Immigration (Political, but fairly short and full of common sense)
Since I'm Hispanic, I've gotten asked a couple of times about Arizona's new law. Of course, I would not visit Arizona until they show how they're going to card people without racial profiling. I don't see how they can do it. And since I'm a natural born American if I'm asked for papers, well, I don't have any. My dad's a natural born American citizen with a thick accent, dark skin, and a Spanish last name. How would he prove he's an American? And since he's an American, why should he have to prove it?
What I wanted to mention, however, wasn't actually about the new law. I don't think it will stand up against court challenges because of the racial profiling thing. We'll see.
What I wanted to point out is the insincere nature of one argument often heard - "immigrants aren't coming to the USA because they love it. They're coming here for the money. They should go back to their own countries and fix them."
True. But always true. Not a single immigrant in the history of US immigration has ever come to America to leave behind a better life just because they love the USA. Not one. If your grandpa left Ireland or Italy or China or Mexico, they did so because they wanted a better life. In every instance, they could have stayed in their homeland and made it better. They didn't. The Irish could have stayed. The Italians could have improved their own land, so could the Chinese. They made the financially smart decision, turned their backs on their homelands, and travelled here with hopes that they'd be better off.
Of course, I could be wrong. Just point to the one immigrant who left behind riches in their homeland just because they loved the USA...
On the other hand, many African immigrants were brought to the US against their will...
What I wanted to mention, however, wasn't actually about the new law. I don't think it will stand up against court challenges because of the racial profiling thing. We'll see.
What I wanted to point out is the insincere nature of one argument often heard - "immigrants aren't coming to the USA because they love it. They're coming here for the money. They should go back to their own countries and fix them."
True. But always true. Not a single immigrant in the history of US immigration has ever come to America to leave behind a better life just because they love the USA. Not one. If your grandpa left Ireland or Italy or China or Mexico, they did so because they wanted a better life. In every instance, they could have stayed in their homeland and made it better. They didn't. The Irish could have stayed. The Italians could have improved their own land, so could the Chinese. They made the financially smart decision, turned their backs on their homelands, and travelled here with hopes that they'd be better off.
Of course, I could be wrong. Just point to the one immigrant who left behind riches in their homeland just because they loved the USA...
On the other hand, many African immigrants were brought to the US against their will...
posted by Steven at
7:11 AM
1 Comments:
From what I have heard, the Arizona law only allows them to check citizenship for those who are already in custody. I haven't read it, though, so don't take my word for it.
The real issue is that it's waaay to hard to enter this country legally. In fact it's that way on purpose. Which is a shame, 'cause the people who want to leave their homes and come here are generally the ambitious hard-working ones.
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