http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/12104972.htm

Posted on Mon, Jul. 11, 2005

Isn't immigration still a privilege?

BY JAMES RAGLAND
The Dallas Morning News

(KRT) - Dear James: I did not read your column (May 29) in which you gave an analysis of Vicente Fox's statement regarding blacks and jobs, so I cannot speak to what you said, but I can respond to the June 12 column.

The excuse that an American will not work at the jobs that illegals will is hollow when one considers the law of supply and demand. When an overwhelming supply of workers will work for lower wages, then it is a moot point who is going to be in demand.

It appears that the meaning of illegal has been forgotten. The people entering our country illegally are breaking our laws, and the people who hire them are breaking the law.

For too long, our government has winked at this invasion because the lobbyists for corporations and the immigration lawyers have promised money and votes. Individual citizens break the law by hiring illegals to mow their lawns, clean their houses and be their nannies. We are supposed to be a nation of laws, but in the case of cheap labor, it is OK to break the law.

But, Mr. Ragland, it is not only the thought of breaking the law, it is also the answer that a friend of mine gave to a person who asked him the question, "Why shouldn't we hire illegals?"

My friend said: "In hiring a gardener, the important issue is not the gardener, but what we are saying about the moral and economic climate we wish to live in ourselves."

All who hire illegals are kidding themselves to think that hiring cheap labor is advantageous. With the cheap labor comes the cost of health care for illegals, free education, overcrowding in our schools, the cost of incarcerating illegal criminals - all paid by you and me, the taxpayer.

And finally, in answer to your statement, "This country belongs to all of us ...," the late Barbara Jordan, who chaired a commission on immigration, said: "Immigration is not a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution to everyone and anyone in the world who wishes to come to the United States. It is a privilege granted by the people of the United States to those whom we choose to admit."

_Jean Towell, Dallas

Dear Ms. Towell: With our nation poised to celebrate the 229th birthday of its independence tomorrow, now is a good time to put this issue to rest.

I hope.

As I pointed out last month, Mr. Fox expressed "sincere regret" for this comment he made in May: "There is no doubt that Mexican men and women, full of dignity, drive and a capacity for work, are doing the jobs that not even blacks want to do there, in the United States."

Forget about Mr. Fox, who has vowed to work to improve black-brown relations in Mexico and the U.S.

There's something else stirring in the hearts and minds of some readers. I've received countless letters and phone calls about Mr. Fox's remarks, and many of them reveal deep and mixed emotions about new immigrants coming into the U.S., especially those who are entering illegally.

Your letter in particular captures the conflicted feelings that have been shared, and it also reflects the political complexity of our immigration policies.

You're right about one thing: Either we are a nation that respects the law, or we aren't. On paper, we are. In reality, it's not that simple, as you have explained in your description of hiring practices.

My main concern is that people find the proper platform on which to vent their concerns and frustrations - whether that's writing a letter to your council member or your congressman - rather than besmirching the people who are trying to turn their lives around by coming to the land of the free and the home of the brave.

The true measure of a nation is its people, and, for that reason, I would hope that we never grow cold, hard or indifferent to those whose pastures seem far less green than ours.

Granted, we must protect our borders. But we also must safeguard the character and reputation of a nation that began shaping itself on July 4, 1776, and has been playing with fireworks ever since.

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