It’s kind of interesting watching people debate
immigration. It’s like watching two
furious children. One says a banana is
an orange and the other says it’s an apple.
Meanwhile, logical people either put their head in their palm, laugh at
their ignorance, or fume over their stupidity.
I figure that when I start talking about political issues,
people want to know what party I am. I’m
no party. I think parties are
destructive to the American people (I talk more about that here: ). However, there is something I believe in
regards to immigration that I believe many people have rejected because of
pride and racism.
The “Gang of Eight” immigration bill that is in Congress
right now has been met with a lot of criticism.
Put simply, the bill is supposed to do two things: provide a path to
citizenship for illegal immigrants over a period of about ten years, and
increase border control. The primary
criticism of the bill has been that it is an “amnesty” bill. In other words, it’s rewarding illegal
immigrants, which is going to give way to more illegal immigration. This criticism is part of the reason that
there is a provision for tighter border control. But something is being ignored. Something big. An unanswered question that begs us to answer
it.
Who are we to keep people from coming into the country to
begin with?
There is a very prevalent and despicable form of racism that
has not been eradicated from the hearts of many Americans. However, it’s not against blacks. Instead, it’s against Mexicans. I’m sure you’ve heard it before: they steal
our jobs, they don’t pay taxes, so on and so forth.
And who is making these accusations? The very people that ran the Native Americans
out of their land.
Sound familiar? The
fact is, we’re fine with the fact that our ancestors did that and we shy away
from addressing their cruelty and disregard for those who were already here,
but God forbid that it be done to us.
Instead it’s an American pride that insists that we deserve the
resources of this place more than those that want to come here.
That’s problem number one.
Problem number two is another more blatant form of hypocrisy.
One of the American history stories I heard the most about
in school as well as being told to me outside of my studies is that of the
pioneers. Fleeing persecution from the
church of England, they came to America: the land of solace. Now America is only the land of solace if we
so choose to let the oppressed inside of our “sacred” borders.
What I find increasingly ironic is that the same people that
argue for smaller government seem to be okay with the government controlling
who they allow to live inside of the country, and even call for the deportation
of those outside of the government’s authorization. Something is wrong with this picture.
I’m not saying that there aren’t reasons to be careful about
who comes into the country. We don’t
want to be harboring foreign criminals.
With that said, who are we to demand that those that want to enter the
country aren’t good enough for America?
If America is the land of opportunity, then let’s start acting American.
As such, I support the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill, and
I hope that through it, some will begin to see the hypocrisy of the nation we
have lifted upon the pedestal as though it were meant to be God’s promised
land.
