Immigration

I've just got to weigh in on the illegal immigration topic. My thoughts are a little scattered, but this is what I originally wrote in response to Fourth Fret's blog on this topic:

A firey, emotionaal topic here. I will attempt to be succinct--but you opened this can of worms, FF. I agree that illegal immigration is a horrendous problem. I do not believe that there is a one-size fits all solution, however, I do think that if we went back to the kind of immigration policies we had at the turn of the 19/20th century we'd be better off. At that time, the idea was AMERICANIZE. Learn English! Mix in with the greater population. Granted, the newest immigrants didn't always do that--but they pushed their children to do so! None of this "bi-lingual" education mess. My Dad went to school in an Italian speaking neighborhood school his first two grades. Then his father was killed, and as someone in the family had to learn English--he was plopped down in third grade in an NYC school. He learned. His sister learned. My grandmother never did, and she never Americanized, but she made sure her kids did. No one should be allowed to vote in another language, or conduct any government business. We used to be a "melting pot". Today our whole culture is at risk because we do not demand the newcomers to embrace that which has privided the very opportunities they seek.
We are a large enough country to absorb the huge numbers coming in...if they would just do it legally and culturally. I love visiting "Little Italy" in NY, Boston, Chicago, etc. I love my Italian heritage. I will sometimes say I'm Italian-American when speaking of my heritage. But I, personally, am an American. My father fought for this country, as did his father.

To say NM does not take the border problem seriously is an understatement. When we lived on the NM border a few years ago, over 500 students were coming into our school district new each year--from Mexico, with NO English--and we were paying taxes to bus them up from the border! So long as they had a post office box in the US, they could come to school. I kid you not. They would walk across the border and get on the school buses. AND becuase it was cheaper to give it to everyone than to do all the qualifying paperwork, every student in the district received FREE BREAKFAST AND LUNCH! Our tax dollars at work. Plus the large numbers of bi-lingual and ESL classes needed. Plus large numbers of special ed for these kids--many times only because of behavior or because they were so far behind their age level, many not having been in school previously. And the huge number of bi-lingual aides needed in each school office etc.

Build the walls! Support the Minute Men! We have the most porous borders on earth, it seems!


Obviously I have had some unusual experiences to form my strong opinions. Don't get me wrong. I practice what I preach. When we lived near the border, I liked to do some of my shopping in Palomas, Mexico. The bakery...mmm...

Since I believe that Mexicans who come to the US should learn to use English, when I went to Palomas, I used my best (albeit very bad) Spanish. I had lovely conversations with the bakery lady about our daughters, both of whom had gone off to college that year--I refer to S at Ricks. Her daughter, Sara, was at University in Mexico City. This was my oldest, her youngest, but both loved daughters. We regularly exchanged news bulletins, grades, boyfriend news, etc. It was the only topic where my Spanish (with a liberal dose of Italian) could take me with her comfortably. I would bet I was her favorite Anglo customer because I did not walk in expecting her to speak English (which she didn't.)

It is not only "hispanics" (which oddly enough does not 'legally' include those who are from Hispania or Spain) or "Latins" (which seemingly no longer includes those from the original Latin nation: Italy) but people from all over the world who come to America to better their lives, but seemingly want to keep their whole culture and not accept ours--which is, after all what they come for. It is our culture that makes us accepting of others who are different, the immigrant ideal is ingrained in our society. Is there any family that does not have an immigrant or two within the previous generation?

In my own family: I am only second generation American. I've a son-in-law who was raised in Canada, and his mother was born in Germany. I've a daughter-in-law whose mother was born in Germany. My foster son's mother-in-law is from the Philipines. I had a room mate from England, who married and stayed here. I've had friends from Mexico, Germany, the Philipines, Thailand, Honduras, Guatamala, Japan, Korea, Peru, Brazil, and others. All legal immigrants. All we ask is that we have secure borders. That includes legal immigration. But it excludes illegal immigration of every or any type.