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April 11, 2005

“They Just Want to Work”

Three key ingredients to a healthy border policy

 

 

 

The most common argument you hear from romantics living in exclusive neighborhoods or any point north of Ohio is that illegal aliens are simply here for no other reason than to work – something that to me seems on its face disturbingly prejudicial. Illegal aliens are individuals like the rest of us, so to paint this image of a “Happy Julio” in his checkered shirt smiling all the way as he does your dirty work at barely-subsisting wages is not only a lie, it’s of the forms of cruelty that only find their match in Southern slavery or the plight of 19^th Century sweatshop or California railroad workers. It is both part of an unmistakable elitist glance toward the Mexican and the average American.

 

Instead of this however I recommend a more responsible approach, which would include not romanticizing the illegal alien and not demonizing him, but instead calling things both good and bad for what they are and then building a sensible approach around the reality. For example, we know that about half of illegal alien Mexican nationals come here to flee poverty and corruption back home and find work. We also know that about another half come here to live off the dole (because American welfare is better than Mexican welfare) or commit violent crimes against our citizens. Drug trafficking is just such a thing, and drugs brought across the Mexican border account for over 70% of all illegal drugs brought into this country. Imagine what it would do to the street value of crack cocaine if the Mexican border were sealed? Anyone who is interested in the rights of the urban poor should want to seal the border. But these drug smugglers also threaten and intimidate citizens living in towns and communities existing on both sides of the border, causing financial losses and even human ones. Sometimes the violent criminals even kidnap Americans and carry them back across the frontier never to be heard from again. Such is the case with the current and agonizingly disturbing boom in the sex-slave industry, in which American girls as young as 13 are being whisked out of the country (mostly via California) and into Mexico. Indeed, open borders works both ways. And this ugly side of things is not exactly the racist Happy Julio the out of touch elites may have wished it to be.

 

So the realist knows we must do something to stop the Mexican alien who wishes to abuse and commit crimes against men, women and children on this side of the border, or has fled Mexican authorities (such that they are) for doing the same on his side of the border. But I think it’s also fair to offer opportunities for those who do desire honest work and a chance at a better life provided we have a way for separating the worker from the dangerous criminal (the sheep from the goats, if you will) and addressing other problems which have long precipitated this exodus from Mexico.

 

While I actually agree with some of the more compassionate members of the left (such as fellow Texas blogger Andy at Searching for a Better Way) that a “guest-worker” program can be part of a solution by matching honest worker with honest employer, I think we already have such a program (the work-visa) and should look at ways we can utilize it in a more tailored fashion while also applying the necessary stick to that carrot by forcing those wishing to work here to register with the U.S. Government and respect its laws, which happens first by enforcing the borders. When the borders are enforced, then comes the carrot, which if constructed properly, will funnel the types of people most deserving with employable skills through the visa process. And if there are Mexicans to be matched to otherwise neglected jobs, then this is the perfect way to make everyone happy. Perhaps one method in this is expediting the process of obtaining worker visas for documented Mexican and Canadian citizens. This would help us keep the economic side humming even as we weed out the criminals we are presently sorely failing to identify at entry. (This weeding out serves only to protect the basic human rights and safety of not only our citizens, but also those of the foreign workers.)

 

Those who may oppose such a policy might argue that by expediting this process we may allow some in who carry bogus papers, etc. This already is going on and the method for detecting such fraud could and should be improved across the board. In the meantime, millions are crossing into our country with absolutely no background information, positive knowledge of their intentions and no accountability.

 

As I hinted at above, a second condition under which I would allow so-called migrant workers from any country not on a terror watchlist to enter with this plan would be if I knew there was a method to insure that the migrants would be treated humanely and compensated fairly by US employers. Let’s face it, today most of them are not being treated humanely and stories of abuse are more than prevalent. As much as the lawless coalition and the “corporate middle” including rather sadly, the Bush administration try to make it sound as if they are pushing for policies that “care” for these people (that is, the half of them historically shown to be genuinely interested in work and not in crime), in fact it is the very policies of this "coalition" that have promoted the self-same forms of abuse we worked so hard to free ourselves from at the end of the 19^th Century. Abuses such as sweat shops, indentured servitude and even outright slavery and perhaps worse are blots on our national history we should not and must not revisit. The ones coming here who are merely seeking peaceful work and bread for their families deserve better and so do we.

 

A final term for such a program as indeed has been pointed out in other posts here is that there be some sort of agreement with the Mexican people to begin to face up to their domestic problems instead of running away from them. They have gotten themselves into their situation and only they can make it any better through their patient, dedicated sacrifice. It’s how America made it this far and it’s the only way Mexico can do it as well. If “viva México” means anything, it should mean this.

 

We have a choice in dealing with this problem. We can either continue to be little Pollyanna’s pretending to import Aunt Jemima-bottle caricatures of human beings we know little about and arrogantly look down on and continue to mistreat them even as their evil twins wreak havoc on our civil society or we can do the right thing by resuming the course for the coming generations toward that civil and equitable society we as Americans have long labored to attain.

 

Posted by Martin at April 11, 2005 01:11 AM

Comments

Posted by: beautifulatrocities at April 11, 2005 02:43 PM

Posted by: Crystal Clear at April 12, 2005 01:40 AM

Posted by: Miss O'Hara at April 13, 2005 03:47 PM