The Dreaded Immigration Issue

Cross Posted at Bring It On

In years gone by the nation that we call home had no immigration policy and it worked. Right there in the harbor of New York City was the grand lady asking for and welcoming the many that needed a new start in a land that could boast of endless possibilities if you just came to our shores. All of the boats from many nations in Europe and Asia came and our nation survived it because we needed the people to progress the American Experiment.

There is an argument against amnesty and in parts I can somehow understand it but it has faults as well. The media portrays this issue as strictly a Mexican immigrant problem and yes that is a serious problem for the West Coast of the country. And yet the West Coast is a thriving economy given the media built hype of an immigration problem. In the North East of our nation they blame it on European and Asian and South America immigrants and yet we still have a thriving economy. In the South East of our nation they blame it on Central America immigrants and yet there is one hell of a growing economy there as well.

One of the questions that come to the front of my mind is if the illegal immigrants have a legitimate gripe? They do in fact contribute to the success of the American economy no matter how many ways you try to express that their presence is not welcomed. I’m not advocating illegal immigration but when your refrigerator is filled with food and your local economy is good then what is the problem.

Over at the Los Angeles Times they had this to say on today’s May Day demonstration across our nation…

Local marchers join tens of thousands nationwide
By Times Staff Writers
5:21 PM PDT, May 1, 2007

Tens of thousands of advocates for immigrant rights took to the streets in Los Angeles and the rest of the nation today, hoping that passion would offset the smaller turnout from last year's demonstrations.

As they did last year, demonstrators waved U.S. flags and declared their desire to flex economic muscles despite their sharply lower numbers at a time when immigration issues continue on the Washington agenda.

Along with marches in California, demonstrations were reported in New York, Chicago, Detroit and Phoenix as protesters demanded a path for citizenship for an estimated 12 million to 13 million undocumented workers as well as other changes being negotiated within a Democrat-controlled Congress.

In Los Angeles, a morning demonstration started on Olympic Boulevard at Broadway with a handful of protesters, but by midday at City Hall the crowd had grown to more than 25,000 people shouting "Si, se puede!" or "Yes, it can be done!" the Latino rallying cry for political power.

"We have to show Congress that we're good people," said Blanca Duenas, who joined the crowd with her husband Jose. "We're here and we're not leaving." – LA Times

America is the land of opportunity and most people that live here never get it. The great pizza place down the street owned by a Greek or Italian immigrant is taken for granted. Dropping in to the local gas station or convenience store that is owned by a family from India, Pakistan, Turkey, Korea or England rubs people wrong because we as a people have forgotten what the American dream is really all about. Why do we judge immigrants to our shores badly because they see what our way of life can be financially for their families? We are the ones that don’t get it!

We pay tuition, foreign citizens pay tuition for higher education that creates great minds that amaze the world and in turn they take our higher education system to the next level that is America. Our nation has a huge population of foreign born citizens that come to the birthplace of higher education and creative thought and some go home and some choose to stay either legally or illegally. Our nation benefits with the opening of minds for humanity.

Immigration is an American gift. Some people like to point to the weak border and so called “Wet Backs” and yet do not consider or choose to ignore the gift of our education system and the many from many lands far and wide that contribute to our society at levels that many of us take for granted. Visit an emergency room in any city and there is an attending physician that is from somewhere else.

Immigrants get what America has to offer. We have just forgotten as a people what the dream is truly about.

Papamoka

Recomend this post to a friend...

Link to this site and we will gladly link back to yours...

*****Blogo Wogo has linked to this post...



Technorati Tags:texas, california, colorado, immigration, congress immigration, amnesty for immigrants, mexico, central america, panama, la, la times, race relations, bush, immigration demonstrations, kennedy, irish, italian, migrant workers, medical science students, immigrant students, statue of liberty, conservative immigration opinion
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator