Thread: Scrooge-Just Another SILLY SOB STORY (Opinion)

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/108437

How the ghosts of immigration reached out to a modern Scrooge

Ernesto Portillo Jr.
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.24.2005
In the spirit of the political season, with a nod of appreciation to Charles Dickens, I offer up an immigration version of "A Christmas Carol."

U.S. Rep. Ebenezer Scrooge last week successfully pushed an enforcement-only immigration reform bill through the House of Representatives.

The bill, which requires Senate approval, would authorize construction of a dual fence along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, make undocumented immigrants felons, require employers to verify legal status of workers and impose stricter penalties on employers who hire illegal workers.

On the eve of Christmas Eve, Mr. Scrooge went to his clean home and well-tended children. The maid and gardener, an undocumented immigrant couple from Guatemala, and his illegal Salvadoran nanny had gone home disappointed. Mr. Scrooge had not given them a Christmas bonus.

In the night, Mr. Scrooge awoke to a voice. It was Dominic Rossi, the Italian-born ghost of immigration past. The ghost took him to America 100 years earlier.

People were arriving in large numbers. They wore tattered clothes and spoke foreign languages. Their skin was olive or dark.
"Who are these people?" asked a disdainful Mr. Scrooge.
"They are your forefathers," Rossi told him. "They are poor, uneducated immigrants, chased away by crushing poverty and political indifference in their home countries, and attracted by visions of a better life here. I was one of them."

The ghost escorted Mr. Scrooge across the country, where they saw scores of legal and illegal immigrants building the country, mining and tilling the earth, attending religious services, educating their children and becoming U.S. citizens.

Mr. Scrooge heard Americans scorn the newcomers and blame them for times gone sour. He saw Congress pass laws restricting immigrants' entry. He witnessed border agents forcibly return Mexican immigrants and their American-born children to Mexico.
He hung his head in shame. "I can not believe the immigrants were treated this way," he said.

"They were," said the ghost as he bid Mr. Scrooge goodbye.
Before long, a second ghost â€â€

GAG ME!! GAG ME!! GRAB THE BARF BUCKET NOW!

Sorry for copying your entry Butterbean. Mine has my response to him added on. I do write to him often.

"They are your forefathers," Rossi told him. "They are poor, uneducated immigrants, chased away by crushing poverty and political indifference in their home countries, and attracted by visions of a better life here."

Heaven forbid those folks fight for whatis right intheir home countries. Opposing the elite class such as the one that rules Mexico to force them to make changes.

The writer does not mention how many people we are to allow in. Where do we stop..... at 4 billion??? Until the teeming masses overwhelm our ecosystem and the USA is altered into a 3rd-world country?

Thanks, illegals and all their supporters. You have placed the USA in good company:

"Between 2005 and 2050, eight countries -- India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, the United States, Ethiopia, and China -- are likely to contribute half of the world's population increase."

"Persuade the U.S. government and foreign companies to improve economic conditions in the immigrants' home countries so they will not be so desperate to leave. And treat undocumented people with the dignity all humans deserve."

Could someone PLEASE tell me WHY the US GOVERNMENT should be responsible for improving economic conditions in the immigrants' HOME COUNTRIES??? It just seems to me that the American people and the American government is responsible for taking care of the WORLD when we can't even take care of OUR OWN.

And, as to the statement, "treat UNDOCUMENTED people with the dignity all humans deserve", I think we DO treat them the way they deserve to be treated. We treat THEM the same way that we treat AMERICAN CRIMINALS. We are not biased in our treatment of people who break the laws of our country. All CRIMINALS ARE EQUAL.