Dear Editor:
Your Editor's comments impressed me with its concise and realistic summary of the problem and the anticipated solution.
Let me get my prejudices out on the table first: I am a deeply committed sympathizer who cares about people,
regardless of where they come from. I care especially about the suffering of people who try to immigrate to America,
for when they start out on that process, they are faced with mounting obstacles and highly unjust and immoral treatment
by a government agency which makes clear its nasty view of "others" by making their journey toward becoming an
American citizen as horrible as they possibly can. I know because I met a Filipina over the internet and brought her
and married her over two years ago, under a fiancee visa. I have had to interact with the INS much more
than I would have ever thought necessary, and spent many months of time, either trying to figure out the arcane
processes, or standing in line or sitting waiting. I know about the black hole that is the Texas Service Center.
With that said, let me comment on your well-written editorial. Rep. Tancredo (R-CO) and other like-minded anti-immigrationists, would beg to disagree with ILW.COM's prophesy. And strongly so. To them, this is a clear case of the law being
broken and there are ways, if you believe them, to make sure these people are picked up and deported, all of them. Tancredo invited the public to go along with him to the borders to see for themselves how porous they are.
He said he goes frequently. Some of the diabolical tricks they wish to cause Congress to use in going after these
scum....One: Never, ever raise the hope of amnesty, for that has only served to open wide the faucet as potential
immigrants rush to get here "just in time." Two: Come down hard on states like California, who permit undocumented aliens to get driver's licenses. Suggestions like "Withhold all federal highway money" and worse. To them, the driver's license is the de facto "national ID card" so eagerly awaited by our animal farm government officials, and no way in hell should
we be giving them driver's licenses. Three: No immigrant should be permitted to enter America illegally, and to grant them amnesty, no matter how long they may have been her, no matter how good a person they may be, no matter whether they have been
paying American taxes, no matter whether American businessmen (the wealth supporting the Republicans)
are using them as "slave" labor or not, no matter anything, these guys want to throw the book at them, and
I guess they would probably want the law changed to "hang" illegals if they had their way.
There was more of the same kind of stuff, fascist rhetoric like I can imagine has been heard in the halls of our
congress many times over the lifespan of our country. I can ignore their ignorance, but I can't ignore the seeming
haughtiness they displayed at their press conference. They actually seemed to be in control, and to be certain that
what you are today predicting will not happen while they are the "dogs in the junkyard."
I don't know how, barring death sentences, these guys will be able to do what they so much want to do (stop immigration)
but the nasty ways they are considering of "hurting" them bothers me intensely. Taking away all possible rights to drive,
in a country where a car is the only way to exist, to me is inhumane beyond all belief. The same mentality is doing the
same thing for other reasons, to actual citizens, so it isn't something new, and that even bothers me more.
Using them to run all of our lawn mowers and cut up all our cows and pigs at the absolutely lowest wages and at the
absolutely worst working conditions is the other (unseen) side of this issue, and again, I am outraged to even think
of what is really going on. These 8 to 10 million undocumented people are being treated as cruelly as you would treat
a piece of junk furniture, or your trash, and it bothers the hell out of me.
The book "My Country Versus Me: The First-Hand Account by the Los Alamos Scientist Who Was Falsely Accused of Being a Spy," by Wen Ho Lee brought it all "home" to me because all my life I have been in the technical/scientific career path, and was well aware of the facts. I knew that Chinese, Indian and other immigrant populations comprised the majority of our graduate student populations, and I knew that they normally stayed here in America to pursue technical jobs after graduating. Our best research laboratories and high-tech companies, not to speak of our governmental R&D institutions are full of immigrants that have done so well they are the backbone of our high-tech economy. When this poor Chinese immigrant was put in jail without any way to speak to anyone, and was treated with total disrespect, based on trumped up charges and (well, you know the routine, it happens all the time.) The point here is that this book describes in intimate detail the harrowing experience that an immigrant of good standing in our community underwent. His was, in my humble opinion, having lived the life he did, an accurate and truthful account of mistreatment that every American should read if the collective conscience is ever to be able to wake up to the way we are treating good, decent people.
I don't even know why I sat down to write Immigrant's Weekly, but felt so compelled after reading what you said, juxtaposed upon what I had just seen yesterday. So, I guess maybe I have a question. My question is "why is there so much of a disconnect between your reasoned and optimistic statements, and the hatefulness and confidence expressed by those goons at the press conference yesterday?" Is our country that far gone?
William M. Cowhig III
Charlotte, North Carolina
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