Stingray: a blog for salty Christians

April 09, 2006

A different take on the Dallas illegal immigrant protest

Today was the day of the big immigration reform protest here in Dallas. The official estimates are that the crowd numbered between 350,000 and 400,000. The protest was against immigration restrictions being proposed in Washington and to support legalizing what the New York Times calls “undocumented workers.” Anytime we read a story in any newspaper now, we have to wonder whether a reporter was paid to make the subject look good or bad.

But I digress.

I watched some of the protests on television at my parents’ house, and then watched a bit more here at home on the internet. It was obvious that the organizers took great pains to make it a peaceful rally. The rule was no Mexican flags, only American flags, and people pretty much held to that rule. The only problems were caused by a handful of counter-protesters who threw some water bottles at the protesters. One of the water bottles hit a female police officer in the face, but it was not a serious injury.

I have mixed feelings on the illegal immigrants issue, which is actually several issues. First, I want our border secured. Build a double fence from San Diego to the mouth of the Rio Grande and patrol it night and day with armed soldiers, vehicles, helicopters, and unmanned spy planes. No compromises on that issue.

Second, I have a lot of sympathy for so many of the illegal immigrants. I worked with a church ESL program for quite a while and most of the people that I dealt with were illegal immigrants. I became good friends with some of them. They fled a corrupt country, Mexico, where no matter how hard they worked, they could never get ahead.

They lived in grinding poverty — I’ve seen the poverty in Juarez and have smelled the smoke of people burning tires to keep warm wafting across the border to El Paso. Click on the picture to see an enlarged view. My wife spent a week at an orphanage for handicapped children in Oaxaca several years ago and it broke her heart to see them playing in sewage ditches and not having adequate medical care. A church here in Dallas is still helping the orphanage but there are only so many churches and there is much poverty in Mexico.

If you lived in shacks like the ones shown in the picture from Juarez and you had a country just a few miles away from you as rich as the United States, wouldn’t you try to escape, too? It’s easy to be a tough conservative and say “send them all back” but one’s heart changes when seeing how bad Mexico really is. It’s almost like Jews trying to flee Germany in the 1930s. The Jews weren’t being killed yet, but the German system held them in poverty. I have a brother-in-law who grew up in Ciudad Juarez and was supporting his mother and brothers and sisters by age 10 (he’s a master woodcarver inspired by God). He taught himself English within 3 months and within a few years became an American citizen. I’m very proud of what he’s done and of being his brother-in-law.

Most illegals work hard and most stay out of trouble. I do have a problem however with the Hispanic culture because it does not try to blend into the “melting pot” of the United States and because it doesn’t value education, especially education for women. There are third-generation descendants of Mexican immigrants who are still not fluent in English — or don’t know English at all — because their families never made it a priority. They’ve brought the bondage of Mexico with them and kept it here.

I’m against blanket amnesty. Once our borders are sealed, we can begin to deal with the problem of illegal immigrants. Those with criminal records (serious offenses, not just a speeding ticket) should be sent back to Mexico. Others can go through guest worker programs that will make sure that they learn English as an incentive to becoming a US citizen.

This is a tough subject. People of good will can disagree with one another on what to do with illegal immigrants. But focusing on illegal aliens takes our focus off the main priority of securing our border with Mexico so that no one can cross.

Update: Michelle has a different take on the Dallas rally

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