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Center for Hispanic Policy & Advocacy
LET’S GIVE IMMIGRANTS A CLEAN START! By
David A. Quiroa Amnesty for illegal residents would make America stronger “If I could only make it to the Great North I could be and do everything I want to do.” This is what more than a million people are thinking right now while you read this column. The truth is that we are not only the world’s cop but also the world’s magnet. The United States is without argument the country that offers the most opportunities for a better life than any other country in the hemisphere. The United States is not only attractive to other people in the world for its grand economic machine but also for its determination in justice and democracy. The United States could not have a better name. Although the name represents the union of the individual states, it also represents the union of the races and subcultures that form the United States of America. We are a nation made of a little of every country in the world. The “melting pot effect” is a good theory. However, we have to redefine it. We are a culture that praises the individual achievement. Why then do we expect everyone to melt into one? What gives us our edge in the global arena is our diversity. We don’t just have one extra card under our sleeve, but a whole deck. If you were to close your eyes and think of an America, what kind of a person would that image be of? Most likely if you are of Japanese origin it would be that of Japanese American-an American. If you are of African origin it would be that of an African-American-an American. If you are of Irish origin it would be that of an Irish-American-an American. The point is that as a whole, we are all Americans. We are in a melting pot that holds the whole rather than disturb the essence of the individual parts. It is up to us to keep the harmony among ourselves to make sure the pot never gets a crack. blackberry bold mugen 2 battery “To give another amnesty to illegal immigrants would be to open the doors left and right” –this is an argument I keep hearing from people opposed to a general amnesty. Now let’s look at this argument in depth. First, a general amnesty does not mean that everybody, including criminals, will be given legal status to reside in the country. A general amnesty would be for immigrants from all races and origins, who can prove that they are of “good moral character,” who are already in the country and who have not had any serious problems with the law. Giving a general amnesty to hard-working, honest immigrants does not mean that we will be “opening our doors” to everyone in the world. How to begin to work in the internet - custom research papers. Internet Business turnkey. Second, a second general amnesty will not signify the beginning of a vicious cycle in which an amnesty is going to be given every 10 to 15 years. It would rather be a needed social reconditioning to insure that our society remains true to what it stands for: justice and opportunity for all. Since the last amnesty was given in 1986, the immigrant community has grown immensely, not due to the fact that a first amnesty was given but because we as a nation have always been and will (God willing) be a nation of justice and opportunity. lp133x7 Third, if a second amnesty were given, about 6 million immigrants who are already in the country would benefit by acquiring legal permanent status to live here. Furthermore, their children born in this country who are U.S. citizens would have a better life, which in my mind every American child should have. Fourth, if we did not have immigrant workers of all kinds, including illegal immigrants, to provide us with the best source of labor, we would be impaired from growing and maintaining economic stability in many areas. For example, let’s take the little textile industry that is left in the country. The few states that still have some form of textile industry rely mainly on labor from minorities and illegal immigrants. If a low-cost labor force was not present, most of the remaining textile industry would have to move out of the country, and many of the white-collar jobs in the industry would be lost as well. This would leave the economies of these states with unemployed blue-collar and white-collar workers. Inevitably, the more established American workers would lose their jobs to middle-class workers in Mexico, the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America, or wherever the capitalists would move their business to secure more profits. It is a cycle similar to the food chain: We are all in some way intimately connected. online dating sites, only real single ukrainian. The only real way to prevent new immigrants from “jumping the border” is to help construct and solidify the economies of the Third World. We should not drown the poor countries with debt but rather give them a real chance in world markets. This goal can be reached by creating fair commercial treaties between nations and continents. Last, let’s not forget that by not insuring the well-being of American children of illegal parents, we are in essence nurturing a whole generation of second-class citizens. We also must take responsibility for supporting cruel army-led governments-that raped, killed and abused their people-for the sake of containing communism throughout the world. Countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Chile and Argentina have suffered due to our foreign policies. Nationals of these countries are in our country today because they escaped from a hell that we might have not created, but supported with funds, advisors and weapons. Let’s not cloud our vision with false ideas of what a second general amnesty would do for our nation, but instead give ourselves the right to do the right thing and be just and insure that our country remains a country of justice and opportunity for all. God Bless America!
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