Two camps, opposing sides, each side viewing the other as cruel, insensitive, unyielding, possibly even inhuman and villainous; Once again we are faced with an over simplified polarized view of a complex issue, using simplistic language as in “Illegal immigrants are the bad people, lawbreaking scoundrels, alien invaders,” and we are “law abiding, hard working, taxpaying American citizens, the innocent victims of an alien invasion.” The truth is, both sides have justifiable fear, anger, and resentment respecting immigration woes.
What is not readily acknowledged is that both sides have actually needed and used each other for decades. For example, many California farmers regularly want, need, and use migrant farm workers from Mexico during their harvest season. And other businesses and factories have been more than willing to hire “illegal aliens” so as to cut production costs in order to realize greater profit. Most illegal immigrants are very hard working, sending much of their hard earned money back to their home towns and villages in South or Central America to sustain the families they left behind. Many arrive here wishing they never had had to leave their homes and families in the first place.
Yet, ironically, historically the very economic conditions that force Hispanic immigrants to leave their homes for North America can be traced back to U. S. Foreign & Economic Policies in Latin America. It’s possible that our immigration woes are a kind of “We reap what we sow” consequence. But we don’t want to hear this. I am quite sensitive to the fact that just making this point can be offensive or irritating to those who are tired of the immigration problem and want a quick and immediate solution for it.
Many Americans, especially in the Border States, feel threaten by these immigrants and are on the defensive. They fear for their jobs and their lifestyle. Seeing illegal aliens as “law-breakers” and “invaders,” the immigration issue is also seen as a safety and security issue. On top of this, many Americans fear they are losing a kind of language and culture war to a growing Hispanic presence. The fear is that the traditional “American” way of life seems to be losing ground to a kind of Latino social, cultural, and economic “take over.” (And then there’s the race issue; for White Supremacy groups, Hispanics are not “white enough.”)
Immigrants also have their fears. They fear being exploited, harassed, used and abused here in the U.S. And many horror stories they tell seem to justify such fears. Indeed, many swear that they never would have come here at all, had it not been for their desperate situation back home where they came from. They’d rather not be where they are not welcome. Few of us would. But they also receive a double message from US. In good times, Americans welcome their cheap labor as house cleaners and nannies, gardeners, cooks, janitors, sweepers, factory-line workers, and fruit pickers, etc. At the same time Americans distrust or even dislike the ever growing Hispanic/Latino influence; their Latin beat, their foreign language, their strongly accented broken English, and the way they “hang out” together, gang-like and stick to themselves, for example. “They are so…, well, different; they’re not like US,” is the uncomfortable feeling, when openly expressed.
Thus, both reactions to the immigration issue, opposing and supportive, are fear driven. And fear gives way to anger which gives way to hatred which leads to cruel and abusive counter action. Since we are on the side of the law and power, having established citizenship, it would help us to remember that Immigrants are people too. Even if they have crossed our borders illegally, it doesn’t make them all villainous scum. Many have come here out of sheer desperation. We need not criminalize the needy even as we find ways to protect our boundaries.
Yes of course, there are criminal elements, in and among any large number of people groups; the above statement is not a naïve one. So, it’s not a question as to whether we should or should not secure our borders. Yes, we should. It’s a question of how we do it, a means and method question. And, it’s a question of attitude and demeanor. Whatever our method, we should avoid dehumanizing them (as the Nazis did to the Jews in seeking to rid themselves of their Jewish population in the 1930’s and 40’s). We must avoid denigrating their dignity as fellow human beings in the process and not treat them as animals or worse, view them as pesky insects that must be “eliminated.” This is for our own good as well as theirs. For, given their plight, if we demean them we demean ourselves as well, as a nation and as a people (which is always a forerunner to a nation’s downfall).
It would be helpful to keep in mind the following principles as we deal with this difficult ongoing issue:
1. Anger begets anger. Hatred begets hatred, and so on. How we speak on this issue is as important as what we say. Hateful attitudes and/or hate speech is unnecessary and serves no good purpose to resolving the issue. Painting one side as a pure and innocent victim and the other side as a bad and ugly villain serves only to vilify each side in the eyes of the other, creating two entrenched polarized enemy camps, with little possibility for a win/win solution.
2. Fears are real and should be appropriately addressed and allayed. Pooh-poohing real or imagined fears (on either side) only serve to heighten and aggravate those fears all the more. By ignoring the real fears that each side has, it becomes less and less possible for either side to really “hear” what the other side needs and wants, or is willing to negotiate, in order to find a workable solution to the problem.
3. Finally, if one believes in God, our very faith tells us that we must treat all human beings with dignity and respect. But even if one does not believe in God, one is obliged to abide by humane principles of justice and goodness for all. All human beings deserve to be treated with respect as to their welfare and dignity simply because they are our fellow human beings.
No comments:
Post a Comment