We have an immigration problem in this country, but I don’t think that we agree on what that problem is. The current debate on building a fence on our border with Mexico or closing our borders is all foolishness. It accomplishes almost nothing but create an ill will from those who want to be Americans. And in that lies the problem, people that will give up almost everything to be an American are not allowed to become Americans.
They are poor, will work for very little pay, and speak with an accent or in another language. Today those people mostly speak Spanish and come from Mexico and Central America, but not that long ago, they were Jews, or Irish, or Catholic. They were leaving a bad situation in their homeland with the hope of becoming prosperous Americans.
Today, poor Mexican and Central Americans dream of the jobs and pay of successful Latinos in the US. Many people are convinced that these immigrants are taking our jobs and ruining our country. Others worry that terrorists will sneak into our country through our southern border. Few worry about our border with Canada.
But here is the true problem: We won’t let them in. Like most of the immigrants that have come to this country since the English and Spanish first colonized the continent hundreds of years ago, they are poor and unwanted. They yearn for something better, and will work to get it. They want to be here, to be Americans, to be successful, but they are not allowed to follow those dreams without entering this country illegally and keeping a low profile working as a maid, or in a meat packing plant, or as a landscaper, getting paid in cash and living as close to the American dream as they know how.
Immigrants are a huge resource. They will do jobs many Americans do not want to do, they will work happily for a relatively small paycheck, they are here to work, and historically, there is no shortage of work here in the US. But instead of embracing these people, collecting taxes from them like everybody else, and helping them be good citizens, we pay huge amounts of money trying to keep them out, never see a dime of income tax from most illegal workers, and make them feel unwelcome and unwanted. We try very hard to push away a group that, like most immigrants before them, just wants to be American.
The fact is, we should be flattered that so many people want to be here. The fact that there are more potential immigrants than we want to let in just shows how great our country is, and how lucky we are to be Americans.
Our desire to force the immigrant out reminds me of a fable that is attributed to Aesop:
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak.
They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.
Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him;
and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak.
And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.
The moral, of course, is that it is easier to get your way with persuasion than with force. Allowing immigrants from all countries to enter the country legally makes for a much better society than using force to try and keep them out. The problem is not that we have immigrants, but that many of them can find no way to get into the country without becoming illegal immigrants.
