Politics
Contra La Gente – My Thoughts on Arizona’s Immigration Laws
Last modified on 2011-01-21 05:11:30 GMT. 5 comments. Top.
I don’t know where to begin this post. This is a subject that has torn me from one side to the other, up and down. It means a lot to me on many personal levels and in ways most people can’t understand. Many people can call me “patriotism” into question because of views that I have and a few months ago I might have cared.
I guess the best place to start is with an explanation that can’t be refuted by anyone: I love the United States of America. I always have. Not once have done, said, or acted in a way that could degrade the love I have for this country. As a member of the LDS faith, that love is magnified, though interestingly enough our own church history proves that immigration laws aren’t necessarily what is best for the people whom they concern.
We live in an enlightened time. We have grown so much over the last two hundred years. We’ve abolished slavery. We’ve desegregated our schools. We’ve given women the right to vote. We’ve provided equal opportunities for all races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, and lifestyles are ‘protected’ inalienable rights that make each individual in America who they are. There is no question in my mind, nor would I say the mind of any intelligent and open minded person on the face of the planet that those are all good things. My religion, which is my moral compass, dictates to me that freedom of choice is the most protected right we have. No one should be able to take that away from us. That doesn’t mean we won’t have to pay the consequences for our actions, on the contrary we should embrace those consequences because they mean we live in a society where we can truly act for ourselves. This moral stand I must take, has done more to shape my moral, ethical, and political views than any other sole principle. The need to protect such a right given to all men everywhere without question of their intelligence, color of their skin, age, or sex (etc) has forced me to ask a strong question: What is ‘Freedom’?
Freedom in essence is ‘the right to choose’. People have the right to do that and we can’t take it away. I agree their are punishments necessary and due for people who violate the rights and civil liberties of someone else. I will back, 100%, any law that stops people from doing ‘bad’ things. But the next question, when discussing freedom is understanding what ‘bad’ really is.
I served an LDS mission in Tucson, Arizona which stretched all along the Mexican border to El Paso, Texas. On my mission we were faced with the question of ‘Baptizing Illegal Immigrants’. Elder Lance Wickman, of the Quorum of the 70, and the chief Legal Officer of the church came to visit our mission where my Mission President, Douglas Farr Higham a lawyer from Southern California, had a chance to talk to him about the church’s stance on that subject. In a Zone conference, my Mission President, spoke to us about this subject where he taught us a valuable and life altering legal rule. A rule by which most laws and punishments are predicated. It’s “Malum en Se VS Malum Prohibitum”. In English, that means “Bad because it’s bad VS bad because it’s prohibited”. Carnal sin. Something that is just truly BAD because it is exactly that, BAD. That’s the difference we need to look at when we discuss something as being bad. Murder, Theft, Sexual Deviance, etc. are all examples of malum en se. They are just BAD things. Driving without a seat belt isn’t a BAD thing, it’s bad because it’s prohibited. Speeding is another example. Now I pose a question: Is it BAD to be born on one side of a river, or is just bad?
Immigration, more specifically illegal immigration, is bad because someone put up a fence. It’s not a BAD thing to born in another country. It’s not a BAD thing to come to the United States to provide for your family. I strongly believe this line is skewed and masked by a deeper seated hatred and racism that has always existed. I’m not saying everyone who disagrees with immigration is a racist. Not by a long shot. What I’m saying is that deep down inside, the reason we support removing someone from our country that ‘doesn’t belong’ here is motivated by a belief that we are better, or they are inferior. That, by definition, is prejudice and prejudice begets racism.
Let me also clarify, I’m not for illegal immigration. I don’t condone breaking the law. I in no form support lawlessness because a society without laws and punishment for breaking those laws isn’t a society. We must all be responsible for the same lifestyle as the next man. But we should also understand not all men are given the same opportunities to achieve. Why are you and I here in America right now? Because someone left another country a long time ago looking for a better life. That, in no way, is a BAD thing. None of us would say “Curse you forefathers for coming to America and changing my life for a better one!” No, we praise and thank them for their resilience in crossing oceans and walking miles to come to a land where they could have a right to worship and act according to the dictates of their own conscience. We have a holiday where we remember them, and most of us (especially anyone belonging to the LDS church) have such strong ties we spend hours researching our family history to get to know these pioneers in our own lives.
How is this any different? A lot of us might ask how it could be, but if you go back far enough in your own history, I guarantee you will find an illegal immigrant. Whether you were a stow away on an Italian vessel, Mormon banned from the US because you practiced Polygamy, or the Irish who fled tyranny and oppression to much the same degree Mexico is facing now. We are an immigrant nation, an to deny that is ignorance to your own state.
I am not a parent, nor am I married. But I can’t imagine, with the love I feel for strangers, ever thinking that I would not do whatever I needed to in order to provide for my family, short of something immoral or unethical. I can promise that any man, who can call themselves that, would do the same.
Now, I want to make my stance very clear on the passed Arizona law, and the proposed legislation to stop “Anchor Babies”.
1. Arizona’s Already Passed Immigration Law – I will admit I am somewhat biased because of my time in Arizona working with illegal immigrants and seeing them struggle. In a very special way, I have connected with these people as I am a child of poverty. The only reason I have an education and the ability to go to school, work, and grow as a person is because I live in America. Hands down, the lifestyle I grew up with would have been unrealistic and unbearable without the support of government security plans, welfare and the fact that my Church believes in taking care of their own. Many of you do not realize this but my father has has Cerebral Palsy his entire life (he can’t use his legs). My mother is diagnosed with a form of Schizophrenia that stops her from being able to take care of or for the most part interact with any of us for prolonged periods. I was not meant to go to college, nor was I mean to have the opportunity to pursue, actively, any career or field other than manual labor. That’s just the plain and simple truth. Because I have lived that life, I am empathetic and strongly support anyone, regardless of nationality for trying to do the same. Those are the people that I saw every single day in my mission. They don’t come here to take advantage of the United States and the benefits it gives. They come here to work, for the most part, two full time jobs doing work most of us would sneer at. They work hard, and long, and love life. They throw parties with family members on the weekends, they enjoy music and dancing and drinking beer. They are happy to have the little that they do, because it is so much more than anything they have back in Mexico. Those are the people that I love.
Now, I have read the bill. I understand what it says. I also understand, in a very realistic way, that bills can say one thing, but what people do is entirely different. Other than my moral objection to the bill, I feel that it has many flaws and faults which infringe on “God Given” rights given to ‘All Men’, not just American Citizens.
- Hispanic neighborhoods are notorious for high crime rates. I know for a fact, this is due to a fear that they will be deported for calling the police. Before this law, they weren’t allowed to ask about someone’s legal status, as it is not their job nor is it their responsibility. Their job is to enforce their local laws, and protect the civil rights of the people within their judicial boundaries. After this law passed, you have groups of already scared people who won’t call the police because it could get them sent out of the country. That has done more damage to the justice system than it was ever worth to stop “drug cartels” as the law states.
- Arizona has given a responsibility of the Federal Government to a state organization. Police officers do not have a right to protect or enforce immigration. There are federal organizations set up to enforce these laws, and a state cannot override the “supreme law” of the land. Now, I also understand that since the law has passed most people are quick to jump the ‘conclusion’ that federal government isn’t doing their job. And yes, Bush tried to apply some things back in 2005-2006, but nothing was ever followed up on. Let us be very realistic for a moment, you cannot focus on immigration reform at a time when you are tied up fighting two unnecessary wars, trying to save a sinking economy, protect the rights of Americans by enacting laws that help save American lives here in America, and amidst the largest man-made natural disaster the world has ever faced. It’s no secret that I like President Obama, but honestly, cut the man some slack. He’s done, and tried to do, more for American citizens than any president has in my lifetime.
- Economically, and I’m no expert that’s why I have my friend Chris Evans, it’s just a bad move. I manage a restaurant, and the fresh produce we receive weekly comes from Mexico, or from border states where Mexican immigrants (mostly illegal) plant, grow, and harvest the food you and I eat. That, and every other major service industry profits off of immigrants. If someone is complaining that immigrants don’t pay taxes, they obviously have never done payroll for a company. Any company, that follows the US guidelines, takes taxes out of every workers check. That money is not returned to them, as they are not citizens and cannot file a tax return. That means billions (thats $1,000,000,000′s of dollars) for the US and State economies. We don’t want those jobs, we don’t want our kids to have those jobs, so someone has to work those jobs or you and I pay more! I don’t want that, and I know you don’t either. If someone is paying ‘under the table’ they are in direct violation of federal laws that require those taxes to be paid. Go after the employer doing that, it’s him that is making you pay more in taxes, not the immigrants!
- Healthcare – By now you should all no my stance on Health Care reform is based on my childhood and life and I admit openly that I am bias. I know because of my life experiences, that there is and was a need for reform. Mexican’s cannot get free health care. They pay just as we do if we don’t have insurance. They don’t get medicaid or medicare. Their kids might, if they were born here. But guess what, that’s the beauty of America! American’s get the benefits they need and deserve in America. And anyone who says a child, immigrant or not, doesn’t deserve health care needs to take a stern look in a mirror, contemplate their life and moral guidance and make the appropriate changes because they are on the quick path to Hell. I will end this point by pointing out, that illegals can get free health care at a hospital, but so can Americans. They have to help you to the best of their ability if it is a life threatening issue. And honestly, that’s why we have the service, not business, of health care.
Second, is the proposed legislation to remove citizenship rights from people born here, with illegal parents. This is flat out wrong, and unconstitutional. No one has the right to go against a federal law that has applied to all of us and our status as an American Citizen. That, is hateful, racist, and ignorant. It can’t be done, or you revoke our rights to citizenship in the Unites States as well. I honestly don’t believe anyone can argue that point.
America to me, means freedom to express myself, freedom to grow, and freedom to become the very best person I can with as much success as I am willing to put into it. Mexicans can be just as bad as Americans, and vice versa. A border does not make someone inferior. But if you still disagree with me, please list your reasoning in the comments below. I don’t write this article to argue or combat with anyone. I’m simply stating my reason for believing the way I do.
I will end by sharing a last thought, that I would ask all who read this to ponder: Imagine watching a crying child cry for their mother and father, as men in suits push them into the back of small caged truck bed. Think of what that child is thinking as they take the hand of a stranger in a business suit taking them to a group or foster home where they may never see their parents or brother’s and sister’s again. That might not mean much to you, but to me it does. I’ve been that child. I’ve been through the foster home system, I know what it feels like to be taken from your parents because someone else feels they are ‘unfit’ to have you. Those emotions are real to me, because I have experienced over two years in those group and foster homes. They are breeding ground for troubled youth, angry kids, and the downfall of our society. Think about those families the next time you smile at a border patrol bust. Let’s reform immigration, let’s make it possible for people who want to work to get here, and make it harder for people who want to drug deal and murder to stay out. Let’s just do it in the proper way, through the proper legal and moral means.
Because Facebook Sucks Right Now
Last modified on 2010-02-25 01:49:57 GMT. 3 comments. Top.
Okay, So I’ve tried to post this at least 4 times to facebook and it’s being really stupid. So here’s the simple version.
Here’s a link to an article by a woman from the Soviet Union who explains why nothing our President has said should ever be deemed to be “Socialistic” or “Marxist”. http://ilaba.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/paint-it-red/
Over all, I feel that $62 after insurance for Pink Eye medicine, an illness I last had when I was 5 is a bit extreme. If we have the best Health Care system in the world, why hasn’t something this common just been taken care of?
I don’t know where people get this “Fully Federalized Socialistic Empire” plan they accuse Obama of having. If someone can post a link by a credible source (Whitehouse.gov, etc) explaining that to me, I’d appreciate it very much.
I feel the underlying principle is simply this: If you care about people, you will put aside political or personal pride to look at what is best for the United State and it’s citizens, and less about “Well I already said this so I have to keep going because I don’t want to admit I’m wrong.” Stop listening to talk show hosts on either side about their own views and start looking at what the people who matter are saying and learn for yourself what is right and what is wrong. Just because they have a TV show does not make them an expert.
Also, we should take a hard look at ourselves and what our vision of America is. We should treat people as people and not so much as statistics or false evidence to propagate our own side.
Thank you all for you comments, I personally learned a lot from the things you said and I’m glad everyone was civil.
