I'll probably catch a lot of flack for this and may even lose some friends over it, but that has never stopped me from speaking the truth about what is plainly evident before me.
All the chest-thumping, posturing, and other grand standing about "the immigration issue" boils down to plain old racism.
Those taking the position that illegal immigrants are harming us, as a nation, have either let their racial animus overtake their reason or they have taken the pre-packaged rationalizations promulgated by bigots at face-value. Critical thinking is not an American strong suit.
Shame on you if you are too stupid or too willfully ignorant to see through the appeals to your unacknowledged bigotry.
You can't be a true capitalist and oppose illegal immigrants.
Why?
Americans are nothing if not cheap. That's why WalMart is such a success.
If you get two bids for construction work, one from a company that employs only American citizens and pays them minimum wage AND another, lower, bid from an American contractor who uses illegal labor...which bid do you take?
If you choose the lower bid (as most capitalists would...) then you encourage illegal immigration and are now a part of the problem.
How many check the immigration status of all workers used by a contractor when you hire one?
Failing to do so and then complaining about illegal immigrants taking American jobs, makes you a hypocrite, an idiot, or both.
Let's face it: If we truly want no illegal immigrants working in the U.S., we'll pay considerably more for more things we take for granted. We can't ignore our anti-immigrant values via denial when we use illegal workers or contractors that do so.
Anti-Immigrant politics is un-American.
How so?
Unless you're Native American, everyone in this country has immigrant ancestors. This country is a nation of immigrants.
Immigration gives us our character.
To deny this truth is to deny our history and heritage. To suddenly take a position against this central part of our heritage is to deny the core of what makes us a Great Nation, viz., Diversity.
Lastly, anti-immigrant politics is plain old racism with nothing more than air-brushed, pretext, rationales designed to make hate based on ethnicity socially acceptable.
How do I know?
Illegal immigrants are only making rational economic decisions when they come here. If you or I were in the same position, we'd make the same choices.
Illegal immigrants, by and large, avoid drawing attention to themselves from law enforcement. They avoid drawing attention to themselves by paying their rent on time. They avoid drawing attention to themselves by working hard and well at jobs few native-born Americans will take.
These are attitudes and values that improve our nation and to ignore these qualities, while focusing only upon their rational, but illegal choices to come here is to make fools of us all for some simple-minded, but all too backwards notion of what it means to be American.
Now, does the previous mean that I support opening the border?
Not hardly.
It only means that most people harboring anti-immigrant animus should truly examine what it is they advocate, in light of our history and in light of the economics if illegal immigration.
In the end, illegal immigration is about economics and not race...we shouldn't turn a financial issue into a social one, even if it helps some bozo to get elected.
