The Immigrants

Arizona law allows police to arrest anyone who can not prove he/she is a U.S. citizen. Protests, both opponents and supporters of the new law, erupted in cities all over the country. On television I saw the march in Dallas, with thousands of Hispanics waving American flags.

The U.S.-Mexican border is overrun by poor, brown-skinned people who risk death to come here. What can we do about illegal immigrants?

First, we need to understand: The desperate people who come here illegally believe that the U.S. is still a land of opportunity. They dream of becoming citizens.

People say, “Let them come legally.” Under current laws, unskilled people from Latin America can not obtain visas to enter the U.S. legally without waiting for 15 or 20 years. By that time, their children would have starved.

“Illegals” are willing to take the lowest-paid jobs and work under terrible conditions. Did you see the documentary about workers in the Tyson chicken plants? Our own black and white citizens won’t work in those dark, dangerous, and degrading conditions. Illegal aliens do it because, bad as it is, at least it is a job, and there is no work for them in Mexico.

A woman I ate lunch with told me she sold her house and moved to this retirement community because her neighborhood was being taken by “undesirables.” I wonder if she knew any of her new neighbors. When I moved to Garland four years ago, I bought a house in a formerly “all white” area, but which was changing into a black and Hispanic neighborhood. I had good neighbors. Friends who came to visit commented on how quiet it was. In the three years I lived there I know of one robbery: of the black professional couple who were away on vacation.

While I owned that house, I was dependent on a young Mexican couple. Miguel took care of my lawn, mowing and edging, keeping it beautiful. His wife cleaned my house. The first time Maria came, she walked straight to the windows, pulling up the blinds and starting to clean the glass. I knew she was going to give the house a thorough cleaning. You could not find better workers.

Miguel and Maria are among those despised “illegals.” They come from large, poor families. Maria would like to visit her widowed mother in Mexico, but they want to live in the U.S. Their three young children were born in Dallas County.

Congress is now writing new immigration laws. Instead of building more fences, I wish they would pass legislation to make visas easier to obtain and in which each immigrant visa would include an application for citizenship. Let the American dream become a reality.

At the same time I recommend: elimination of the current law which allows citizens of foreign countries to stay here as “permanent residents.” Also, eliminate “dual citizenship.” Anyone who lives here for five years should pledge allegiance to the United States, become a citizen, or leave