The immigrant speaks

[hel_ana]

So the only reason I'm not doing A Day Without an Immigrant is that I took Thursday and Friday off, being all Pukey McSick.

I am an immigrant. A legal one, even. On my way to getting greencard, and eventually citizenship. Of course, I'm probably not the type of immigrant you want. (I don't have the proper reverence for the country, I'm only here because of my family, and I'd leave in a New York Minute if it either became practical for Ross and I to do so, or something happened to Ross. Oh, and I've got a job you'd probably want, unlike the poor bastards out in the fields of Plant City.) But that's beside the point; I'm here, and I'm contributing and paying taxes and all that jazz.

I've spent the last four years of my life dealing with the US immigration system, as part of one of the most priviledged intake groups. Maybe the most privileged. I have every benefit it's possible to have as an immigrant to this country. I'm married to an American. I'm white. I speak reasonably good English. I'm highly educated. I'm comfortably middle class (at least until one of us gets sick).

And it still sucks ass. If given the choice between having thyroid cancer again and going through immigratin again, well, get that radioactive iodine pill ready, baby; I'm gonna glow. That's how much it sucks.

So that's where I'm coming from as I say the following: I don't have a problem with illegals. I realize I'm bucking against the cliche here, but there it is. Here's why I can't muster up the rage that so many legals (and their decendents - "they're spitting on our legal grandparents") seem to feel: what they have, I wouldn't pay for in a million years. It's hard enough to be legal here, and navigate your way around the system. But that's the price of not having to look over my shoulder (nearly as much) every day, the way illegal aliens do. I don't have to face the daily scorn and derision from people whose lifestyle I'm making possible; we tut-tut about how many illegals there are in the country as we pay for our cheap strawberries, watch Pedro finish the gazebo, or ask Maria to please remember that the kids need their snack a half hour early. I have nothing but compassion for them.

And here's why I think the attitudes of legal immigrants towards illegals is unfortunate: we're all tied. The current underlying level of American rage and xenophobia at the "brown illegal other" has ripple effects throughout the entire cultural discussion of "all other".

Someone in a forum I visit asked a (paraphrased) question "how much is the government obliged to look at the feelings of legal immigrants in this debate?" The fact is that the current level of anti-immigrant feeling in America means the government doesn't have to care about what legal immigrants feel about anything. Especially since legal immigrants, as you say, tend to be anti-immigrant themselves, once they get in the door.

And like a cancer, it spreads; the "anti-illegal" sentiment becomes an "anti-immigrant " sentiment, which becomes an "anti-alien" sentiment, and before you know it, Canadian Mahar Arar is getting stopped during a routine plane change at JFK and gets sent to Syria to be tortured for a year. And barely anyone knows, let alone cares. Because no-one really cares what border guards do to "others". Especially those "brown others".

And successful legal immigrants who turn around and say "they shouldn't have it easy, because I had to go through the hard way" are contributing to this cancerous culture of xenophobia. Of course, should it ever turn around and bite them on the ass (for instance, going back for a family visit and getting stopped on the way back home) then somehow "it's an outrage the way border guards are allowed to treat people".

And here's where it impacts legal immigrants directly: Americans already believe that it's too easy to immigrate here. If I had a nickle for everyone who's said "but aren't you a citizen automatically once you marry one?", I'd own a house. With a pool boy. But I don't, because it's not that easy. However, the basic, underlying anti-immigrant sentiment means that it's never going to get easier or faster, because there's way more votes in shutting the doors than opening them.

Comments

[nancyblue.livejournal.com]

All I can say is that I agree wholeheartedly.

[cous-cous.livejournal.com]

I'd own a house. With a pool boy.

I want a pool boy! Can I get in on that somehow?

[hel_ana]

Of course! When I have a pool boy, you can borrow him whenever.

Can I borrow your Japanese gardener?

[cous-cous.livejournal.com]

That seems fair.

[jascha.livejournal.com]

well put.

[brat-pooh.livejournal.com]

Ok you have no faith or respect for the American people and their government, so be it, and yet you do the big corporations? Do you honestly think the money the big corporations save from paying illegals lower wages get passed on to the consumer? No it goes to their profit margin. And if the illegals obeyed and respected our laws so that they can demand fair wages, yes our produce prices will go up. But not because we have to pay legals fair wages, because the big corporations are going to make sure fair wages doesn't affect that profit margin. Here's a good example, We are the orange producing state, and yet we pay the exact same price for orange juice that anyone in any other state does. Why is that, profit my friend. Obeying the law, may be a pain in the ass, but it profits the immigrants more than anyone else involved.

[hel_ana]

Ok you have no faith or respect for the American people and their government, so be it, and yet you do the big corporations?

Thank you very much for your excellent example to my readers of a classic straw man argument. As such, it's not worth answering.

As for the rest, you're really focused on my "cheap strawberries". 50% of illegals are working for individuals, in day labour construction, childcare, lawncare, etc. Those people are making the American lifestyle possible.

And if you're unaware of how incredibly cheap food here is in contrast to much of the rest of the world, well, then I guess ignorance really is bliss.

[brat-pooh.livejournal.com]

Whether you consider it "straw man" or not, I have yet to read you say anything good about America and the judgments Americans make. In fact in this very article you state "I'm only here because of my family, and I'd leave in a New York Minute if it either became practical for Ross and I to do so, or something happened to Ross."

And my observation of your thoughts on it was merely a "that's your opinion and you, as an American, are entitled to". It was showing respect to someone who has a difference of opinion. And yet you disrespectfully jump to condescend and intimidate.

I was able to focus on your entire article in one sentence. "Obeying the law, may be a pain in the ass, but it profits the immigrants more than anyone else involved."

I can cut to that chase without having to be wordy and impressive.

[hel_ana]

Except that really wasn't my point.

You seem to be making a flaw out of being "wordy and impressive". It's not. I have a good education, I read more in a year than most people (in the Western world, not just the US) do in an entire lifetime, and I have a very large vocabulary and good command of English grammar. And I will not apologize for that. Ever. Snarking on it is not going to change that.

You weren't being respectful. You were completely twisting what I was saying, ascribing to me a view I don't have (the idea that I have either faith in or respect for big corporations, whether American or Canadian, has no basis in reality - that was the strawman) and then saying "fine, if that's the way you feel". That's not respect, at least not where I come from.

You are right about me not writing a lot that's good about America or Americans in general. I don't write a lot of happy happy joy joy stuff about anything. I write, in the balance, about stuff that I find ridiculous. And that's been true since I started the thing. And it's very unlikely to change.

[cous-cous.livejournal.com]

"Obeying the law, may be a pain in the ass, but it profits the immigrants more than anyone else involved."

Actually, I think the point of "A day without immigrants", whether you agree with it or not, is that parties that benefit the most from illegal immigration are NOT the immigrants, but rather the corporations (and yes, private citizens) who are able to hire illegals more cheaply than they would otherwise pay for the same service from an American citizen.

So, yes, you do cut to the chase, without being either wordy or impressive. But your point would be factually incorrect.

[brat-pooh.livejournal.com]

You are confusing illegal alien to legal immigrants. Please take a minute to comprehend what I said before you start pointing the "you're wrong finger". The only person who is responsible for being exploited by another is yourself.

[spuriusfurius.livejournal.com]

"I can cut to that chase without having to be wordy and impressive."

Or, apparently, without being able to use anything remotely resembling good grammar, sound reasoning, or even a basic understanding of the issue at hand.

[brat-pooh.livejournal.com]

So insulting is a basic understanding of the issue at hand??