by Christopher Stone

Created on: August 28, 2008   Last Updated: January 22, 2010

As an American I think it is my responsibility to question how the world defines prejudice in my country. It seems if you disagree with illegal immigration or you urge the Government to enforce the laws, you are quickly labeled as being prejudice.

I completely understand immigration built this country and made it the wonderful "mixing pot" of cultures it is today, however this does not mean that immigrants from anywhere should be able to pick and choose which laws they will abide by, and which laws they will break, or to come in and out of our country without regard to the laws prohibiting such actions.

The primary argument I hear supporting illegal immigration is "your immigration system is broken and until it is fixed people will just keep coming here illegally", as long as people continue to break the law then the system can never be repaired and what would such supporters suggest, to simply allow as many as possible to cross with a rubber citizen stamp?

I am a simple blue collar worker and I deal with illegal immigrants daily we talk about this much more than most people would believe. One week ago this very topic came up at lunch and when I asked why none of them had tried to come here legally they said "it is much faster and easier to do it illegally", so unless we can make it easier and faster legally then there will always be people desperately trying to leave their poor or poorer country trying to find a better life in ours. It is not entirely the illegal immigrants fault, it is a shared responsibility, such as the employers who hire them, our government for allowing it to continue and the very country they came from.

On a personal side I must say I find myself feeling somewhat frustrated as well when the very laws I am governed by are quite often not followed by illegal immigrants or those that support them. For example: -unless they are going to get into trouble then the majority will not volunteer taxes when they are paid in cash because it makes no sense to them to simply give away money they could be sending back home to Mexico. They refuse to sign up for selective service as was my duty when I turned 18, do not confuse this with those immigrants already serving, I am speaking of those who choose not to serve. I personally know three different illegal immigrants who got into trouble, no capital crimes but trouble enough they decided to post bail and go back to Mexico instead of going to court and since its just 2 driving under the influence charges and 1 failure to pay child support, its not likely they will be extradited.

I believe since we cannot simply force our bordering countries to drive for prosperity or to do away with corruption or simply put their people first to give them a reason to want to stay and grow with their own fellow countrymen, we should at least take care of our own.

I must close this piece leaving you with something to think about: "If we as legal Americans were born into a very corrupt or poor nation, and grew to know this as a way of life all the while being told there was riches to the north, would we not get there by any means? and since corruption has been known to us since birth, would we be willing to give away money while we are there or find a way to keep it and send it back home, regardless of the laws of that land."

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