While I was not planning on writing about illegal immigration again, tonight after seeing the latest episode of the show Family Guy I decided to. Yes, I do understand that the show is a comedy however as with anything written by a person some of their values carry through. In this particular episode I noticed the recurring theme that is see all the time when immigration is the subject of debate, the swapping of terminology back and forth between illegal immigrant and immigrant. This leads to such arguments as, “America is a nation of immigrants, and if you are against immigration than you are against America”. This however is a ridiculous association to make, I am not against immigration and I am not against the changing of laws. Our country was built by immigrants and the ability for the people to change laws is a fundamental concept of democracy. However, until a law is changed it must be enforced, and thus all those considered currently to be illegal immigrants must be treated as criminals for doing something illegal, and all those currently considered immigrants must be treated as American citizens because they went through the proper channels. I understand that the process costs money and that many poor people can’t afford it, but did anyone stop and think of why? Maybe because our welfare and social security are strained and more poor people burden it more. Maybe because statistically the poor are more likely to turn to crime to survive (point proven by the fact that people break the law when entering the country) and we do not want to spend more money on police and increased insurance rates. Maybe it is because we want to increase the ration of educated people as opposed to uneducated people so are nation as a whole is smarter rather than stupider. Or how about the fact that as more and more jobs become automated we have less of a need for uneducated people and more of a need for educated people. We have standards and procedures set-up so that we get the people we want immigrating and keep out the people we don’t want (I’m talking about intellect and wealth here, not race or nation of origin). If we decide that we need a group of people with a different skill set or a different ratio of current skill sets, then by all means we need to change the law. This brings me back to my original point, illegal means not legal. That one word prefacing the word immigrant cannot just be tossed out during a debate because it changes the context of the word. In case there are still people who cannot grasp the fact that the context of the concept matters allow me to illustrate my point.
Buying Prescription Drugs = Legal
Buying Illicit Drugs = Illegal
Having Sex = Legal
Having Sex with a 10-year old = Illegal
Building and Detonating an Atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan project = Legal
Building and Detonating an Atomic bomb as part of a project to blow up Manhattan = Illegal
CONTEXT MATTERS!!!!!
Hopefully I have clarified the difference between Illegal and Legal Immigration.
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1 comment:
This issue is really a hard one to discuss, but you have taken a different approach than most. It is true that illegal immigration is bad and you have illustrated that well. But the issue is not and cannot be black and white. It's hard to pick sides when there aren't any. I think we all know that we need to stop or change illegal immigration but we cannot decide on the best course of action. What can we even really do to stop them? If they are determined enough, they are going to come here anyway.
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