Open the Gates - Part I

In 1970, my younger brother, my sister and I came to the U.S. It was our second trip to the U.S. but this time we were going to stay for good. We had been anticipating this trip for sometime and now that we were finally on American soil it was like we were in another time. I remember feeling almost alien when we walked out the big exit doors to a family member who had come to get us. As we were driving to our home I stared out the window in awe. I thought to myself, "I'm in America and things are going to be different." And it was different. I can still remember the first time I saw snow and I still remember the taste of my first slice of pizza. I was in America with my brother and sister, the three musketeers, and we would remain close for many years. One of the most important fact to our arrival on U.S. soil was that we were legal. Our "green card" said we were legal permanent residents. Our trip to the U.S. was on Air Jamaica. We were and continued to be legal residents until we raised our hands and renounced our allegiance to Jamaica and pledged to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States of America. Back then almost everyone knew the difference between legal and illegal but in 2007 the word illegal has taken on "legal" status.

I do not profess to be an expert on immigration issues but what I know to be true is that you don't reward someone who has broken the law. The most distressing part of the illegal immigration issue is when advocates for the law breakers say, "They are taking jobs Americans do not want and we are all immigrants." The latter statement is blatant canard that whoever utters those words should be ashamed of himself. Hear that President Bush? It's more like, the more unskilled labor you have the stiffer the competition becomes for those already here - thos legal low skilled workers. And these low skilled workers tend to be blacks and other Hispanics who happened to be natives. Yes, we are all immigrants but most of us did it legally. And to put a personal spin on it - my mother cleaned houses for rich white people. My sister cleaned houses for rich white people. My mother worked in hotels in Florida. So don't tell me about taking jobs that Americans do not want. Those of us who don't want to sit around on our backsides and collect money from the government seek out jobs such as these until we can get on our feet. My mom is retired and my sister has her Ph.D.

In 2004, Time Magazine in an article titled, Who Left the Door Open, stated that there were 4,000 illegals crossing the border everyday. And while they were doing that we were and are submitting to searches at the local airport. Our borders grow more porous, Hispanic men continue to congregate on local street corners, Hispanic men continue to get drunk and throw up on our streets, Hispanic women continue to drop their babies in our hospitals, and we have some states offering in-state college tuition for illegals. And now we have an immigration bill proposing that we make these miscreants U.S. Citizens. Are we out of our minds?

To be continued.