Thread: Mi Casa No Es Su Casa...........Cornell American

http://www.cornellamerican.com/article/151/rate/5/



Home | Mi Casa No Es Su CasaVolume VIII, Issue VIII | June 2nd

Mi Casa No Es Su Casa


Come here legally, shame on me; come here illegally, shame on you.

By: William Cohen on May 31st, 2006 at 4:09 PM


It’s been almost a month since massive nationwide protests broke out on April 10 in response to the proposed legislation H.R. 4437 making its way through the Senate. The bill, informally known as the Sensenbrenner bill, would implement a great many things, but the bottom line is that it would substantially beef up border security. This apparently does not sit well with many people. Although protests had started as early as March, April 10 was the big day; there were half a million in Dallas alone, and Los Angeles saw its biggest protest in the history of the city.

If you’re looking for diversity, boy oh boy, were these protests full of it. There was every type of protest imaginable—sit-ins, marches, high school and college walk-outs; you name it, it was there. Perhaps the most entertaining people protesting were those belonging to the “Mexica” Movement, a group whose members were seen carrying signs stating, “Europeans Are Illegal On This Continent Since 1492!” Several political figures, including Sensenbrenner and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, were portrayed as Nazis.

Even Cornell got in on the fun, but instead of a half-million protesters, we had about a hundred rowdy students shouting catchy phrases like “Tell me what you want, what you really really want” on Ho Plaza. Their answer: JUSTICE! Several signs read, “No human is illegal.” There have even been dialogues and debates—the typical Cornell responses to a controversial issue. At least no one proposed a student assembly bill addressing the issue.

Well, this is all well and good, but if you thought it was over, you were sorely mistaken. On May 1, another round of protests broke out, dubbed “A Day Without An Immigrant.” The name may have made me laugh, but I realized these protests were plenty serious when Tyson Foods actually closed down its plant for the day and when my brother informed me my small, middle-of-nowhere town in Texas was actually having a march.

While the Sensenbrenner Bill was ostensibly the real reason for these marches, that’s just an excuse: this is nearly twenty years of discontent and hostility over broken American immigration policies finally erupting onto the surface. The Sensenbrenner bill has the right idea of trying to make immigration laws stronger, but it really is just another in a long line of bills that won’t get the job done. The point is that we have now reached the point where the members of Congress will actually have to do something, rather than just twiddling their thumbs trying to attract the Hispanic vote.

There is a real problem growing along the border towns. We are seeing a whole underclass growing up in America. We are seeing border communities become their own little sub-cultures, with some small towns near the border deciding to make the official language Spanish instead of English. Standards of living decline dangerously the closer you get to the border. Some have called this “Mexamerica”; I just call it dangerous.

America’s greatest strength, indeed, has always been its immigrants (we are a nation of them), but only when the immigrants were made Americans and integrated into society fully. That’s not happening here. The creation of a permanent underclass will only increase the disparity between rich and poor and further cut deeper divisions into our society.

There is a general lack of assimilation, thanks in some part to our educational system and its foolish so-called bilingual education. Have you looked at France recently? France’s failure to integrate its Muslim population has led to deadly consequences. The US is not anywhere close to France’s situation, thank God, but we are heading down that road, and sooner than you might think.The unabated immigration is not good for anybody.

As it becomes harder and harder to enter through cities, many Mexicans try to make it across the deadly desert. Coyotes attempt to lead Mexicans across the border in the hot sun for a great fee and many times, leave the migrants to rot. Is anyone surprised anymore when they open up a newspaper and see a headline screaming, “20 migrants found dead in back of truck”?

This is dangerous for another, much more dire reason as well: the drug trade that is growing all around the border. Crime is rampant on both sides of the border. That Mexican gangs like MS-13 and even corrupt Mexican officials have been seen crossing the border to engage in drug deals remains perhaps the most dangerous aspect of the border.


It’s understandable why immigrants want to come to America, but what are we bringing them to? A border society full of crime and low wages? Is this what we want any one part of America to look like? Those who complain about the lack of human rights illegals have should take a trip down to the border someday and see how bad things are getting. While not a cure, a wall could substantially cut down on crime and clean up areas on both sides of the border.

A great many people are complaining about the concept of a border wall.Most are comparing it to a certain wall in Berlin, but are forgetting that barrier was meant to keep people in, not out, and the US is about as far from communist East Germany as one can get.

As the indomitable conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly argued during her speech on immigration given at Cornell earlier this semester, the simple fact is that a wall would cut down substantially on illegal immigration and all the other adverse affects that come with it. Walls are a great way of keeping people out. When immigration got out of control in the eighties, the city of San Diego erected a solid steel wall. Apprehensions went down 95 percent, from around 100,000 per year to only 5,000. A wall along the entire border could see this type of success.

There are those that say a wall will not stop illegals from entering the US, that they will still find a way in. Well, yes, the US will never be able to stop illegal immigration completely—that is, of course, impossible. But a wall can substantially cut down on immigration by simply making crossing much, much harder to do. When that is accomplished, Washington can set its mind to doing something with the millions of illegals already here. If the US could cut down on the number of illegal entering the country, everything would be a lot more manageable.

But many say, “Who will do the jobs no one wants to do?” I find it hard to believe that it’s only Mexicans flipping hamburgers and mopping the floors. Previous cutoffs of immigration flows in American history have not resulted in a desperate rush to fill up jobs. Where there is employment, workers will follow, and with increased automation, this is becoming less of a problem, anyway, as much of American employment begins to shift to the service industry.

As Phyllis Schlafly stated in her Cornell address, the United States cannot solve the whole world’s problems. First and foremost, we must look after our own interests. This is not something any of the protestors nationwide want to hear. To open up our borders completely would be disastrous, and Mexico’s numerous economic and social problems would become ours as a result. Legal immigration is encouraged – it keeps our nation young and strong. Just go down to the engineering quad one day and you can spot hundreds of legal immigrants who will keep this country going. And yes, perhaps it’s time to make legal immigration a little easier to do.

While the erection of a wall on the border would upset many, it must be done. Politicians in Washington, Democrats and Republicans, must stop being timid and start trying to do something about the problem. Unfortunately, I’m not hopeful.

In more than one way, the security of the United States is at risk, and this is a time when security is more important than ever. It’s funny to laugh at organizations like the Mexica movement, but when border towns practically become Mexico, it’s dead serious. We need to integrate Mexican immigrants into our society, and if these massive protests are any indicator, we are failing miserably. Close the borders. It should have been done years ago, and at this point, it’s the only way.


William Cohen is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at wcc9@cornell.edu.




Copyright © 2006 Cornell American. This page is valid XHTML 1.0 strict.
All article content is the opinion of its writer; all article comments are owned by the poster.

Great post, jimpasz. Well-written piece by a young and well-informed writer.