The Ethics of Immigration
The immigration debate generally focuses on jobs, taxes, the use of resources and the law. Some people say immigrants will help the economy, other say they take American jobs. Maybe they will work hard and revive poor neighborhoods, or maybe they will take advantage of our schooling system at our expense.
But its been years since I’ve head the most important pro-immigration argument, so I’ll just sum it up real quick: It’s the right thing to do. There is a strong ethical obligation to allow immigration; to naturalize illegal immigrants and allow far more legal immigration, for a few rarely discussed reasons.
1) There is a war on in Mexico. Especially in the norther border cities, drug lords are in control of the army, the police and the citizens. Almost 30,000 people have died in four years. The streets of Juarez makes East Saint Louis look like Beverly Hills. By refusing to allow immigration, we are effectively criminalizing refugees for tying to get out of a war zone.
2) Immigrants are generally the most poor people, here as well as in their home country. To deny these people the opportunity that we bestow on our wealthier offspring, to deny them even a chance to improve their lives, because we want smaller class sizes and lower taxes, is borderline oppressive.
3) There is an overwhelming sentiment in the US, though it is generally unspoken, that we are culturally superior to Mexicans or other Latin American immigrants. But this idea is reflected in our language. We hear it when people say they are taking our jobs. When people use words like their kids are taking advantage of our tax dollars and our schools, they imply that there is a fundamental difference between the two groups, and the they are less deserving, they are not entitled to the same things we are. Whether you come from Mexico or the U.S, a job is just a job that needs to be done, a worker is just a person trying to make a buck, and a man or woman or child is a human being; nobody is more or less human than anyone else, yet to hear the way we talk about immigrants one would think they were another species.
I would not argue that we should open the borders unconditionally. America needs to protect its infrastructure from an uncontrolled influx of people, whoever they are, but our country has to get off its high horse, bite the bullet, and accept the next wave of New Americans if only because its the right thing to do.