H -°, L 7° | Tomorrow: 
H 17°, L 4°There are people in the world who will tell you all of their greatest accomplishments within five minutes of meeting them. Carlos was not one of these people. He was sixteen when we met, stuck in that limbo between adolescence and adulthood, and he made it seem entirely charming.
The second oldest in a family of six, Carlos did most of the work on his family’s farm in the rural hills of western Honduras. Muscular and energetic, he was clearly accustomed to working hard outside. While we were visiting, he showed off for my friend Maureen and I by goading a turkey into charging at him, then catching it by its legs without getting so much as a scratch. When Maureen told him how much he’d grown since she’d been a volunteer in the village several years earlier, he blushed furiously.
Carlos was also a hardened criminal, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At the age of 15, he and his uncle came to Connecticut to work. It took them over a month to make the nearly 2,000 mile trip. Traveling by bus, truck, train and foot, they made their way through Guatemala and Mexico. They crossed the Rio Grande at night and trekked through the desert of southern Texas. Moving north they began hopping freight trains, an incredibly dangerous way to travel, exposed to the elements and in constant danger of being thrown off, locked in an empty car or stranded in the middle of nowhere.
After arriving in Connecticut, Carlos lived in a tiny apartment with his father, uncle and a few other men from their community. They worked for a landscaping company, arranging stones to build decorative walls. After six months in the U.S., Carlos’s mother urged him to return to Honduras; he made it as far as Texas before being caught and deported home.
Not one to announce his accomplishments too loudly, it was only after we’d been talking for a while that Carlos told us about his epic. “Muy peligroso” he described it, in his understated way. But despite his nonchalance, his story was jarring. It is one thing to know intellectually that people undergo hardship and danger to come here looking for opportunity, but quite another to hear a child tell of the experience.
Because of their enforced invisibility, it is easy to forget the United States is filled with people like Carlos: young, ambitious, hard-working men, women and children who have taken similar risks for a chance to work in America. They did not come here to break our laws or disrupt our way of life. They aren’t looking for handouts or charity; only opportunity where there was little before. And we’ve created that opportunity by coming to depend on their willingness to work hard for low pay and little job security.
Carlos certainly would have been an asset to the United States had he stayed, just as the many others who’ve come here still are. And while immigration status is how we judge a worker’s right to be in the country, it’s a poor measure of the value it brings to our nation. The distinction between legal and illegal immigration is an accident of time and place; what matters is the effort one is willing to contribute. By taking extraordinary risks and sacrificing the comfort and security of home for the unknown U.S., workers like Carlos and his family have demonstrated such willingness.
To treat immigrants fairly, we need to do a few things. First of all, we must recognize that Carlos and those like him have made an investment in America simply in coming here eager to work. We could do this by creating an expedited path to citizenship for those that have helped the country grow. At the same time we need to acknowledge the hypocrisy of persecuting immigrants while we profit from their labor.
Geoff Jara-Almonte ([email protected]) is a third year medical student.
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So how many immigrants work for cash, pay no taxes and send their money back home? Meanwhile they bankrupt the emergency rooms.
We need scientists, engineers and investors who also believe in the rule of law - not a guy who can catch a turkey, jumping the line and sneaking in illegally.
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“The distinction between legal and illegal immigration is an accident of time and place.”
Epic fail. It’s called the law. However, we do need more legal immigrants to come to this country. Let’s let in at least one legal immigrant for each illegal immigrant we kick out of the country.
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Legal immigrants invest in America. Openly. Honestly. Respectfully. Legally.
Illegal aliens steal from America. Covertly. Deceitfully. Disrespectfully. Illegally.
You can soft sell it anyway you like but the truth remains.
Secure the US Borders - Now. Require Citizenship Status On Every Drivers License In Every State - Now. Deport the Illegal Aliens - Now. Purge the US voter roles of illegal voters - Now. Support and Honor Legal Immigration - From this day forward.
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Here’s an idea: crack down on the employers of the illegal immigrants. With nowhere to work, they will stop coming here. But yeah, this weak-ass story doesn’t make me feel bad at all.
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Geoff, you’re missing the point. The point is that the US is now overpopulated by about 58 million people. OK, so immigrants invest in the US, but hey, cousin, we already have enough Americans to invest. It’s the illegals we want out, so don’t tell us Carlos is the example you want to set for us. We don’t need more Latinos either. Tough if you think I’m racist. I don’t have to think like you. And who cares what you think?
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I don’t know why liberals keep fighting this issue the way they do. It’s lose-lose for them and the illegals.
Shaming and boycotting Arizona will not make them repeal the bill. It will only lead to other conservative states ramming the same kind of bill through their legislatures. In the end, all the illegals and Latinos who fear harassment from police will flock to liberal states. All the liberal states are in much worse shape than most of the conservative states, what with their higher unemployment, higher taxes, larger populations and higher rate of dependency on federal and state welfare programs. Add a few million in illegal immigrants to the mix and the liberal states can forget about any chance of climbing out of this recession. And no, the conservative states won’t back down. They’d rather play hardball than reach a compromise.
Liberals need to understand two truths to see where they should be putting forth the greatest effort in helping these people. First is the fact that the US is grossly overpopulated. We went from 250 million people in 1990 to 300 million in 2005, an increase of 50 million people in just 15 years! Environmentalists and economists agree that 250 million should be the max for the US population.
Second is the fact that Mexico 1) pays out $20-25 billion a year in federal fuel subsidies so its well-to-do citizens can fill up their SUVs for cheap and 2) offers free Viagra for men over 70. This is what Mexico values over helping its own poor. And thus they either sneak across our border and steal our jobs and/or they go to work for the drug cartels in Mexican cities along the border.
Would it also help to know that Canada is very upset about our clueless leaders in Washington DC dragging their feet in fighting illegal immigration? Our border with Canada is longer and less protected. Canada is one-tenth our population. 12 million illegals to Canada is like 120 million to the US.
The United States has been the promised land of choice for too many for too long. Our ancestors came here legally in a time when there was still plenty of room and opportunities. Not anymore. From here on, we should lead the world by example, not by letting them make us feel guilty. Mexico is no longer a poor country. Stop feeling guilty and stop ignoring the poor and homeless Americans we already have. That’s more than a handful for us right now.
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Good piece, I like the narrative style - it really helps to discuss this stuff on the personal level. You know you’re doing a good job when you get some loony reactions. Nice wrap-up too. Keep stirring the pot! -SS
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Interesting read Geoff. It’s a polarizing subject perfectly evidenced by all of the anonymous comments here. Whatever your opinion may be it’s interesting to think about the lengths some people go to, just so they can have an opportunity to live and work in a country that we’ve been born into.
Again, very fun read Geoff. Keep it up.
Steve S.
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Becoming a citizen of the U.S. takes a long time and is a bureaucratic mess. Let’s show some common sense and respect for others by making it faster and simpler.
It makes more sense to crack down on employers of undocumented workers than spewing all this vitriol at “illegals.” And who really still thinks that deportation is a viable option? Talk about a waste of taxpayer dollars.
To the commenter above who is a proud racist (so brave of you, too, commenting online anonymously), good for you, but in the eyes of the law cannot or at least SHOULD not play a role in determining who is allowed into the country and which communities are cracked down on.
Also, Arizona’s law is most likely unconstitutional because immigration is one of those things the U.S. Constitution leaves to the federal government to manage, not the states.
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[edit] …in the eyes of the law RACE cannot or at least SHOULD not play a role… (oops. this is why we proofread.)
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“Arizona�s law is most likely unconstitutional”
Have you read the law, or just the BS spewed by the illegal immigration advocates? For 70 years it has been FEDERAL LAW that all LEGAL residents carry their documents.
And just why do you think that it should be “faster and simpler” to become a US Citizen? Have you any idea how hard it is to become a citizen of other countries?
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“Have you any idea how hard it is to become a citizen of other countries?”
Yes. That is one of the main causes why those countries (many of them European) are “dying.” Not actually dying as in falling over dead, but they are, on average, becoming an older population, because they’re so loathe to accept potential immigrants, who are often younger and either have young children, or are unmarried and are seeking to eventually raise a family.
America is not Europe. We, at least on the surface, extend open arms as a safe haven for people around the world. For decades, the United States has touted itself as the “Land of Opportunity,” and it is the influx of immigrants that is, historically, the source of the nation’s strength.
As long as someone comes to this country and is willing to work (or be in the immediate family of one willing to work) and has no criminal record (or at least any major offenses), then we should welcome them into this nation.
A lot of the worries people have about immigration seems to be that the presence of new people would somehow “alter” what we think of as American. It’s a common belief that extends back to the very beginning of the United States. It’s also complete bunk.
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So you would have us off-shore procreation? Is that one of the “jobs Americans won’t do”?
It is LEGAL immigrants that are, historically, the source of the nation�s strength.
PS. It is only a recent development that Europeans have become “loathe to accept potential immigrants”. Before that they were all about guest workers. You are right that “native” Europeans are in decline - the demographics are gloomy, it won’t be long before Europe becomes Eurabia. But then that’s the way it goes, the future belongs to those who have children.
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You can’t blame immigrants for wanting to immigrate. That desire comes from a terrible situation largely caused by US foreign trade policy. If US corn is sold in Mexico for less than Mexican corn, what are their farmers to do? Meanwhile we have low-paying jobs here that need workers and we look the other way if it means we don’t have to pay as much or give benefits, etc. The whole thing is so complex, so backwards, and so unjust.
Great story, Geoff.
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Perhaps the Mexicans should subsidize corn instead of gasoline?
PS. The richest person in the world is a Mexican.
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When the first civic act of these illegals is just that —- ILLEGAL, what kind of respect and sympathy do you think that the majority of Americans will have for these people? Wiping their asses with our Constitution to work in a car wash, mow a lawn or wipe some pampered Korean adoptee brat’s ass is too much of a trade-off for us to make.
Try to immigrate illegally to ANYWHERE in the world and see how kindly the recipient country will recieve you. Jail? Deportation? Beatings? Caning? Disappeared?
Try “immigrating” illegally to the UAE and see how quickly your ass is picked up and brought in for “questioning” or maybe just a short drive behind a distant sand dune.
At this point the US is a laughing stock on the world stage of stupidity and absurdity.
NO ONE is denying anyone the right to immigrate LEGALLY to the US. But his illegal nonsense is not working for anyone and the US Taxpayer is the best qualified to make that assessement.
Why do reality bubbles like Madison have such a hard time accepting reality. Imagine what Madison would look like if it were on the border with Tijuana. I doubt the discussion would be so “academic” or complacent.
Wake up America, the future is slithering into your country by the nano-second and it looks like you won’t wake up until Spanish becomes the 1st language of the state.
Or have we just lost our ability to care about our country, laws, culture or future?