Immigrants schmimmigrants

In what must surely be an attempt to prove the disgusting simile "opinions are like a******s - everyone has one" bloggers everywhere been ranting and raving about immigration. Seeing this already glutted blogopshere, I felt compelled to join the I-have-an-opinion-on-immigration-bandwagon. The only catch is that though I'm pro-immigrant I'm not necessarily in favor of any of the solutions I've heard proposed thus far. I will say, though, that I think that deportation is not an option. What I do think is that the argumentation being thrown around by both sides is stupid. So here, briefly, I'm going to take a vacation from ranting about television to offer my two cents about the immigration debate:

Cent #1
Anyone who says anything close to any of the following phrases, or for that matter wears a tee shirt bearing any of the following phrases, needs to be deported. I don't know where -- maybe to space? The offending phrases are as follows:
* "This is America - now speak ENGLISH!"
* "They come here and they refuse to learn English and they just want us to accomdate them"
* "They expect their kids to be taught in Spanish instead of them learning English"
For reasons too annoying to go into here, I hate these opinions. In fact, they make me glad that there are people in America who won't speak English. At least those who don't speak English can't offend me with their ignorance because I can't understand what they're saying. And just a little fun fact to throw out there for those of you have not already bought yourself a one-way ticket to space: of the 31 million Spanish speaking Americans currently in the US, most speak English with over half describing themselves as being able to speak English "very well." Even assuming that those who answered this question were over-estimating their abilities, one could also assume that they are making an effort to speak the language.

I also think that building a wall between the US and Mexico would be useless. I mean, wouldn't it just draw more undocumented workers to the border to build the damn thing? Besides, if we're going to build something you can see from space it should look more like this.

Cent #2
Whenever someone says that undocumented workers do jobs that Americans "refuse" to do, I cringe. Is there any proof for that statement? Any statistics from any surveys or polls? Any BLS figures that show that Americans won't work certain jobs? Or is this a Rush Limbaugh 'truth' wherein the fact that the speaker thinks the statement is true is enough to make it so? The word "refuse" is pretty strong, and it requires some sort of proof to back up that word choice. To my mind, it implies that the majority of Americans would absolutely, positively turn down a job as a child care worker, landscaper, construction worker, etc. were they offered such a job -- which may or may not be true depending on the circumstances. Further, this statement tends to be said by someone who, based on their own personal experiences, is speaking for themselves since they would refuse to be a dishwasher. And most of these people tend to be on TV -- so surprise! They tend to get better job options. I think it is really employers' "refusal" to do something that draws immigrants to our country. After all, employers are the ones who "refuse" to offer jobs that provide benefits, security, or a living wage and then also "refuse" to make sure they're employing only documented workers. Maybe we should focus on offering more jobs with these "perks" (aka what the French consider unalienable, I'm-going-to-burn-a-car-if-you-take-it-away rights) to only documented workers.

Finally, I think that protestors are wise to reconsider their flag-waving practices. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not offended that someone would wave a flag from another country, I just think it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of persuasion tactics. Just think a minute protestors -- there are people out there who get mad that you speak Spanish, and pretty much that you exist at all. Do you think they're going to appreciate your cultural pride? If anything they're going be more convinced you need to leave.


And thus ends my foray into a semi-political realm. Back to TV.