Another brick in the wall ... between Mexico and us, that is
First and foremost, let me begin by saying that I am all for immigration.
It doesn’t bother me a bit that people from other countries like Mexico, Korea, India and the Middle East come into the United States legally, pass their citizenships, work for their money and are law-abiding American citizens.
It does bother me, however, that hundreds of thousands of people from other countries — especially Mexico, since it’s right next-door — come into this country illegally, break our laws and then demand a citizen’s rights.
In a nutshell, my immigration policy is: you can come in, but you better follow the rules, dang it.
It completely defeats the purpose of living here if you break the law in order to do it. Border hopping, whatever the motive, is wrong and should not be tolerated.
To that end, I think it’s a good idea that we’re building a fence across portions of the Mexico-America border.
It might be expensive, yes, but it’s better than having to rely on vigilantes. People will still get into this country illegally from Mexico if we build a fence, but I have a feeling the flood will be ebbed significantly.
There are a few people I know who think we’re fencing off the border because we’re racist and we don’t like Mexicans in particular.
That, I can say without fear of contradiction, is a load of lynx tonsils. We don’t like Canadians either. We’d be walling up the Canadian-American border too if there was as big a problem with illegal immigration up north. But there isn’t.
But seriously, we, who are in favor of stricter border policies, are not racist. I’m not racist. I went to high school in California, and I’d need 36 hands if I were to attempt to count the number of Hispanic friends I had. They were decent, upstanding and friendly people, too.
There are plenty of legal Mexican immigrants in this country like that, and quite a few illegal ones. The trouble is, the illegal ones did (and are still doing) illegal stuff to get in to the U.S. and stay here. And that’s just not acceptable.
The argument I hear the most in defense of illegal immigration goes like this: “But not all of them can immigrate. Not all of them can get green cards and immigrate legally into this country. There’s just too many of them. The line’s too long.”
Well, this will sound harsh, but I’ll say it anyway: tough beans. That’s just the way life is sometimes.
If the positions were reversed and everybody in the U.S. was trying to get into Mexico (as seen in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow”), I sure as heck wouldn’t border-hop if I were refused the right to emigrate. I’d just roll with the punches, go back to my hometown and try something else.
That, or I’d try the “Born in East L.A.” tactic and marry a Mexican. Then I’d have dual citizenship, whoopee.
The crux of my argument is this: you shouldn’t break the laws of a country to become a citizen of that country. Hopping a border illegally is wrong, and if you can’t get in, you’ll just have to deal with it.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum