Jon Searles

Immigrants- Weeds or Part of the Desirable Landscape



Posted: Sunday, July 01, 2007

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My wife is a degreed horticulturist.  When we were in college she was excited to learn that weeds are just “misplaced plants".  A weed for example in Texas may be a desirable landscape plant in Connecticut.  A plant that grows wild and unchecked in Alabama, may be a burst of color added to a garden in Phoenix.  There are plants that are almost always weeds, but they do all seem to have some beauty in unique leaf design, flowering ability, and growth habits. They fit in nicely with the beauty of the landscape and they can move from weed status to a desirable plant.  Are all immigrants just weeds in our American landscape or have they blended in with the beauty of our life?

Immigrations biggest problem has been the complete mismanagement of a poor system before amnesty was gifted to illegal immigrants in 1986 and after that year.  If at that time during the no real strings attached welcoming of undocumented workers; rules, regulations, and laws had been passed to prevent illegal immigration from happening again, it could have been kept within a controllable limit.  The crime is not the person searching for a better life that illegally enters the country, but the inability of a government to pass common sense laws and provide effective tools for employers to prevent the influx of illegal immigrants.

Our government has estimated that there are 12 million undocumented workers in the United States illegally.  I wonder how the government can possibly know that and the number could be much higher since they are after all undocumented and do all they can to avoid being identified by all government agencies.  They also have made lives for themselves by getting jobs, buying property and having children.  The children are American citizens if born here, another difficult part of the issue.

There have been arguments made that we should send them all back since they are all criminals for entering the country illegally.  Many have indicated that they have been taking away jobs from Americans, sending dollars out of the country, and crippling social and government services that can not effectively screen for illegal aliens.  Unions on one hand have openly blamed employers and demanded hiring stop while on the other they work to recruit those same people into their organizations, after all, illegal immigrant money is as good as U.S. citizen money.  Others completely on the opposite pole that say we should freely open our borders to all with unchecked immigration into the “land of the free and home of the brave."  Definitely not the best idea.

One of my Christian brothers who I feel is right on target with most of his observations, made the argument that we are called by God to take care or our own (meaning United States citizens) and we do not have to call upon our Christian heart and values to make the immigration decision.  Unfortunately, I am unable to galvanize my Christian heart against the plight of those that come to our country seeking a better life.  I do feel rules and laws must be established but how would I have turned away those who have touched my life over the years.  My college roommate whose family fled Cuba to save their lives when Fidel Castro took power; Afua a friend from work who fled Africa to avoid being killed in a tribal dispute; Juanita who fled a desperate life and an abusive spouse in Mexico; and Javier who left his wife and 6 year old son in Peru to earn minimum wage money so his family could survive.  How would I have turned away Richard Bronson from England in the 1600's on the ship Hercules who established my family in these United States?  When we, as a country of immigrants, use the argument we should take care of our own I think of how that argument would worked with my mother in law’s family made up of true Native Americans.  I guess the difference involved the ability of early Christian immigrants to completely over throw, kill, and scatter the rightful indigenous population.  Luckily with 300 million Americans, the new immigrants do not have that ability to do this to the immigrants that have strengthened our country.

Although Hispanic workers make up the current face of immigration, it is many individuals from many countries that are our new immigrants.  Polish, Irish, African, and many other nationalities enter into the United States illegally.  To an Italian friend recently I quipped that the people from Mexico are simply the new Italians.  He took great offense to my comparison of his ancestors to the current Hispanic immigrants, but admitted that his great grandfather had entered the country illegally, but he insisted that the Italian people were different.  I explained to my friend that they were not different, just that his prejudice clouded his judgment.  The Italian people were and are tremendous contributors to this country's success.  After all, what is an American after all but a mix of nationalities, thoughts, ideas, and cultures.

Deporting 12 million people (if it is a real number) is impractical, if not impossible.  The cost alone would be staggering and the possibility of things going badly, due to the human nature of many in our culture that I will affectionately call hate mongering stump dump idiots.  Do we deport fathers and mothers of American born children?  Do we deport one country’s immigrants over another because they “blend in" better to our culture?  Do we let the skilled stay and unskilled go?  The last 3 places I lived had less than 5.5% unemployment which is reaching to those individuals that can not work and refuse to work.  Immigrants were hire just to keep the doors open and grow the business.  Will employers be allowed just to keep those illegal immigrants that they like in their current jobs?  Many have said immigrants are working the jobs Americans do not want, which is a historical fact that can be found in many industries dating back to the start of our country but you will fined Americans working shoulder to shoulder with these fellow employees and friends.  Forcing out those willing to do the work will result in higher prices in the United States and a crippling of the processed chicken industry (think about it).

With all that in mind, I was wondering if the SearchWarp Community was able to come together and draft an immigration policy.  After all, we are probably, as a group, more in touch with this country’s immigrant population than those in Washington D.C.  Here is my first draft which will be simple and obviously not take into account all the nuances, but it is a good step toward the multiple written volumes of new immigration law.

 

  1. Deportation- Deport all those who have committed felonies in this country and/or their country of origin.  Yes, it may remove them from family in some cases, but hard decisions and rights must be taken from those incapable of following major rules of law.  A new resident must also stay working under a law that will deport them if they are unwilling or unable to find work.  The fact that we will ignore their illegal immigration is enough of a concession.
  2. Documentation- To legally work in this country, all must immediately register and receive proper documentation.  I like the current passport system.  This documentation in the form of picture ID’s and work papers will allow employers to check with a proper government information office to establish the legality of each individual.  This must be done within 24 months of a new law or deportation will result. 
  3. Verification- The government must set up the proper check point to verify immigrant identity and status.  This must be accessible to employers and make every effort to protect worker information since it will require verifying U.S. born workers and non U.S. born workers.  You can not just tell an illegal immigrant by the color of their skin or their accent.
  4. Restitution- Since it would be impossible to exclude immigrants from government and private social services, it would be possible to require financial restitution to the system that is welcoming them until they reach citizen status.  An accessed fee on all earnings through employers would be collected.  You wonder how they could possibly afford to pay out of what will many times be meager earnings I say they may have to forego a cell phone and pay a price for coming to the U.S. illegally.  Employers too would pay a matching tax for the benefit of hiring these individuals.  This will penalize them a bit for having done it all this time anyway. Employers who hire any undocumented worker after a set date would be subject to mandatory fines. 
  5. Limitation- Government must establish rules of immigration that allow the migrant farm worker and the renowned nuclear scientist to enter the United States under quotas or other set guidelines.  It may not always be fair in the eyes of those who want to move here, but it would be necessary. 
Okay, so the framework is set, where should we go from here?  Don’t we wish it were that easy?  Obviously I borrowed some basic elements from the recent attempt at legislation in our Congress. Sometimes a little naivety and simple thinking can help solve a problem. 

Opening our borders to everyone to migrate to the United States is not a good idea.  People that truly want to move to this country should have to overcome a few hurdles and truly commit to the process.  Proper regulation is needed.  It is so hard to write about or discuss this volatile topic since those that read it can pick it to death looking for a scrap to agree with or a morsel to attack as rascist or prejudice. 

When we really start looking at the entire problem of illegal immigration it is like trying everything we consider a weed from our landscape. We need to truly determine what is a weed and what is a desirable plant.  We must carefully and thoughtfully remove those that are not contributing or will not contribute to our country.   I contend there is more desirable than undesirable in the new additions to our garden and we must work to make sure we do not weed out the wrong people. We need to set our minds on allowing people through a well structured programs and polices to be a part of our country.  In the end it is analogous to Christ’s Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13:24-30 (NIV).  When the servant ask Christ if they should pull up the weeds that had invaded the wheat through an enemies actions Christ replied “No, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them."

A less than intellectual analogy, yes, but it is accurate. 

This Article has been viewed 2,964 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)
» left by robert T melaccio
 4 years 221 days ago.
Very good article. Of course emphathy, mercy and compassion are all important and essential but not at the cost of law breaking and reward. However, the issue goes deeper then just allowing them into the nation. You are right about "undocumented" just go to any school, social service, hospital, bank, leasing agency, etc and you can identify them and where they are and thats a fact.It is amazing our government can't or really doesn't want to? It is part of the overall issue at hand. I believe it can all be solved very effectively without amnesty or reward for breaking the law and it will stop their exploitation and allow them to work, have access to their tax, social security and hospitaization, etc and not at any expense to Americans. I have sublitted my suggestion to the President and my Senator from Florida. I will post it today on Searchwarp and I sincerely believe like you that a bill which serves everyone is possible. Respectfully,
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» left by James P Krehbiel
 4 years 221 days ago.
125 fans.
John, A very thoughtful article. This political football will not go away soon. There are no easy answers to this issue, but whatever the solution, compassion along with practicality must be demonstrated.
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» left by Faye Farinha
from WA 4 years 221 days ago.
Excellent and thought provoking. Like millions I too get so frustrated at the position our government (by the people...for the people) has taken. Enforce the laws we already have! Twelve million? That's a far cry. Thanks for bringing this up and submitting it. But you know, I don't think they (the Politicians)are listening! Faye
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» left by Cari Jones
 4 years 220 days ago.
Excellent work. The weed analogy,carried through to the completion of your article is brilliant,imo.This problem has been allowed to proliferate, like so many others, beyond the scope of an easy solution, but does give the presidential hopefuls talking points.
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» left by Ralston
from Troy, MI 4 years 201 days ago.
A proposed legislation would make all illegal immigration a felony which, under your proposal, call for the deportation of all illegals. This is the CURRENT law, if we would execute it.
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