I know undocumented foreigners and would not affect scorn towards them in place of the affection I feel. Many willingly close their eyes to felt warmth, replacing it with affected rage rather than just doing what has to be done; others are blindsided to problems generated throughout the country by this trickle invasion.  I don't want my state, Massachusetts, following Arizona's lead, but those states bordering Mexico are on the front line of a national struggle and sealing that border is a must step in any reconciliation between Americans and foreigners residing here illegally.

It is difficult to accept that some Americans see similarities between Arizona's immigration law and earlier discriminatory state laws while remaining oblivious to the numerous hardships foisted upon Arizonans who all live on that particular migration route. Can exaggerating this law into an act of racial bigotry be any less offensive than bigotry itself? Justice is blindfolded from personal differences but not from those of context.

Profiling:

The members of some races or faiths tend to be caught up in particular problems thrust upon them or of their own making: Tay-Sachs disease (Jews), Sickle-cell anemia (aboriginal Africans), manipulating others through the terror of Jihad (Muslims), and sneaking out of Mexico into the United States (Hispanics). No one should be faulted for noticing any of these general connections, but it would be an intrusive way to find the terrorist needle in the haystack that is Islam or any needle that had snuck across the Rio Grand in the Hispanic haystack.

Suppose, however, that the Hispanic haystack were in Arizona not far from the border, and that many of its needles identified so strongly with undocumented foreigners that from time to time they imagine themselves to be one with that circumstance. An Arizona, law enforcement official requesting papers of such a needle would be more an opportunity to express solidarity than an intrusion.

For those offended by having been profiled for illicit behavior:

Rule #1: If you are approached through a profile, then be as enraged at those of your own people who daily confirm that profile, as you are at the profiler who merely noticed it.

Greed:

Although greed is usually linked to material wealth, I include here a parallel form of it, progenial greed: an excessive desire to acquire or possess progeny regardless of any impact the quest has upon oneself or others. Far more of those dying in the Mexican drug war are Americans than is commonly recognized. For many, their mothers had delivered them shortly after sneaking across the Rio Grand (progenial greed).

"Grown-up" and bilingual, they chose to thank themselves rather than their neighbors, becoming mules and dealers of illicit drugs (wealth greed). Once killed in Mexico, their passports are snatched as documents for the undocumented, and their bodies left unrecognized as the Americans that they were. Had I said this about a Mexican rather than a Mexican-American drug dealer, no one would have considered my remark racist. Faking concern for 111 million Mexicans 24/7 is going to wear you out, and the exploitation of this racial divide needs token gringos.

When the Constitution was written, there were no illegal immigrants; but exclusion by virtue of not having survived the journey was formidable. Purposefully delivering one's progeny into citizenship would have been overly dangerous, unnecessary, and by virtue of the time needed to recognize pregnancy, to plan and take the journey, rarely even possible.  With the advent of immigration control, citizenship offered something more compelling: staying power for both child and mother.

Just as there are millionaires who gained their enormous wealth in exchange for formidable benefits to society, there are large families whose generosity emerges from sons and daughters themselves.  The Rio Grand has become an escape valve to the pressure of decades of what: a pride that was oblivious to overcrowding, and by that had gained an undercurrent of progenial greed.  Although crowding and limited resources have imposed a decline in their native fertility rate, no such compulsion is upon those making it state side.

My remarks regarding Mexican, illegal immigrants are more about the difficult cultural context that surrounds them before emigrating and in no way are to be taken as racial slurs. They are about their growing up along cocaine’s corruptive trail through Central America, or in a state such as Guanajuato which has criminalized both abortions and miscarriages in a single stroke of the pen. See my article, This Land is Whose Land, for details of other difficulties.

A Counterpoint:

Arizona has its racism in both directions. To claim that it is a major influence on the Arizona law or drug trafficking is to place it way out of its depth. Has racism influenced immigration policy at the national level, or was that policy an awkward attempt to avoid being inundated by immigrants from countries reaching the limits of population capacity?

When a profiler goes beyond investigation to a blanket racial contempt or hatred, he or she becomes a bigot; but when a crusader exploits a racial divide by elevating one issue into a lie of ubiquitous contempt, two are infected with that bigotry: one buying into the lie about others' motives, and one buying into the lie's contempt as it regards them self.

Alternate Amnesty:

With insecure borders, there can be no amnesty. The consequence of such a message to those participating in their own social, economic and political systems would be inexcusably seductive on a grand scale.  This alternative amnesty would in its entirety be more effective and more caring:

·        All illegal immigrants hoping to participate should informally certify their presence in the United States before a certain date. Sooner would be better than later.

·        Those leaving by that date would be allowed to apply for visit or work visas after a given period: far less than the current ten years but enough to allow for the essential sealing of borders.

·        Those leaving later would enjoy the same visa amnesty but with a waiting period prolonged by double the time of their over stay.

·        All of returning visitors would be better monitored and, with a now clean record and appropriate re-entry, able to pursue citizenship on a par with those who had honored our immigration laws. The Canadian, immigrant work program could form the basis of such a standard of appropriateness, but only for an America whose borders are as secure as are Canada's.