Varifrank: Hola Compadre!

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Hola Compadre!

I always hesitate whenever I think I might want to blog about the issue of immigration, specifically illegal immigration from Central America, which enjoys a special status over all other versions of illegal immigration in many people’s eyes. My stance on immigration is not like most peoples and its such an inflammatory subject that it just leads to lots of screaming and yelling to no good effect, so I always end up setting it aside.

But last month in Los Angeles, some smartass marketing guy from one of the Spanish channels decided this was a great idea.

In response radio station KFI made this billboard.

Now, I have to say I wasn’t really too upset with the spanish stations billboard, I think it spoke to their audience and that’s fine. But I also have to say that I agree completely with the KFI billboard. So I guess its time I roll out my feelings about illegal immigrants so I can explain myself.

Well frankly it comes down to this. I like ‘em and I’m glad to have them. See, I told you it would make you angry. But bear with me for just a minute. I’ve been through the Sonoran desert; I’ve been through Baja before Highway One was paved. Its rough country, and unless you are a serious backcountry type or you’ve got a time machine so you can revisit the old west of the 1880s, you’ve never seen anything like it. To get here, you have to cross it, and you as an illegal immigrant are most likely to do it by foot. In addition to the natural horrors that await you, there are the very worst kind of predators out to kill you, and I don’t mean gila monsters, I mean humans.Before you even get to the border crossing, your chances of being killed or raped is pretty large. Its not easy, and its not pretty, its risky and dangerous and for every one person you see who made it, there are 2 who didn’t. Their bones litter the deserts and shanty towns of the southwest.

Crime on the Mexican border is right out of a Mad Max movie, and its mostly predatory, and if you think the crime is bad on this side of the border from “those darn illegals”, then visit Cuidad Jaurez. I don’t recommend visting by night, this is the very worst neighborhood with the most corrupt police force you can imagine and you are not so much a visitng tourist as a very large target and an easy mark.

Now most people tend to think that all illegal immigrants are Mexicans, but they are not. They are El Salvadorans, Hondurans, Panamanians, Columbians, Ecuadorians and so on. Try to keep that in mind because it will become an important part of my case later.

So what do the folks that cross that horrid country do when they make it to the United States? Go on welfare, sit around all day and hang out? No, they go to work and they work hard and as much as they can when they can. Then what do they do? They send the money home to the family they left behind. This is such a money making operation that the President of Mexico encourages this activity as its Mexico’s best source of tax revenue. If that isn’t the most pathetic thing you’ve ever heard, I don’t know what is, but more on this later.

Illegal immigrants also get to do one thing in the US as non-citizens that their own country hardly allows them to do as citizens. They get to buy property. No questions asked, you plop the money on the table, you get to own a house. We are one of the few countries anywhere where there are no restrictions on the ownership of property.

Now, am I happy that people routinely violate the borders of my country? No, It makes me very angry, but I’m not at all angry at the people who do it.

So who am I angry at? the US Government or the evil “Yankee imperialist” culture? Oh come on, there’s hardly any country in the world where there are less stringent immigration rules. Lets be honest we don’t have any border protection, so why is anyone surprised that it is violated so routinely. If we applied the same security to Macys that is done on our borders does anyone think there would be anything left inside after the first day?

I’m not angry at the folks who come north and I’m not angry at the US government. So who am I angry at? That’s simple, I’m angry with the Government of Mexico. The government of Mexico is a corrupt, pilfering, parasitical class that would even make a right wing republican like myself think that Marxism is not such a bad idea. But Mexico’s government is not just corrupt it’s also incompetent. I can almost forgive corrupt, but I cannot forgive incompetent. Just how incompetent is the Mexican government? Mexico has a nationalized oil company PEMEX. So, How’s it doing now that we are in a worldwide boom for oil? Oh why of course, its going bankrupt! Think about that for a second, a government controlled monopoly on oil going bankrupt in the midst of the biggest boom in history. Obviously, someone isn’t trying very hard are they?

Let’s get on to two other areas that the Mexican government drives me right up the wall about. Mexico’s government actually admonishes the US government for its immigration policy. They act as if they themselves do not have an illegal immigration problem. Those countries that are south of Mexico also invade Mexico’s southern border. Now don’t you even for a second think that the Mexican government turns a blind eye to the immigrants the way our government does. Oh no, they deal with it in ways that would lead to Our impeaching any government official who sanctioned any part of the policy that Mexico has enacted. Mexico’s policies are just one step short of concentration camps and just one step ahead of racial genocide.

The other area that drives me insane is in the foreign ownership of property. Mexico actually has a constitutional provision that outlaws such a thing. Now, imagine if anyone were to even discuss such a thing here, but in Mexico its as much a part of the country’s culture as the snake in the eagles beak in the middle of the Mexican flag.

The message is clear “ foreigners stay out”. So, why is Mexico such a poor country? For starters, foreign investment is not just curtailed, its extinct. You say to yourself “ why wouldn’t it be wonderful to own a condo in the Yucatan or Baja? Fine, but you cant actually own it, you can only lease it, and I sure hope you keep up your payments to the local authorities, or you will see you investment occupied by “squatters” which the government will support rather than protect your property rights as a foreign investor.

And yet again this pack of gangsters who calls itself a government wants to lecture my country on its immigration policy? All I’ve got to say is “Parity”. The next time Presidente Fox lectures President Bush, I want Bush to look him right in the eye and ask for Immigration Parity and property rights for foreigners. Lets put the rights of El Salvadorans who illegally enter Mexico on the same par as Mexicans who enter the US and lets see who's ox gets gored. Lets discuss whether or not as an illegal alien you can own property in the US, when foreign property in mexico is routinely "confiscated" by the government.

So, I can get angry at the folks who come here and make a life for themselves, or I can direct it at whom it really should be aimed at, Mexico’s thieving, lying, criminal political class who have taken a great country of great riches with great people and turned it into a tipped over outhouse and thrid world hell hole all for the sake of feathering their own beds. The only reason Mexico’s government stands and its politicians aren’t routinely lined up against the wall and shot is that its just far easier for the populace to get just get up and leave. After having wrestled with the question of illegal immigration my whole life, I just can’t blame the folks who live there and who want to leave the cesspit that is Central America. If we lived there, you and I would leave too if only to get more guns and come back and finish the job.

I do have one small issue with the folks that do decide to risk it all and come to America. Look guys, I know you have strong feelings for your homeland and I know its really all about “la familia” but whatever country you came from, try to remember that those people threw you out. Your family might love you but the government you left doesn’t care about you, so if you’re going to display the flag of the old country, try to display the American flag too, ok? When you display the Mexican flag on your car, you are showing pride in a government that created the conditions that drove you out, and they don’t want you back. Why is it that you show such loyalty to a government that has killed, maimed and driven you out of your homes and yet for the country that has given you everything and asked so little that you can show such contempt and bad manners?

I don’t ask that you not show the Mexican flag or that you should not be proud of who you are, just try to show the same kind of pride the land that took you in and gives you more benefits of citizenship as an illegal than your own homeland did when you were born there.

Posted @ May 03, 2005 01:04 AM | Current Events

Excellent post! You've made me re-examine some of my beliefs about immigration.

One thing I already agreed with you on: The lying, cheating, theiving sack of weasels that make up what passes for a "government" in Mexico.

Posted by: Janette Stripling at May 3, 2005 01:05 PM

VF;

I both agree and disagree with your position. Certainly if I lived in Mexico (or any other third world country), I would do absolutely anything to get into this country. So like you, I don’t blame the people themselves for wanting to come here. But they are breaking the law. I want a Jaguar, but that doesn’t mean I can break into the dealership and lift one off the lot. And if I did, I would expect to be prosecuted. Also, like you, I don’t understand the loyalty these people continue to have for a country that has turned its back on them. And let’s not even get into those who believe in the Reconquista, the Mexican dream of retaking the southwestern portion of the United States. My comment to these people is “From the same folks who give us Ti Juana.” For those not familiar with Ti Juana, it is the outhouse to San Diego’s majesty. These are virtually side-by-side communities, as different as day is to night.

Now, I disagree with you on a couple of key points. First, I do get angry with our government for not doing its primary job, protecting our borders, and for those that get through going after businesses that hire these people. We cannot sustain a chaotic influx of a million plus people a year. Also, while many of the illegal immigrants are hard working, many are not. And whether a person is hardworking or not, there are countless studies out there that address the cost and impact of illegal immigrants on our social programs, education systems, and health care systems. Look no further than Los Angeles, the schools are overcrowded, hospitals and ER facilities are being closed, and the state of California is bankrupt. Not all of these problems are caused by illegal immigrants, but several million illegal immigrants don’t help the situation. And for those who recite the same old mantra “but they just take jobs Americans don’t want” or “the price of goods will increase without them”, save it. They take jobs Americans don’t want…at the pay rate offered. Pay more money, and Americans will do the work. And I don’t care if I have to pay fifty cents more for an avocado, my taxes will go down a lot more.

So VF, I agree with many of your points, but that doesn’t dismiss the culpability of our government and the anger I feel toward them and the businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

Posted by: Ray-Ray at May 3, 2005 01:57 PM