June 22, 2006
Thursday

Have you noticed the increasing crackdown on illegal workers since the recent Hispanic-American protests over stricter immigration laws? Hundreds, even thousands have been arrested, detained, and even deported. As an excellent example, the New York Times (June 20, 2006) carried an article about Fernando Guadarrama, 21, a construction worker who had lived and worked in America for seven years. The police arrested him because his rear license plate light was burned out. He's now in a Larimer, Colorado jail wearing an orange jumpsuit and understandably apprehensive over his impending deportation. He has an American wife and two kids, all legal.

If that had been me I would have gotten off scot-free as I was born in the US. But Mr. Guadarrama and thousands of others like him don't carry this advantage. Most aliens who cross our borders do so to avoid outright starvation. Corruption is so corrosive in Mexico that due to the government and some of the business leaders the honest laborers have been squeezed out of a fair job. Between the choices of starvation south of the border or working in America, I wholeheartedly welcome our Mexican neighbors. They are political/economic refuges as much as the Vietnamese and the Cubans who have pioneered boats to the free shores of America in times past.

I grew up with a family or two of Mexicans in St. Louis. I was a teenager by the time I discovered that many folks in America don't like Hispanics. I never knew why not.

The American authorities use racial profiling against Americans of Middle Eastern descent as our country lost 3000 citizens on 9-11. The American authorities use racial profiling against Hispanics seeking a better life even though our visitors from the south have not killed anyone. At least they have done no more killing than US citizens have.

There are those who clamor for better protection for our borders so we can keep terrorists out of America. However, extremists in our nation attempted to blow up the World Trade Center as early as 1993. As the line in the movie says, "They're here."

When I was a laborer in Memphis, I noticed that the Hispanic workers contributed greatly to the building trades. They are eager and hard-working, often sweating out some overtime voluntarily, without extra pay. The agricultural business would also be in sorry shape without the help of the Hispanics. Remove our guest workers and see what happens to both industries.

After NAFTA was passed in 1994, did you notice that the flow to our country of starving Mexicans steadily picked up? There are officially about 11 million Hispanics living here pursuing happiness and prosperity. CAFTA, the free trade agreement between America and the Central American nations, was signed by President Bush last year. Look for citizens of that region to hotfoot it to America in years to come. Most free trade agreements are good for governments and big business, but rough on the working man.

The Hispanics bring to the US a rich heritage, a solid sense of family, a strong religion, and wonderful work ethics. Our government should look past the Black & White of the problem and start looking at the situation in Grays. Very little of life is Good & Evil. It is mainly a choice of ethics, that is, the gray areas. When the Beltway Crowd realizes this, only then can our Congress begin to enact proper legislation to fix the mass discontent in the minds of Americans and illegal immigrants on the problem of our borders.

Tom Proebsting
Contact: http://truthprobe.blogspot.com
Moberly, MO - USA



About: Tom Proebsting is a writer and a blogger.

 

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