Here are a few arguments against illegal immigration that I don’t get:
“They take jobs away from Americans!”
They are doing the jobs nobody wants to do. On the Colbert Report, the President of the United Farm Workers Union (UFW), Arturo Rodriguez set up a website Takeourjobs.org to offer work to any American who wants to work in the fields. As of the airing, three (not including Colbert) signed up. That’s right, in a recession with almost 10% unemployment, only three people said they were willing to work in the fields. My father argued that we have a feeling that that kind of work is beneath us. Somehow that was an argument but it just proved my point. We are complaining that they are taking jobs nobody wants to do. It is not an immigration problem but an attitude problem. Would I complain if someone entered my apartment and stole my garbage? No. I would be a little creeped out that someone broke in to my apartment, but I would be happy that they took out my garbage.
“Anchor Babies!!!”
Anchor babies is a term used to describe children born to illegal immigrants in America to “anchor” the parents in the country as it would be morally hard to separate a parent from their child. People want to screw the 14th Amendment (giving citizenship to those born within the borders) and create a grandfather-clause-esque law denying children citizenship unless the parents are citizens.
Really, how big is this problem? According to my father 200K-400K babies were born to illegal immigrants last year. When I think of anchor babies, I think of women nine months pregnant running across the border to give birth. This sounds stupid as it would be really hard to smuggle someone that pregnant across a border crossing. Jumping over or going through fences might also be hard for a pregnant woman. And when there is no fence, usually a large desert that takes a week to cross on foot is the only obstacle, and that can’t be good for the women (or baby). Plus, waiting to conceive in the US means you would have to hide for nine months (if you are lucky to get it on the first shot) and might be hard, but not impossible. Same goes for women who are early on in their pregnancy.
To counter my dad, how long have these babies’ parents been in the country? Also, is this the couple’s/woman’s first, second, third, etc. child? It sounds like most are being born to settled couples, not women wanting to abuse a loophole. That brings me to my next point…
“Illegal Immigration is Illegal!”
Circular logic can't win.
“It’s illegal.”
“Why?”
“Because it's illegal!”
Really, what are these people doing? They are moving from one country to work hard in another to better their economic status, i.e., all immigration to America since 1492 (Hell, maybe even 10,000 BC). These immigrants are for the most part (95%?) hard working individuals who DO pay taxes and contribute to this country. Why is the American Dream illegal? Yes there are some criminals, and yes, deport their asses home. Don’t let the rotten apple ruin the bunch.
And speaking of flawed logic, a few years ago, Bill O’Reilly and Geraldo Rivera had an on air fight about an immigrant who struck and killed a girl after drinking and driving. Basically, O’Reilly’s argument was that if he was deported, he wouldn’t have killed this girl and River’s argument was that it was a case of drunk driving and nothing more. Both men are right.
O’Reilly’s ‘argument’ is highly flawed: “If he wasn’t here, he couldn’t have done it”. Well, duh! You could easily say “If he wasn’t born, he couldn’t have done it”. There is no argument, just stating the obvious. What if they deported him and he killed two people in his homeland? (To be honest, this man was charged multiple times for drunk driving within the past year. He should have been deported the first time. This is a problem of law enforcement, not immigration).
“Why don’t they do it the legal way?!”
Do you know how hard it is to get citizenship? Do you know how much it costs? Do you know how long the process is? Do you even know what to do?
We need an Ellis Island on the southern border to make this process easier and quicker. Don't criminalize the American Dream.
rofl.
ReplyDeleteonly going to comment on one part of this, and that's the attitude issues. white people (yes, i said it! deal!) have a serious attitude problem when it comes to work. specifically white, educated, middle-class people. they would rather lose everything and run to every media outlet crying about how broke they are now during the recession. nevermind that the dad was blowing money golfing every weekend, or throwing money at his bratty kids, or buying his wife fake boobs, or buying a 10 bedroom house for 4 people, or always buying new cars and phones blah blah BLAH, whatever...but this group of people simply won't work for peanuts. okay, minimum wage is a joke, i get it, it is not a living wage, but a job is, um, A JOB. there are jobs out there, i'm always seeing help wanted signs, so get over your complex and provide for yourself and your family! 99% of americans are just plain LAZY.