Immigration is not a subject that I have ever had an articulate opinion on. I took some time today to think about it, and after reading Silko's piece, I feel like I have a better idea. It was shocking to me that Border Patrol officers have the legal clearance to pull over absolutley anyone they want to at the checkpoint, including "white people who appear to be clergy, those who wear ethnic clothing or jewelry, and women with very long hair or very short hair." It seems wrong to me that the patrolmen are allowed to search anyone who comes through even if they don't have any reasonable suspicion. Silko is an American citizen, but since she is of color, she got pulled over and searched by the patrolmen; even legitimate citizenship doesn't count for anything in the minds of the patrolmen.
There must be another way to keep illegal immigrants from coming into the country. Better yet, there needs to be a way to help people in the citizenship process. Frankly, however, I don't think the opportunities for most immigrants are as great as they anticipate. A friend of mine went to law school in Mexico and came here to hellp support her family. Most of her family lives here, but she sends money to Mexico every month to support her parents. She works as a cleaning lady, but she is obviously more qualified and intelligent than her position. I think the opportunities for her to work as a lawyer in Ecuador are far superior to any opportunity she has hear. Most immigrants take positions here that no Americans will take: the grunt work. For many of them, there are better opportunities for them in other parts of the world, but they have been lured here by the promise of the American Dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment