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Image by Claudia
A. De La Garza at Flickr
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Immigration is not the problem that it’s drummed up to be. More
than anything else, it’s an attitude problem of how we perceive immigration (documented
or undocumented), in particular of those from south of our border.
Comedian Al Madrigal, in a film clip from Jon Stewart’s
Daily Show, reveals
the ugly side of this perception. In the clip, Madrigal talks with a group
of women about their perceptions of Latinos. One woman says, “… immigrants keep
populating,” complains of the number of children Hispanic people have, another says,
“… all cultures are not equal.” Later on, he interviews Sheriff Richard K.
Jones of Butler County, Ohio, who told Madrigal that immigrants receive free
computers, healthcare, and get their car and house payments paid for them.
Many Americans have other perceptions: They don’t pay taxes.
They only come here because of our lax
welfare system. They take jobs and opportunity away from Americans and drive
down wages. They don’t want to assimilate, learn English, and become Americans.
They bring crime. They believe that weak
border enforcement has led to high rates of illegal immigration; that our government
is not enforcing immigration laws; that we’re making it easy for terrorist to
enter our country that could be prevented by greater restrictions on
immigration.
And the fact is until
Americans change their perceptions we will continue to have an immigration
problem. Those who immigrate to our country want nothing more than any other human
being: peace, health, and an opportunity to improve their lives, the lives of
their families and children. We do need immigration reform to lessen the burden
many immigrants face, as well as to help our country manage immigration. It
should not be at the expense of a compassionate concern for the wellbeing of others
who are struggling to survive.
Copyright © 2014
Horatio Green
