tired, poor, huddled masses - as long as they take a boat to NYC first.
CNN's Lou Dobbs would probably be baffled at the argument made by Dr. Paul Harris in his immigration article in The Chronicle ("Take of two Italians shows interesting facet to a long-simmering debate," May 6).
The author would have us believe the historicity of immigration to the United States is essentially circular with the same situation recurring as indicated in his example using Italian immigrants in the 1920s, juxtaposed to the current influx of Latin Americans. However, Dr. Harris omits an important factor that distinguishes the two groups of immigrants - namely, the legality of their actions.
The current "nativist frustrations" mentioned by Dr. Harris are because of illegal immigration. And surely the professor is aware of the revanchist attitudes held by many across the border who see part of the United States as belonging to them.
I share Lou Dobbs' frustration with those who either cannot or will not make a distinction between illegal and legal immigration. Perhaps instead of the Center for Immigration Studies at Augusta State University, Dr. Harris should rename it the Center for Illegal Immigration Studies (and Support?).
Gary P. Bolick, Augusta
Comments
tired, poor, huddled masses - as long as they take a boat to NYC first.
Gary Bolick, your letter is on the money. Dobbs isn't the only one frustrated by the lack of distinction.
Let's not call them illegal! We'll call them "undocumented." It sounds much better. Then it's just a paperwork problem.
And while we're at it, let's not call drug dealers, criminals. Let's call them unlicensed pharmacists.
Actually, they are illegal. They have plenty of documents ... albeit conterfeited ... which is another crime in itself.
Hmmmm....how about we call them "falsly documented workers?"
Hey, here's a novel idea. How about calling them criminals? Anyone care to tell me how this isn't a true statement? They're illegal immigrants. Period. I have no problem with Hispanic people. Love'em to death. Never met one that I served with, trained, or supervised that didn't love this country. However, there is a legal way to get into this country. My solution? If we're so over-populated, we can decrease the immigrants allowed from the Middle-East, and other, American-Hating countries, and add that number onto what's allowed from the Latin-American countries.
Signal Always, if you call them criminals, then people will think you are implying that they broke the law. We wouldn't want people to think that, would we?
Sure we would. We already have a problem with people not understanding the word "illegal". Maybe criminal will be the hit on the head that they need to understand. (Probably not ... people just don't want to see what is right in front of them)
Just in case no one detected it....I've been sprinkling these postings liberally with sarcasm!
Regardless of what you call them, illegal or criminal, it is up to us to do something about it. We need to stop letting their children enroll in our public schools. We need government officials who will stop talking around the problem and actually do something about it. Stop letting them choose what language they conduct business in. English should be made the official language of the US and all this "por espanol press 2" crap needs to stop. You should not be able to become an official US citizen without being able to speak English. Why do they get free healthcare when our own citizens can't afford to go to the doctor. If they show up at a hospital or clinic turn them out. If one of them has a child here and now that child is a US citizen, then take the child and adopt it out or send it back to the family country until it is 18. Businesses and resturants who hire them need to be boycotted. There are ways to detect forged documents and people who deal with these types of documents on a daily basis should have the training to know the difference. If your not sure then make the necessary phone calls to immigration to find out. IT WON'T STOP UNTIL WE STOP IT!
We could also change the 14th amendment to exclude the children of illegal immigrants.
addison65 has the situation nailed pretty well. I am still wondering how our own lawmakers can make it illegal for them to be here and then turn around and pay them for it. Something is really wrong with this picture.
addison, i must disagree with you regarding public schooling. regardless of the actions of their parents, the children need an education if they are to become part of our society. remember, a child is a U.S. citizen if they are born in this country, regardless of the parents' immigrant status. please leave the children out of this discussion: if they are in this country now, they should be going to school.
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