Thread: The Racism That Nobody Talks About

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The Racism That Nobody Talks About
AlecWest [NovelHost] | POSTED: 02.23.06 @00:59


The Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control Act, which passed through the House of Representatives last year, drew a firestorm of protest from Mexico and residents in the U.S. who came from Mexico. In the coming weeks, this bill will be considered in the Senate. Its chances of passage are considered good though no one is certain whether the President would sign it or veto it. In either case, because Senate consideration is underway, the firestorm of protest has resurfaced. And much of the progressive media is likening this proposal to anti-Mexican racism.

I have no doubt that racism is in play. However, the kind of racism at play is not the kind of racism progressives would have us believe. A different kind of racism is addressed by this bill ... a form of racism that nobody wants to talk about - except perhaps me.

My ex-wife is an immigrant from the Philippines. When she came to the U.S., she was under a diplomatic passport due to her employment as an aide to the Trade Minister of the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles. We met when she came up to Portland on vacation to see relatives. Eventually, one thing led to another and we were married.

Once we were married, we filed petitions with the Immigration and Naturalization Service on behalf of one of her brothers and three of her sisters, all of whom wanted to come to the United States and later seek citizenship. Five years later when my ex-wife took her naturalization exam, she asked an I.N.S. rep why their petitions were taking so long to be approved. The I.N.S. rep was blunt.

The I.N.S. has a good estimate on the number of illegal immigrants from Mexico. And based on this estimate, they adjust the quota of petitions they can approve. In 1992, the global quota of petitions considered for approval was 675,000. But of that number, only half those petitions were approved. Guess where the other half of those immigrants came from?

Sadly, the debate over illegal Mexican immigration only seems to draw attention from two different camps. On one side of the debate you have U.S. citizens born in the U.S. On the other side, you have Mexicans ... some in Mexico ... the rest in the U.S. And some of those Mexicans in the U.S. are no doubt illegal immigrants themselves. However, the people we never hear from in this debate are legal Asian immigrant petitioners, legal African immigrant petitioners, legal European immigrant petitioners, and yes - even legal Mexican immigrant petitioners ... not to mention legal Latino immigrant petitioners from countries other than Mexico. Just for once, I'd like to hear their opinions on this debate. But, I can guess what those opinions are.

I used to have a fairly liberal attitude toward illegal immigration from Mexico. But after a few years of being married to an Asian immigrant, I became keenly aware of the racism via "preferential treatment" given to Mexicans - at the expense of Asians, Africans, Europeans, and non-Mexican Latinos. And this enlightenment to a form of racism rarely spoken about is why I personally support the pending legislation.

There is a myth about illegal Mexican immigration I want to dispel right now. The progressive argument would have us believe that, "Mexicans are only doing the work that U.S. citizens refuse to do." Not true. Mexicans are doing the work that legal immigrants would do IF THEY COULD ONLY GET HERE. My ex-wife's brother and three sisters finally got their petitions approved, waiting three years longer than they expected to wait due to quota adjustments related to illegal Mesican immigration. When they got here, they immediately went to work at a local area farm picking fruits and vegetables. Alongside them in the fields were other Filipinos, other Asians, persons from former Soviet-bloc countries, a 'very' large family from Kenya, and of course Mexicans. But the non-Mexican immigrant contingent of our workforce is not limited to farms. Daily, I see non-Mexican immigrants working in many jobs that, as some would have us believe, would be refused by U.S. citizens. And who has the greater right to those jobs ... someone who filled out the forms, paid the fees, and jumped through the hoops of I.N.S. law ... or someone who just waltzes across the border?

Every immigrant, regardless of their race or national origin, deserves an "equal" right to the the American Dream ... as long as they pursue the dream in a legal manner and not as an "undocumented worker."

One note in closing as a humorous aside to "undocumented" workers. One of these days, I'd like to see someone rob a bank. And when the cops come up to arrest him, I'd like to see him put forth the following argument:

"But officer, you misunderstand me. I wasn't illegally robbing the bank. I was merely making an (ahem) undocumented withdrawal."

Somehow, I don't think the argument would fly. The law is the law.

Bingo! No TPS, no special treatment for the "poor undocumented Irish *SNIFFLE SNIFFLE*" groups. Lets end it.

According to several articles I've read, the 'illegal' Irish are getting out while the getting is good. So much for the stereotypical 'dumb Mick'. I wish more illegal immigrants were as smart as the Irish ones. They'd get out now to save themselves the chance to get back in.