Where is your green card? That has been the question on many people’s mind lately. Among reports of nearly five million illegal immigrants in Texas and California alone and approximately 590,000 who have ignored orders to leave the country, the question still remains, should we be allowing these people to stay in our country?
Amid rumors of immigration round-ups, many illegal immigrants stayed home from work this past week for fear of being jailed and forced back beyond the border.
In the land of the free, should we really be asking the brave to back track into the lands that we are bombing and condemning for their lack of human rights? In a country that is supposed to be the “land of opportunity,” why are we raising our noses to those looking for just that?
Is it really a matter of our jobs being taken, when snobby Americans, even those starving, are not willing to take the jobs being occupied by those illegal to this country?
For those not willing to think twice about shipping off everyone not carrying a green card, maybe thinking about how your life would be effected if they were not here, may help to see them in a different light. That is what immigrants were hoping to accomplish May 1 with “the greatest boycott.”
“A day without an immigrant” was a day that immigrants and supporters of those without legal documents heeded the call to not go to work and school. Meatpacking plants were expected to be shut down, trucks expected not to roll, markets expected to not open, and students were expected to walk out of classes. Will it make a difference? Will it change minds? Will it help an estimated 11 to 12 million illegal immigrants currently hiding in this country to gain citizenship? Only time will tell.
Many immigrants have been attempting to stay under the radar for years. Visiting hospitals and using public transportation are just two of the luxuries those lacking proper documents have been avoiding for fear of the immigration Gestapo coming to get them.
Do we really not have more important things to be worrying about in this day and age than those working in the fields harvesting our goods? Do we really want those men building our multimillion dollar houses, for mere pennies, being deported? What about those cleaning the restrooms at our over-priced restaurants?
When it comes down to it, it is easy for all the greediness of this country to cloud our judgment about our money being given to those less fortunate. However, that greediness is just what may bite you in the ass. For if we are to deport those willing to work for less, all you are going to be left with are greedy Americans looking for higher pay.
Maybe you ought to think about the thank-you cards you should be handing out, instead of the cards you are demanding to see.
R. Brandyn Miller is a sophomore majoring in English and minorng in Journalism.