Thread: Illegal Immigration Policies Dehumanize Immigrants

Illegal Immigration Policies Dehumanize Immigrants
By: Chris Donnelly
Posted: 3/26/07
A battle has been brewing in America during the past few years - a reoccurring fight that may change combatants, but never tactics nor motives over immigration. In years past, it was the southern Europeans, then the Irish and further along (and still) Asians. Today the main fight is over Latinos, primarily of Mexican descent. These immigrants are coming to America for the same reason all of our relatives in years past arrived, and they should be given an equal chance along with the rest of us for making their lives complete.

Conservatives repeat the same talking points when arguing against these immigrants - these workers bring with them drugs, huge families to feed, ailments to infect the "pure" citizens of the U.S. Republicans across the board assert that poor Mexican migrant laborers may just be hiding nuclear warheads in their pants. As American citizens, we should stand by our county's ideals and not let the right dehumanize and make us fear illegal immigrants.

The problem is that the government makes it extremely hard to gain citizenship in a process that takes years to complete. The current administration knows this, and is specifically working to keep immigrants from realizing a legal status.

If conservatives really seek to capture the true American essence and keep the good ol' USA in line with its traditional roots, then they better start packing their bags. It is very convenient how conservatives forget that we all immigrated to this land and then subsequently stole it from the Native Americans. Maybe if we are lucky, we can hitch a ride to Mexico and witness firsthand how we have destroyed entire families and communities, and limited life chances through our crooked, corrupt and racist immigration policies.

If this Republican notion sounds more than slightly self-defeating, you are not alone. Republicans preach about how evil illegal immigrants are, yet they happily let them come across the border so that they can be exploited for cheap labor without workers rights as U.S. citizens. The right does not want to stop the flow of illegal immigrants in to America, they just want us to believe they do.

The key to the conservative strategy is to make immigrants inhuman. By treating Mexican and Latino immigrants like trash, and referring to them just as statistics and not real living human beings, conservatives have been able to keep the fear of illegal immigrants implanted in the American consciousness.

This transpires in to the right's common tactic where Latinos are 'stealing' American jobs. Yes, be careful everyone, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant may be eyeing that ever so desirable meat packing or dishwashing job you have lined up for years. Due to insufficient education - and an American desire to halt anyone who is a minority from higher learning and more lucrative job access - these immigrants will never be able to contend for decent jobs. Conservatives lock them up in low wage labor, and this is just where they want them.

Our current social "crisis" is a redundant process that must be halted. Every couple quarter centuries or so there is a mass panic in the American public about immigrants.

Take, for example, when the Irish immigrated to the United States. All of the sudden the country was in dire straits, for the Catholics would soon dominate and make all Protestants love corned beef and worship Rome. This discrimination is much easier to use against Latinos however, for the second a perspective employer or governmental officer lays eyes upon a Mexican, a whole line of racist practices come to mind without a single word being spoken. In their case, employers nowadays do not even need to put up signs that say "Latinos need not apply" as they did for the Irish.

In a New York Times article by James C. McKinley, politicians literally gloat over how great they are becoming at ruining human lives. Many of their practices violate simple ideals of human rights, such as "the Justice Department … [giving] Border Patrol agents the ability to deport most of the Central Americans more quickly, without a hearing before a judge." Taking an ever expanding progressive stride by handing out prison sentences - in one case 120 days for illegal immigration - America is showing the world just how intolerant and racist we are.

The ironic fact is that American immigration policy makes no rational sense, for the whole basis of conservatism is to maximize profit in the easiest way possible. So, instead of wasting all of our precious tax dollars on feeding and imprisoning illegal immigrants, why not just make them citizens so that they can be taxed?

The lack of logic embodied in the conservative argument is appalling, and has a decided effect on our fellow humans. Immigrants do not have the same privileges that we all take for granted, and by immigrating to the U.S. they hope to make a better life for themselves and their families, as our ancestors once did years ago.

We all need to face the reality of the situation. The assault against illegal immigration is a clear cut example of racism - there are no National Guard patrols or fences across the Canadian border - and while we pride ourselves on gains in civil rights, the fight is not close to being over. This is but a chapter in the wider scheme of institutionalized racism and sexism, where anyone who is not a white, protestant, heterosexual, able bodied, young male is fundamentally screwed.

It is not a matter of following the law or doing what the government tells us to do. This is a matter of doing what is right, what is loving and caring. We all need to work for an open society where Latino immigrants can realize citizenship and share in the wealth and prosperity of America. Let us make this world a better place for the generations to come.









Staff Columnist Chris Donnelly is a 4th-semester political science and sociology double major.
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As it pertains to the above...

"For a creative writer possession of the "truth" is less important than emotional sincerity". - George Orwell

Originally Posted by jimpasz

This discrimination is much easier to use against Latinos however, for the second a perspective employer or governmental officer lays eyes upon a Mexican, a whole line of racist practices come to mind without a single word being spoken. In their case, employers nowadays do not even need to put up signs that say "Latinos need not apply" as they did for the Irish.

Oh please, the problem is that businesses are hiring the illegals and that government agencies are giving them social services. Now this joker is going to try to say they aren't getting hired or getting social services?

This article is such trash I couldn't even finish reading it. Talk about putting a spin on the truth, this has 10,000000 MPH winds.

Trash and makes no sense. How can anything done to the criminal aliens dehumanize the immigrants? Crazy stuff.