nations colors, and are proud to wave the Stars and Stripes.

Most of the illegals who come here simply do not want to citizens, no rather they want us to conform to them, they wave the flag of Mexico every chance they get, they have no intention of ever becoming citizens of this great nation.

The United States is literally the only country in the world that allows illegals the chance to become citizens, no other nations has any problem simply deporting those who cross their border illegally.

In California alone there are two million illegals...most of them are from Mexico or South America. Granted that out of approximately 36 million residents that doesn't seem like a large number, but when you look at the facts regarding the services that are provided to these illegals by county, state and federal agencies over the course of a year the figure is simply staggering. Not only do these illegals live, work and get medical attention but they also receive free education for their numerous children, they drive on roads that our taxes pay for and at the end of their work day they take home 100% of their paychecks. Is it then any wonder that some of us still believe the only way to enter this nation is through Immigration and Naturalization? Is it any wonder that those of us who work hard to pay our share of taxes feel done to by the illegals? Is it any wonder that we don't like to drive down the street and see dozens of Mexican flags waving from cars, fences and buildings? Is it any wonder that we still believed that the official language of the United States should be English? No! We would like to take our state back, we would like to be able to not have to fight to get the Social Security we worked for, we would like the government to take a hard stand on this issue before is simply too late!

I couldn't disagree more strongly with such nativist sentiments. You describe a country that only existed in conservative fantasies and a situation today that ignores the important work done by immigrants and the taxes that they pay.
I agree with many of the speakers that I heard during a marvelous day of people rising up for social justice. A common theme was U.S. policies that are unilateral and repressive of human rights -- whether it be our military policy in Iraq, our economic policy toward South America, or our immigration policies toward Mexico and Central America -- need to end if we ever hope to recover our moral authority and repair out tattered relationship with the rest of the world. And there's no denying the fact that racism is the driving factor behind those calling for immigration crackdowns.

Steven: I am not a native as you suggested, I was an immigrant myself, my mother survived Auswitz along with her sister and I was born on a ship in the Middle of the Atlantic Ocean. When we arrived in New York I was three days old. In those days you needed a complete physical exam, some psych testing and a brief test of what you knew about the USA in order to stay here. My mother didn't pass her physical, she had TB and as a result I was left here with my aunt and my mother sent back to a relocation camp, then two different TB Sanatoriums and eventially she was able to go to Israel but not to the USA.
Racism really has nothing to do with what has happened with the Mexicans and the South Americans, the nation has allowed them in by the millions, and in return for our kindness and generocity, we have seen great drug wars,crime rates rise, violent gangs in our streets of Meixcan decent, declines in education standard and the wealth of our border states deteriorated as we tried to be nice to these folks who poured over the border with no Identity Cards and nothing to their names. It has become for many of the border states such an outrageous situation that they can no longer support the population who is legal let alone those who are not.
In essense what has to happen is we have to go back to the place where we were tough about how one could come into the country, where there were rules and everyone who came in was expected to follow them.
I wonder how you would feel Steven, if one morning you woke up and your newpaper was in Spanish, you went to buy a coffee and couldn't get the waitress to understand what you wanted because you didn't speak Spanish? I also wonder how you would feel if the first five years of your life you learned only Yiddish and Russian and then went off to school and suddenly no one spoke your language? There were no classes for immigrant children who didn't speak English, we learned by being emmersed in English. I watched my aunt struggle to learn English, watched her clench her fists and say over and over, New Country, New Language, New Life? What you don't seem to understand is that here in California fifty-six percent of the two million illegals make no attempt to learn English, and a whopping 78% when polled say that they DO NOT WANT TO BE US CITIZENS because they consider themselves MEIXCAN! Think about it, because if you and people like you have their way eventually Calif, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas on the west side will literally be Mexican!

I don't fear multi-culturalism and I don't mind sharing my country with Spanish-speakers (after all, Californians all spoke Spanish long before the U.S. stole California from Mexico and we adopted English as our primary language). There are historic, economic, familial, and cultural reasons why our neighbors to the south our drawn to the U.S. And it's very much a symbiotic relationship because our economy would fail if you got your wish and deported all the illegals. It's hypocritical to expect cheap food and consumer goods and not take responsibility for the cheap labor that produces them. But more than anything, I hear the fear in your words.
Fear is destroying this country: fear of Muslims, fear of Mexicans, fear of drugs, fear of homosexuals, fear of giving up the right we claim to wantonly start wars and burn cheap fossil fuels, fear of losing our place of privilege in the world, fear of things we don't understand. Immigration is not a problem, but your fear of it is.

I will only comment once more to you Steven, having lived in seventeen different countries over my lifetime, and not being naive, nor uneducated you really need educate yourself about what happens politically, socially, culturally and physically when a nation is over run by too many people of one culture. I have an MA and teach cultural sociology, as well as Cultural Competency Classes. Some one from any nation who enters another nation under illegal or illicit means is simply an illegal migrant; they can never be called an immigrant because that word indicates that they came here through legal channels.
"Those who do not fear what they should fear… go the downward path" The Dhammapada, The Oath of Perfection (1st Century B.C) 317.tr Juan Mascaro, 1973