No Republican campaign speech ever goes on for long without mention of illegal immigration and the desire to quell it. Though the debate itself invo kes a clear and present problem, the persistent use of it as a political jumping point without consideration or offering of reasoned solutions, continues to cloud the reality of its underreported dark side. From drugs to human trafficking, the lax state of our border security reflected in our inability to control illegal immigration, has taken a great toll on this nation. Secure borders are more than just keeping desperate, freedom seeking people out of the country but one would be hard pressed to hear the reality of the problem on the stage of the ongoing political circus featuring so many aspiring performers.
As the debate of illegal immigration rages on, many States have enacted anti-immigration policy mandates focusing on preventing people from living in this nation without documentation. Some of these mandates suggest that all those who are here illegally, despite their former domestic situations they suffered for in their countries of origin or their current productivity levels in this one, should be deported; bar none. From Arizona to the Carolinas, many citizens are voicing concern for the by product of routing out those here illegally: Racial and cultural profiling. Even though some here illegally are in fact, blights on their communities, many are positive additions to this great nation much like their "legal" counterparts on both accounts.
This argument which seems to contradict The New Colossus poem etched upon our Nation's iconographic Statue of Liberty, stems from claims that illegal immigrants take up too much space on the rosters of social assistance and when considered in combination with the crime incurred by them, has resulted in both our economic and judicial systems becoming overburdened and unsustainable. Supporting this claim, many incarceration statistics point to a larger level of crime and gang membership among this immigrant class which has done nothing to discredit but rather, justify the argument against illegal immigration into this nation. What these debates should produce though, instead of merely helping to demonize an entire people, is making clear that when jobs are few, children are hungry and pay rates are as low as they are for most of these immigrants; crime is a natural affectation.
Many have used the preceding statistics to justify immigration reform but like Andy Warhol's question of "Does art imitate life or does life imitate art?"; do these individuals actually commit more crime per capita or does racial profiling and harsher judgment of them induce more arrests and convictions? When the police hawk and harass these people, as in the always patrolled ghettos across this nation, arrests will innately become more numerous especially considering the ever growing laws in this nation making even common actions "illegal". If the "forces that be" want to harass and arrest these people along their determined course to demonize them, they certainly have the judiciary on their side.
It may come as a shock to some to learn that our border gaps present a greater threat to this nation than people entering our nation illegally. When looking at the bigger picture of border security or lack thereof, illegal immigration represents the least of our worries. Off the political talking point filled stage, the all but ignored subject of illegal drugs entering this nation over (or under) the border, through our seaports and airports adds precipitously to our nation's troubles. Drug use and the associated obsession by addicts to get a fix or acting outside of their natural selves while on them, has created an entire subculture of "criminals". Maybe if this country secured its borders and ports and stopped illegal drugs from entering, there would be fewer crimes within the spectrum of our racial and culturally diverse social palette thereby alleviating 60% of all crimes committed by residents; illegal or not .
沒有留言:
張貼留言