Immigrants are scum

We aren’t really scum, of course. Well, most of us aren’t, anyway. But it’s an attitude toward immigrants that seems common in many developed countries.

I’m an immigrant to New Zealand in part because of the anti-immigrant and anti-gay policies of my homeland. The US has no way for American citizens to bring their same-sex foreign partners into the country. New Zealand, like many other countries, does, so we live here and I’m the immigrant.

While the policies against same sex couples affected me personally, in America—a land of immigrants—anti-immigrant feeling is widespread. Various groups may be disliked in various places, but dislike (or worse) of Hispanic people seems universal.

I’ve heard otherwise calm, rational and even liberal Americans explain to me in great detail how “Mexicans” (usually a generic term for all Hispanic immigrants, both legal and not) are getting all sorts of “advantages” that “real” Americans don’t get. I’ve been told how the system “bends over backwards” to help illegals and how much these people are “costing” American taxpayers.

I’ve tried to point out (quite gently, mind you) that illegal immigrants are hardly living in the lap of luxury, that their status keeps them unsettled, at risk of victimisation and afraid to seek help when they truly need it. I’ve pointed out that illegals still pay taxes, though they can’t directly claim the same benefits as American citizens. They also purchase goods and services, thereby providing work for countless thousands of others. I’ve also suggested that it does no one any good to cut off healthcare and education to children of illegal immigrants, not only because children should never be made to suffer for the “sins” of their parents (the morality argument), but also because it breeds an angry, resentful underclass (the pragmatic argument).

And I get the same response to all of these rebuttals: “You don’t live here anymore. You don’t know how it is.”

So, the people who do know, apparently, “crack down” on illegal immigration. We see immigrants rounded up in surprise raids, their children left stranded or—even worse—put into prisons with little or no access to their parents.

Many Americans cheer these raids, continuing to believe that tired old myth that illegals “take jobs from Americans”. Do they, now? That must be why the work of illegal immigrants, particularly in areas like fruit-picking, is now often being done with prison labour. It’s a capitalist’s dream: Replace badly paid, easily exploited labour with slave labour. Yesiree, there’s a victory for American workers and simple justice all in one!

But raids aren’t the current administration’s only tool: They’re spending hundreds of millions building a wall along the Mexican border “to keep illegal immigrants out.” Sure it will. Here’s a wild and crazy thought: Instead of building a pointless wall, and instead of spending hundreds of billions on ill-advised foreign wars, wouldn’t it be a good idea to help develop Latin America so its people won’t need to come to America for a better life?

Here’s the one simple fact that most Americans simply refuse to acknowledge: Not everyone wants to live in America. As wonderful as it can be, America is not home for most people in the world. The reason America gets illegal immigrants isn’t that they all want to live in America, it’s because they need to provide for their families and can’t do it at home. Help develop their home and they won’t need to come to America. It’s really that simple.

But American citizens also need to realise that politicians—mostly Republican, but some Democrats—are playing them for chumps. The strategy is simple: Keep people distracted by the “threat” of illegal immigration, keep the people divided and afraid, and they won’t notice that every chance they get politicians are robbing the country blind and exploiting that lack of attention.

And the much touted “guest worker” status? In the past, similar schemes have provided a green light for greedy businesses to exploit workers, treating them as virtual slaves. I’ve seen no evidence yet that Bush’s proposal will avoid that happening again.

I know that some folks in America will dismiss everything I’ve said in this post. They have in the past. I understand that because I used to think as they do. My thinking began to change when I realised that as a part of an oppressed minority, I had no business oppressing others. But I became passionate about this when I became an immigrant. For the first time in my life, I could imagine—only just—how difficult it must be for legal Hispanic immigrants to America, lumped together, as they are, with illegal immigrants. I can’t possibly imagine how hard it must be for actual illegal immigrants.

I do know this, though: Before being so quick to assume that all social problems stem from immigrants, legal or otherwise, I wish Americans would get a little cynicism. I wish they’d ask who’s raising the issue and what do they have to gain? New Zealand has had politicians try and use immigration (legal immigration, in our case) to win votes. They failed. I hope one day American politicians who try and exploit racial and cultural divisions by focusing on immigration will fail, too.

Immigrants, legal or not, are human beings. They deserve to be treated as such.