by James Boyd

Created on: January 22, 2011

The Solution to the Problem of Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigrants are a hot topic for discussion these days. The discussions run the gamut from racist and abusive (against illegal immigrants) to the contention by those in favor that somehow we “need” all of these people who do not have the legal right to work here and those people “deserve” to live and work here. They are referred to as “undocumented” rather than illegal. The racist arguments, condemning people because of their brown skin and their use of a language other than English, have no place in any civilized discussion. On the other end of the spectrum, those who insist these workers are not “illegal” but just “undocumented” (which is like referring to driving without a license as “undocumented” driving) have virtually nothing to support their claim that people who have illegally obtained jobs are somehow entitled to stay in this country illegally.

Those who make the difficult and often dangerous journey to come here to work have decided to take their chances because the economies of their native countries are in trouble, and they need to find a way to support their families. Some are drug dealers and drug users and criminals of other kinds, but a large majority of these people are decent, hard-working, reliable people, who pay their bills and often send money home to their extended families. Any attempt to solve the problems caused by illegal immigration that involves directing anger at the immigrants themselves is misguided and will not help in finding a solution.

The traditional view of illegal workers holds that they are migrant farm workers, day laborers standing by the street in the morning looking for a job for the day, and a scattering of domestic servants—housekeepers, landscapers, and so forth. It is true that some of the people working illegally in this country fit into those categories. But there is a much larger number that are employed in what would be considered traditional, regular jobs. They work in factories and insurance offices, in banks and convenience stores, in restaurants and apartment rental agencies. Some are even employed by local and state governments. Many are bilingual and are valued as a connection to Spanish-speaking customers. The FBI probably does not have any illegally-employed special agents, because of their intensive background checks, but nearly every other area of employment has

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