June 24, 2006
COMMENTARY: Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants
By Tom Proebsting
Special to HNN
Moberly, MO (HNN) -- Have you noticed the increasing crackdown on illegal
workers since the recent Hispanic-American protests over stricter
immigration laws?
Hundreds, even thousands have been arrested, detained, and even deported. As
an excellent example, the New York Times (June 20, 2006) carried an article
about Fernando Guadarrama, 21, a construction worker who had lived and
worked in America for seven years. The police arrested him because his rear
license plate light was burned out. He’s now in a Larimer, CO jail wearing
an orange jumpsuit and understandably apprehensive over his impending
deportation. He has an American wife and two kids, all legal.
If that had been me I would have gotten off scot-free as I was born in the
U.S. But Mr. Guadarrama and thousands of others like him don’t carry this
advantage. Most aliens who cross our borders do so to avoid outright
starvation. Corruption is so corrosive in Mexico that due to the government
and some of the business leaders the honest laborers have been squeezed out
of a fair job. Between the choices of starvation south of the border or
working in America, I wholeheartedly welcome our Mexican neighbors. They are
political/economic refuges as much as the Vietnamese and the Cubans who have
pioneered boats to the free shores of America in times past.
I grew up with a family or two of Mexicans in St. Louis. I was a teenager by
the time I discovered that many folks in America don’t like Hispanics. I
never knew why not.
The American authorities use racial profiling against Americans of Middle
Eastern descent as our country lost 3000 citizens on 9-11. The American
authorities use racial profiling against Hispanics seeking a better life
even though our visitors from the south have not killed anyone. At least
they have done no more killing than US citizens have.
There are those who clamor for better protection for our borders so we can
keep terrorists out of America. However, extremists in our nation attempted
to blow up the World Trade Center as early as 1993. As the line in the movie
says, “They’re here.”
When I was a laborer in Memphis, I noticed that the Hispanic workers
contributed greatly to the building trades. They are eager and hard-working,
often sweating out some overtime voluntarily, without extra pay. The
agricultural business would also be in sorry shape without the help of the
Hispanics. Remove our guest workers and see what happens to both industries.
After NAFTA was passed in 1994, did you notice that the flow to our country
of starving Mexicans steadily picked up? There are officially about 11
million Hispanics living here pursuing happiness and prosperity. CAFTA, the
free trade agreement between America and the Central American nations, was
signed by President Bush last year. Look for citizens of that region to
hotfoot it to America in years to come. Most free trade agreements are good
for governments and big business, but rough on the working man.
The Hispanics bring to the US a rich heritage, a solid sense of family, a
strong religion, and wonderful work ethics. Our government should look past
the Black & White of the problem and start looking at the situation in
Grays. Very little of life is Good & Evil. It is mainly a choice of ethics,
that is, the gray areas. When the Beltway Crowd realizes this, only then can
our Congress begin to enact proper legislation to fix the mass discontent in
the minds of Americans and illegal immigrants on the problem of our borders.
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Tom Proebsting is a writer and blogger in Missouri. Tom Proebsting, 823 N.
Ault St. Moberly, MO 65270
e-mail: truthprobe777@yahoo.com
Proebsting invites comments. Reply to: http://truthprobe.blogspot.com