Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Student Says: Humanity NOT Deportation (... the PRO View Increases)

Every human deserves humanity
by Kyle Szarzynski, Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Xenophobia, like all bigotries, requires either an inability or refusal to recognize the humanity of the targeted cohort. Otherwise, our inherent altruism would get in the way, making it impossible to feel prejudice toward an entire group of people. A diatribe against the scourge of illegal immigration would probably have to be written by one of a certain race and class, and to advocate deportation would need many layers of human callousness.
Such a diatribe — so unsympathetic toward the plight of a poor, oppressed group — would look something like Sam Clegg’s in last week’s Herald.. In the piece, Mr. Clegg admits it is “unrealistic to assume we can magically whisk away the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently residing in this country.” Since we can’t just get rid of them all .. we should instead focus on those who find their way to the Dane County prison system. Deporting those who commit a crime of some sort, according to Mr. Clegg, is economical, constitutional and, most importantly, a fulfillment of the law.
Perhaps. But he forgets to reflect on the humanitarian implications — a consideration that Mr. Clegg’s worldview apparently doesn’t hold in much esteem. Deporting people who receive a DUI citation, try to organize a union illegally or steal an extra can of beans to feed the kids can only be described as quite monstrous. Most people commit crimes not because they’re innately bad, but because they’re poor — this is especially true of a group of people who are notoriously forced into the kind of employment the rest of America would just as soon forget about. Knowing that crime is the unwanted child of poverty and oppression is obvious to anyone who cares to look beneath the surface of things, and most people who are aware of that fact tend to view perpetrators of petty theft or drug offenses in a more sympathetic light. But punishing the most disenfranchised because they can’t play by all the rules is precisely what Mr. Clegg can’t wait to do.
People like Mr. Clegg have this idea that undocumented workers have less of a right to be here than the rest of us. The Puritans, after all, went through all the right paperwork before acquiring citizenship. And who does Mr. Clegg think he is? An accident of birth is a pathetic justification for arguing that he or I have more of a right to be in the United States than anyone else, and I find it despicable that anyone would lecture to the most vulnerable in our society that there are certain stipulations attached to staying here. It’s as if Mr. Clegg is telling a poor Mexican worker, “You can continue to clean the shit off our toilets, but only if you keep quiet and don’t make trouble.” Perhaps Mr. Clegg would think twice about advocating a lower status for undocumented immigrants if he would have given a thought to why so many of them are forced to come here in the first place. The effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement are estimated to have bankrupted 1.5 million Mexican corn farmers and lowered wages down to 1937 levels. American-owned “maquiladora” sweatshops have created unbearable living conditions by our standards, with people living in polluted shantytowns on wages that rarely pay for anything more than basic subsistence. Under such an economic situation, is it any wonder that so many impoverished Mexicans are willing to risk everything to come to the United States? I, for one, applaud their courage. The so-called problem of immigrant crime is a farce anyway, one with a long history in this country. Today’s Mexican criminal is yesterday’s Italian Mafioso, Jewish gangster or Irish pickpocket — all are stereotypes that apply to only a small minority within the group. While Mr. Clegg never explicitly states that such a problem exists, the very topic of his article gives credence to the Bill O’Reilly notion that immigrants are a crime-ridden bunch — an insinuation about as untrue as it is offensive. But beyond that, basic human decency should be reason enough to treat the undocumented as equals. The proposed witch hunt in our county jails will tear apart families and hurl people back into the unlivable periphery of impoverished Mexico. Deportation is ostentatiously cruel, and it is for this reason apolitical human rights groups and religious organizations — including Mr. Clegg’s own Catholic Church — from across the country are actively protecting those who are targeted. Active struggle is the only way to overcome the current wave of xenophobia; more marches, protests and strikes are needed to force open the gate of equality that is currently closed to those who don’t have the necessary papers. But for now, I commend all those who aid and abet resistance to immoral deportation orders.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

As usual any article written by a pro-advocate is full of lies and stretches of the truth. Of course in his "humanitarian" approach he completely leaves out the humanitarism that has been denied the American people in this illegal immigration mess.

I see where the usual race card is being pulled too. This isn't about just one ethnic group. This is about all illegals of all ethnicities.

There is no callousness in making employers verify the legitimacy of all of their employees and holding them accountable to our immigration and labor laws.

Poor, oppressed people? Oh please, take it up with Mexico and the other countries that these illegals come from, not us.

I could hardly stand to read this piece of American bashing propaganda meant to illicite sympathy for law breakers.

Anonymous said...

From reading the references on this site I can only conclude that what the pros really want are open borders, permanently. There is never any support for closing the borders. I guess we're (citizens) supposed to just give our country away to whoever thinks they deserve to enter it.

Anonymous said...

What a crock of crap. My great grandparents were immigrants, legal immigrants. 99% of the immigrants are legal immigrants. The Illegals will not, repeat, will not take over our country. You want to be an American, stand in line with the hard working honest people. If not, leave before we deport you. For every Illegal Alien in this country, there is an honest hard working person who deserves that spot in our country. Kick the bums out. Every Mexican I talk to, in Mexico, says the Illegal Aliens up here are the bums in their society.

ultima said...

Kyle is way off base in his response to Cleggs's article or letter. He, like so many others, is hopelessly myopic. Even the catholic church would change its views if it were to be inundated with illegal aliens rather than the few who they have taken in so far.

There is almost no one who agrees with Kyle as regards the open borders he implies or favors. He badly needs to see the gumball presentation for a dose of reality.

If we had no interest in preserving our way of life, what Kyle calls xenophobia, we could all move to Mexico and experience first hand the poverty Kyle speaks of. What he overlooks is that poverty will engulf us if we all the people from the impoverished, crime-ridden, disease-infested neighborhoods of the world to enter our country. The result of his concerns about humanity would be an equilibrium of our standard of living with that of the countries who have proven incapable of providing jobs, health care and police protection for their peoples.

As I have pointed out elsewhere, it is not unrealistic to assume we can "...whisk away the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently residing in this country". It was done in 1945-6 when eight million ethnic Germans were deported from the eastern territories and countries back to the heartland of Germany. But that is just one of his mistakes. Another is the implicit assumption that this is an all or nothing proposition. We just need to begin a vigorous program of interior enforcement by forcing employers to re-advertise at a living wage all of their jobs that are currently held by illegal aliens. The illegals in jobs that cannot be filled with citizens workers can then be considered for some sort of temporary guest worker program. The illegals displaced through the re-advertising process must be repatriated expeditiously and humanely. This would send the appropriate message to those who are considering violating our borders and create some level of disincentive to buttress the physical barriers at the border.

Kyle is sadly in need of a terrorist incident in his community to complete his education. He doesn't seem to get it otherwise.

His education would also be supplemented if he were to lose his scholarships to illegal aliens or their progeny or if he personally were required to house and feed these poor and oppressed people or if they were the cause of his having to wait many hours in pain in an emergency room. Even if he were willing to do all of these things he has no right to foist them upon his fellow citizens.

His is the real xenophobia and bigotry and racism as he tries to blame ordinary citizens for wanting to defend their way of life, standard of living and quality of life. It is important for Kyle to learn the value of extrapolation so he can learn the long-term result of the bleeding-heart policies he endorses. His brain, like that of so many young people, is not fully developed. When he is 35 years old trying to make a living in the face of increasing competition from cheap foreign labor he may begin to understand and appreciate the problem. His high flying rhetoric does not indicate any present understanding of the problem.

He might well study the Rwandan Malthusian catastrophe before he writes anything more. Right before our eyes an overpopulated land collapsed in horrible bloodshed. Rwanda and neighboring Burundi are notorious for their Hutu/Tutsi ethnic violence, but population growth, environmental damage, and climate change provided the dynamic for which ethnic violence was the fuse.

Is this the future Kyle wants for himself and his descendants? Ethnic violence is not entirely foreign to the U.S.. We have had our share and Kyle's advocacy will surely lead to more. Will Mexico and the U.S. be the new Rwanda and Burundi? That's something Kyle has not carefully considered.

Anonymous said...

Right -

Dee is getting desperate here.

The news out of arizona is very encouraging

other states are working to emulate arizona

deportation of the 12 million is coming - but it will come state by state

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