The American Spectator

Alexandra Taylor br> Sydney, Australia /p> p> IMMIGRATION CHASMS br> Re: Lisa Fabrizio’s Second-Term Opportunity : /p>

First, Heaven help us if the “American Dream” consists of paying an imported member of a new underclass to do a hard job that one never would have dreamed doing himself for such low wages earlier in life. No doubt, in the early 1800s, some thought that the “American Dream” was to buy a slave to tan hides, clean the chicken coop, or to pick cotton all day in the sun.

Secondly, regarding the issue of controlled immigration points on the East coast controlling immigration in the past, there was a very significant cultural difference between the immigrants who came to America in years past versus the current illegal aliens from Mexico. That difference really goes all the way back to the immigration to Mexico from Spain. The past immigrants to America wanted freedom, especially religious and political freedom, and opportunity for themselves and especially for their families, who came over as well. They did not have much loyalty to their place of birth…otherwise why were they immigrating? Not one in a million cursed America while they sailed the Atlantic. We might take pride in our heritages, but that is distinct from political loyalty to the current government of the homelands of our forefathers.

The immigrants to Mexico, on the other hand, were Spaniards whose plan was to come over, find gold, get rich, and then move back to Spain. They did not bring over families and it was not the pursuit of freedom, certainly not religious freedom, nor the opportunity to make honest livelihoods that were the main attractions. As usually happened, they did not get rich, did not move back to Spain, and instead settled down with Indian wives. The point is that the motivations of the Mexican illegal immigration to the U.S. is not much different from the motivations of the Spanish immigration to Mexico. Granted, landscaping for four dollars an hour is nobler than torturing Indians for gold, but again, the whole idea is to make some money and go home with it — this is not immigration with the goal of assimilation and is not at all comparable to the past immigration to America.

A country made of failed get-rich-quick schemers seems unlikely to very free of political corruption: welcome to Mexico. Where rich natural resources plus proximity to the worlds largest economy plus proximity to two oceans equals third world country. Drive on I-10 between El Paso Texas and Juarez Mexico…the only thing separating prosperity from poverty is the rampant corruption that stops heading North at the Rio Grande. In Mexico, and I write from experience, bribery is the way of life for government officials. Imagine having to slip money to any and every government employee you ever meet — that is inconceivable in America but is the way of life in Mexico. If that sort of corruption could be gotten rid of there is no reason why Mexico could not provide excellent jobs to all of its citizens. But instead, the rich ruling elite exports the surplus population to America and has them send home money, and all the while blames it on the gringos. What is more noble: paying someone three dollars an hour to mow our lawns, or doing what has to be done to reform his country so that maybe his children may enjoy the same freedom and prosperity ours will?

p>I’m all for controlled immigration for Mexicans who know English, bring their families, intend to work their way up in a company and to gain valuable skills (as opposed to day labor), and have no interest in ever moving back to Mexico — I used to hire and work with such green card holders at a company in Southern New Mexico. And I have more respect for some of them than I do for a lot of the Americans I went to college with. If we need workers, they should be selected and screened such that only those able and willing to be Americans in all ways should be let in, instead of letting loose a new underclass. The likely outcome of this new permanent underclass, loyal to a foreign government and speaking a foreign language, will be problems in the future that are not worth any amount of landscaping and restaurant table cleaning today. br> —