Icehearted said:
This will be thorny, no matter how it's approached.
Anecdotal experience; most legal emigrants resent illegals, especially for not bothering to become more associated with this country, including learning customs, the language, the history, etc. If I moved to Korea or Germany, I wouldn't have an entitled attitude about how I should be accommodated by them in their own land. Likewise I think that the language of America is primarily English, ironically a lot of it is made of other languages, but American English, in and of itself apparently complex to even our own natively born citizens, is the language. I don't mind concessions, I'm all for diversity, this doesn't offend me, even if the implication is a bit offensive, especially given how other countries thump terms like "sovereignty" on the table whenever America wants to step into things. I mind that people I know were passed up on jobs in America because they didn't speak Spanish or Vietnamese s well as English, and were talking local service and support jobs for companies like ATT and local cable networks.
America is made of immigrants and their descendants, which is what used to make this country uniquely appealing and you can see this all over our map, but if you're choosing to be American why not embrace our ways rather than expect others to accommodate yours?
Pardon my thorns.
I have to speak with my experiences with illegal immigration. One of my relatives was an illegal immigrant that moved to the United States when she was 16 forced by her parents to help support the. Being thrown into a new country with no knowledge of language or culture, she quickly settled into a familiar environment, a Spanish-speaking community. Being stuck in a small town where everyone speaks Spanish does not put pressure on you to learn English any time soon.
She was overwhelmed and was denied to go to school by her father because being the oldest she had to support the family. When looking for a full-time job (remember, she was 16 at this time) she was able to find one with a fake ID and social security number. She became a machinist working on large machines for 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Through her job she began to learn more English but she still had a thick accent which embarrassed her, because of this she rarely socialized with her fellow employees. She said she was petrified of being found out and deported, there was not a day she said that she did not fear someone finding out.
She worked like this for around 5 years paying taxes on a name that wasn't even hers, never having the chance to see any of that money. She never got unemployment, disability, food stamps, or any other "hand out" that so many people seem to believe most illegals just demand and receive the second they set foot in this country. Years later she had a family and eventually became a legal citizen through the Regan administration.
Many of my experiences with undocumented people are similar. I'm not sure where this idea came from that every illegal demands handouts but I have never seen this. Most Hispanic immigrants (even legal) seem petrified of asking for any public assistance from my experience.
Why do so many Mexican immigrants come over illegally instead of the legal way you may ask?
1. The immigration process takes a long time.
2. The immigration process is very expensive. http://www.cracked.com/article_18552_so-you-want-to-be-american-5-circles-immigration-hell_p2.html
3. Most of Mexico is poor.
4. Most of Mexico is poorly educated. (In Mexico you are only required to go to the American equivalent of the 8th grade. If I recall correctly this is when you learn long division.)
5. A surprising number of rural Mexican people are completely illiterate. (Imagine the difficulty of a mountain of legal documents for immigration if you are poorly educated and can't read.)
6. Mexico is incredibly corrupt and bribing the right official can mean the difference of your immigration forms finding their way smoothly to the right people or mysteriously disappearing.
7. Certain parts of Mexico are incredibly dangerous with many states under complete drug cartel control. (Imagine your legal immigration recourse when finding the beheaded remains of a government employee and his family in the middle of the street is a common occurrence.)
Wow, this came out longer than I thought.
Before anyone jumps on my throat, I am not saying that we should have open boarders and forced to learn Spanish to accommodate immigrants. I'm not sure what the best solution is. I do know that demonizing immigrants as lazy leaches of society does no one any good.
