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Tuesday, July 4, 2006


Immigrant: Give others a chance at citizenship

By Alex Keown Daily Times Staff Writer

Abdallah Jallal knows what illegal immigrants in the United States have to deal with — he was one for four years.


Jallal first came to the United States in 1987 from Amman, Jordan, on a student visa. But when the money for his education ran out, instead of returning home, Jallal decided to stay. For four years Jallal lived with an uncle in Wilson while working menial jobs and ducking the law. But he knew he wanted to be a citizen, so he took the necessary steps, including marrying a citizen.

"Now I own a business, donate money, pay my taxes and am proud to be an American. Even when I go back to Middle East I say I am American," said Jallal, who owns Sandy's Convenient No. 2 on Herring Avenue.

Having grown up in the Middle East, Jallal said, he can sympathize with the illegals in America who work menial labor jobs for little pay. He said it's common in Arabic countries to import labor because people don't want to do certain jobs, such as collect garbage or perform maintenance-type work.

"Those Mexicans here, they work hard for a lot less," Jallal said.

According to Nolo Martinez of the Center for New North Carolinians at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, jobs in construction, agriculture, textile, manufacturing, maintenance, services and hospitality are the attraction. Many of those economic sectors have become dependent on immigrant labor, he told the Carolina Journal, a publication of the John Locke Foundation.

Members of Congress are debating a plan to deal with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants who've taken up residence in the United States. President Bush has proposed a plan that would include a path to citizenship for the illegals. However, many members of Congress, including Rep. Walter Jones, are fighting such a plan. Jones said illegal immigrants shouldn't be rewarded with citizenship when their presence in the country is breaking U.S. laws. He said the fact that the government doesn't enforce its own immigration laws only encourages more illegals to cross the border.

The Washington, D.C.-based Pew Hispanic Center has estimated that 300,000 people — roughly 65 percent of North Carolina's Latino population — are illegal immigrants, based on the Census Bureau's latest population estimates.

Jallal said if all the illegal Hispanics were sent home, there would be a huge impact on area businesses. He said not only would labor costs go up for building contractors and farmers, but the impact on retail businesses would he enormous.

"Look at the school buses taking them to Wal-Mart on the weekends. All that money would be gone from there," he said.

Jallal said giving illegals a chance to gain their citizenship would be a win-win situation.

"Man, you would make them part of the system. They would get apartments, pay taxes, and participate in the community while giving them a sense of pride, that they can walk down the street and not fear anything," he said. "All these people want is the chance to have a better life."


alexjk@wilsondaily.com | 265-7847