| IMMIGRATION cont. |
| Nevertheless, and while I sincerely regret finding myself in the same camp with racists and xenophobes, I have to recognize that even a broken clock is right twice a day. Thus, when I weigh the relative merit of the two arguments it seems that the latter holds more weight. Every country must protect its borders—if it doesn’t, the word “country” is meaningless. And while it is true that the undocumented worker has been exploited, they placed themselves in that position when they decided to immigrate here illegally. If they’d turn out in Mexico with the numbers that they did here in the United States they just might be able to gain concessions in their own country. And the argument that they only take jobs that Americans don’t want is completely fallacious. Undocumented workers do much more than just pick grapes—they work as truck drivers, upholsterers, meat packers, chefs, bakers, printers, and many other relatively high paying jobs that Americans would love to have. And finally, all one has to do is go to any county agency, public school, or emergency room in Los Angeles to see the negative impact and strain that undocumented workers are placing on those systems—many teachers are being threatened with the loss of their jobs if they fail to become bilingual in a given period of time, and the phone systems of many government agencies will tell a caller to, “Press 1 if you want to speak in English.” Come on, now—this is the United States! Why should I have to press 1 to speak the native language? So how should we handle this problem? First, we should find out who is here and where they work by issuing work permits, and the worker should have to return to his country of origin to obtain one. This permit would also serve as an identification card that would allow him to register his children in school and obtain other public services. In addition, any person involved in forging, or found to be in possession of a forged card would be charged with a felony. And finally, any business that hires a worker without a card should be fined $20,000 per violation. I think that would be a pretty good start. Finally, I want to point out that I was born in Los Angeles and grew up with Hispanic people, so I not only have a great love, but a tremendous respect for them--In fact, I’d like to see many of their cultural attributes reflected in my own people. Because of that fact, it was important to me that I ask myself a simple question before I wrote this article: Would I take the same position if we were talking about African or Haitian immigrants? The answer-- absolutely. The reason for that is, I’ve come to the conclusion that while compassion for others is one of man’s highest virtues, cutting one’s own throat in pursuit of that virtue is, simply foolish. Eric L. Wattree, Sr. |