The Observer, March 31, 2006
Volume XXXVIII, Issue 22
Free Speech Zone: Immigration bill goes against American ideals
This week the U.S. Senate debated an immigration bill passed by the House in December which is a shameful document reflecting deliberate xenophobia. According to an article in the Washington Post last December, the bill includes "legislation to build vast border fences, force employers to verify the legality of their workers, and tighten security on the nation's frontier." Regardless of whether or not the Senate eventually passes a modified version of the House bill, it displays thinly-veiled racism and has come as a shock for many who felt that America has always been welcoming towards immigrants.
The myth of America as a "melting pot" has been one of the great lies of American history. Our country was never actually intended to be a haven for those escaping poverty, famine, and war, but that is what it has become. Politicians have always made efforts to limit immigration, especially by placing quotas on the number of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe and Asia, most notably in the Immigration Act of 1924. Most of these quotas were eliminated by the 1970s onwards and a large number of immigrants from all corners of the world have come to America since then.
Many recent immigrants have entered the United States via work or student visas, or by being granted political asylum. But many others have entered illegally, particularly across the border between Mexico and American states such as California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Contrary to what supporters of the House bill and ignorant Americans everywhere argue, these illegal immigrants do not pose a grave national security threat. The events of Sept. 11 reflected a massive intelligence failure on the part of the federal government and it is ridiculous to attribute them to millions of immigrants living in the United States.
Another claim by the paranoid and isolated people who feel that immigration is ruining America is that immigrants take jobs that otherwise would go to Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth. These people risk their very lives attempting to cross the American border to work in sweatshops and migrant labor fields. Taking jobs that the average American would never do, illegal immigrants fill essential positions on our economy. The next time you leave a hotel room or a restaurant, consider the person who had to cross one of the most heavily-fortified borders in the world to clean up after you for sub-minimum wage pay.
Regardless of all of the unsubstantiated arguments against immigration, all Americans should still support immigration in principle. It was immigrants who built and are continuing to build this country. And while the ancestors of those in Congress may have come over on the Mayflower, most Americans' ancestors did not come to this country until the 1860s or later. Many people on the left may feel alienated by the constant bombardment of nationalistic propaganda in the media. But if you need a reason to "love" America as the WASPs on Fox News claim, you need not look farther than your own ancestry.
This weekend, marchers across the United States demonstrated in support of immigrant rights before the Senate vote. There were half a million in Los Angeles, 300,000 in Chicago, 50,000 in Denver, 20,000 in Phoenix, and 10,000 in Milwaukee. One protestor quoted in this week's Sunday Times summed up the feelings of those demonstrating, "When did you ever see a Mexican blow up the World Trade Center? Who do you think built the World Trade Center?" The message is clear: America belongs to the immigrants because it is a country of immigrants. Let's not forget these words that once greeted immigrants at Ellis Island: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the nameless, tempest-lost, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
