Immigration: Not just for white people anymore!

Since I don't have to pretend this is a mommy blog and find some way to tie my kvetching into something child-related, I'm going to step smartly up to my soapbox for a few.

Let's begin.

So I was initially just annoyed with the whole Arizona thing, with the pissing and the moaning about how illegal immigrants are destroying the Gret Stets of 'Merica BS. I mean, come on! That's like sooo 2005. But now this? In Utah? For those of you who don't feel like clicking the link, what we have here is basically a group of wingnuts who have compiled a 29-page list of undocumented immigrants which, to quote the Salt Lake Trib, " lists names, addresses, birth dates and phone numbers of about 1,300 people, including 201 children. It also lists places of employment, due dates for pregnant mothers and more than 30 Social Security numbers."

Let's ignore the fact that many of the people on the list are here legally and then let's conveniently forget that having a social security number puts you on the federal "grid," so to speak, which means you do things like pay taxes. And nonpayment of taxes, as I recall, is one of the Big Reasons anti-immigration activists think we should kick these folks out instead of, oh I don't know, finding out a way for them to stay here and start or continue paying into the system.

Seriously, it makes me want to throw up in my mouth. I'm not saying every undocumented immigrant is as perfect as a fluffy kitty in flannel bunny jammies and should stay in this country forever, but I then again, can also choose, offhand, at least one dozen native-born souls who I feel quite strongly should no longer be able to live in our fine republic. Fortunately for them, that's not my call.

I guess what it boils down to for me is that an undocumented resident of this country isn't presenting any "problems" we don't already have. But there is rampant crime in the border states! And it will spread like news of Emmy nominations! This is an awesome argument for, say, St. Louis or Memphis because they're looking for something else to account for their high crime rates. They're nowhere near a border state, so they totally MAKE that argument! Or try Detroit! (Oh, shoot, Michigan is a border state. Never mind.)

And some are worried about spending our resources without contributing to the tax pool? Even considering the (relatively low) numbers of immigrants who actually dare to avail themselves of such services, I'd still say we're getting a good deal. My Nana, whom I love dearly, did not contribute, as far as I know, to Uncle Sam's slush fund, because her work was taking care of her home and children. But—what outrage!—she gets social security and Medicaid! And she didn't even have the courtesy to spend her days in fields of spinach and strawberries and beans making produce cheaper for the rest of us!

Which leads me to my next point: the "jobs" thing. Please give me one example of a job an immigrant has "taken" from someone because he or she will work for less money. Picking oranges? Cleaning toilets? I heard a guy in Taco Bell the other day who couldn't get a job because he didn't have papers. Taco Bell. With those kinds of policies, friends, we have to ask—who will be left to steal jobs from pimply teenagers now?

I think it's just a little important for Yoo Ess citizens (*cough* Lou Dobbs *cough*) to take a tiny little perspective moment and remember that unless one is reading this post in Navajo or Cherokee translation (I didn't say Lakota specifically because of you, Erin!), we got here the same way as "the illegals." And the ones who got here before our people didn't like our family's tree putting down roots either, whether they came from blighted Irish farms or Warsaw ghettos. Of course, there wasn't always the luxury of immigrants having a different color of skin, so it was a little harder to pick on the new arrivals unless one actually saw them getting off the boat.

Of course, I'm sure Arizona won't just target the brown people in their crackdown on documentation. I mean, were I to visit, I'm sure they will ask me for my passport everywhere I go. And my hot blonde model friend from Sweden? Wait until they find out she's got an expired student visa! I'm sure they'll just THROW HER ON THE BUS TO TIJUANA WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

And lest you think it's just my knee-jerk liberal bleeding heart that feels that way, check out this quote from a paper written about a leader whose people were pretty pissed at him: "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands."

I dare you to read that to someone who thinks it's a good idea to build a fence between the US and Mexico. And then ask this person whether he or she is a patriot.

And then tell them that…the leader they're talking about in that quote? King George. The document it came from? The Declaration of Independence.

Watch out, ye anti-immigrant states. I don't want to have to go all Federalist Papers on your ass.