Immigration, Legal and Illegal

Arizona passed a law recently that would require citizens to carry documentation that they were citizens and would allow police to hold suspected illegal immigrants until they could prove they were allowed to be in the country. A judge ruled some of the Arizona law unconstitutional but has allowed other parts of the law to go into effect tomorrow. The federal government had brought a suit against Arizona for the law and was satisfied that the more controversial points of the law have been defeated, although Arizona is planning an appeal. But this battle is far from over. More states are passing immigration laws, more people are calling for immigration reform, and although the federal government is now deporting more people per year then the Bush presidency, many are saying that enforcing the current law is not enough. It seems to me that illegal immigration has become the "slavery" issue of the 21st century. When our founding fathers were drafting the Constitution, they shelved the slavery issue because it was to divisive. The issue was finally resolved by a civil war with repercussions continuing to this day. We can not afford this kind of non-decision with immigration.

I know that part of my health care money is spent taking care of illegals that go to the hospital because they don't have access to primary care physicians. I know that, where illegal immigration is a problem, families have to pay extra for sports activities so that illegal immigrant children can participate. I know that illegal immigrants are often willing to work at jobs that most people find distasteful and I know that many companies use them to keep costs down. For as many problems illegal immigration causes, there are as many solutions. Some people, mostly immigrants, want a policy that would eventually lead to citizenship. Many want a policy that would rid America of illegal immigrants. Neither solution would work. We are already having difficulty supporting the number of Americans, absorbing more would cause hardships for everyone. And, as a country founded on immigration, ridding our country completely of immigration is unrealistic. All of this is obvious, so what do we do?

I think we need to take another look at history for a clue. The Constitutional Convention was a closed meeting where representatives from each state discussed the issues at hand, until the Constitution was worked out. The convention members were not allowed to discuss the proceedings to people outside the convention and, although there were many disagreements, the spirit of unity and the obvious need for a system that worked motivated these men to continue until they were done. We need an Immigration Reform Convention, minus CNN and Fox News, minus the lobbyists and the fund-raisers. We need people from all fifty states to sit down, discuss what works, what doesn't, what the goals of our immigration policies should be and how to get there. A representative from this convention should then present the policy to the Congress. Instead of tearing it apart and adding spending bills to the reform policy, Congress should accept it for what it is and pass it.

But I dream. This is as likely to happen as dinosaurs to roam the earth tomorrow. Everyone will continue to argue about what should happen until we as a country start having major issues because of illegal immigration. So I say, continue the deportations and cracking down on the companies hiring illegal immigrants. We have a law on the books and it's time we enforce it. The extra jobs can be filled by people who are out of work. And if they don't want to pick tomatoes, stop paying them unemployment benefits. And if an illegal wants to move back to their country and try again there, help them leave instead of detaining them. Perhaps a little harsh for some, but so is the alternative.

Reconciliation and Being the Bigger Person

I have been reading a lot lately about a controversy brewing in New York City. A Muslim group wants to erect a mosque a few blocks away from Ground Zero. Their thinking is that the space can become a place for others to learn about the Muslim religion. They hope that others can learn that the few that flew planes into the Twin Towers were part of a radical group and that the Muslim religion itself denounces what those few did. Others in New York see it as desecrating sacred ground. The area should forever be dedicated only to those who died and those who were left behind. Muslims in the area are an affront to what occurred on September 11, 2001 and are just adding insult to injury, to put it mildly.

I, for one, did not lose anyone on that fateful day. I know of people who survived and walked out of Manhattan to New Jersey while loved ones feared for them. But, except for the overall horror of the day, I was not personally touched by the events. Even so, I have difficulty with the hardliners that do not want to accept the mosque. It seems to me that another kind of terrorism is occurring here. The events of September 11th occurred because few people felt that they were right and needed to rid the world of oppressors who force their ideology on others. The terrorists believed that they were acting in the name of all they hold to be right. And it is the same with those who do not want the mosque near Ground Zero. They are blinded by their pain and their grief, understandably, or are unwilling to view the implications of denying the mosque. They are trying to rid their life of what they view to be wrong in the name of everything they believe is right. But in all actuality, they are practicing another type of terrorism and they are continuing the prejudice that leads to more physical acts of terrorism.

An effective way to heal after a terrible loss is to forgive those who inflicted the pain upon you. This difficult process is often accomplished through learning about those who committed the act and trying to understand their reasoning. And although we know about the thinking of the terrorists themselves, many people have determined that all Muslims are radical. But that is like saying all Christians want to bomb abortion centers. By learning about the rest of the Muslim religion, we can begin to understand how radical the few terrorists were. We can also understand how our own behaviors are viewed throughout the world. We might be able to even reach across the ever-growing divide to realize that "they" are people, just like us.

To get to this place though, the people who are arguing against the Mosque need to reconsider. They need to see that a group of people are holding out an olive branch, that they want to come in peace and show that not all Muslims are trying to kill Americans. It is time that we meet them halfway, accept the olive branch and return one of our own. It is time we stop the prejudice and learn about their culture. The proposed mosque would be a wonderful way to do this. Throughout our history, Americans have attempted to take the high road first. This time, it is crucial that we do before we find ourselves more alienated because of our desire to alienate.