Immigration & Ted Ken's Speech

In late March, Ted Kennedy, spoke to the Senate in response to the immigration protests. Pleased he wasn't driving a car, I took the time to listen to what he had to say. I agree that building a physical wall is an archaic "19th century solution to a 21st century problem." (To misquote Allen Iverson: "Walls, people. We're talking about building walls... Walls!") But mostly I found his solution vague and velvet-gloved - particularly with his referral to illegal immigrants as "undocumented workers." It basically seemed to me a ploy to get the workers' votes (and he proposes to end the "system of exploitation"). As ridiculous as it would be to fence ourselves, opening up ourselves too much would be dangerous.

We must find a solution somewhere between deportation and amnesty. As a child of immigrants (though the more correct term would be refugees), I cannot support our country being completely closed off to offering sanctuary and opportunity to those that need them. This was how this country was founded only a little over 200 years ago.

However, the world is a much more dangerous place today than it was in the 1700's. Back then, the most one evil man could do was target handfuls of people at a time with primitive and unreliable explosives. Today, in the age of nuclear and biological weapons, one man can wreak catastrophic damage in the hundreds of thousands. So it is essential to our safety that we are more careful with who enters our country.

Beyond that, there are also numerous resources that are being consumed by these individuals who obviously do not pay taxes. And, of course, there is the matter of jobs being taken by illegal immigrants - which, since those are usually the lowest-paying roles that would otherwise be filled by junior high students or completely out-sourced to another country, I find that to be the weakest of the arguments. Still, illegal immigrants are a strain to our economy.

Ultimately, our government needs to help the Mexican people (and others we share this hemisphere with) help themselves. If they can find opportunities in their own home, then fewer people would feel the need to leave. There is a real reason people risk everything, including their lives, to make a home in the United States. I mean, we're not talking about building a wall along our border with Canada, are we? These immigrants are, in large part, not criminals. Many of them are simply hard-working people hoping to earn a better life for themselves and their families.

How can we balance inclusive idealism with the realities of our world today? I don't have the answers, but I hope that the men and women we vote for can come up with some better ones.

Anyway, today I was cruising the 'net as I usually do, jumping from sports sites to political blogs, when I came across a blog on The Political Pit Bull regarding that Kennedy speech. I continued past the initial blog and began reading the comments when I came across this response from a reader named "Zack":

I have never heard of anyone who is sooo out of touch with the reality. These undocumented workers are nothing less than lawbreakers in the first place. It doesn't make any sense to me how they could be allowed to become the citizens of the US after how they broke the law. I served in the US military to defend this country from enemies foreign and domestic. Illegal immigrants are lawbreakers and enemies of the state and they should not be pardoned by amnesty but deported to their countries for breaking the law. It doesn't matter how they contribute to the economy, justice must be served and borders protected and sealed and people punished by breaking the law. If a soldier breaks a law he is guilty then he must be punished because the honor and prestige of the Army is at stake. The same principle applies here. These people who broke the law are not being punished but are forgiven and justice is being ignored for the sake of Latino vote? I don't care about the vote of Latinos because the majority of them never really cared about the United States. Would you really say they cared about the US when they go on protests and demonstrations by waving their Mexican and other flags. It disgusts me to see how politicians ignore the truth and just let these lawbreakers get away with their treacherous actions. And what did these soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan die for? For this great county of the United States to be invaded by illegals???

First, I have to respect this guy for serving our country. His courage is not lost on me. And clearly we share some opinions... but I'm sure you see why I had to respond:

Zack, I agree that calling the illegal immigrants "undocumented workers" implies a paperwork oversight and attempts to disguise the overt law-breaking seemingly for votes. Actually, I agreed with much of what you said - up until you grouped all "Latinos" together as people who do not care for this country and do not contribute.

Hispanics are as different as people from Auburn and San Francisco - or better still people from Boston and New Zealand. To lump a group of people together simply shows ignorance to global diversity. The illegal immigrants who break the law by entering this country are not representative of all Spanish-speakers. Ted Kennedy is obviously not representative of all English-speaking white Americans, is he? (And he's from the SAME country.) So please don't muddy your argument by tainting it with bigoted remarks. That's as counterproductive as the protesters burning American flags.

I'm looking forward to his response.

Here's more on my thoughts on the immigration debate, the words hispanic and latino, and the differences among cultures (specifically as it relates to hollywood, but the argument applies).