cross posted at Street Prophets, a dKos community.
For the last couple weeks now, the country has been debating immigration reform. And if y'all are like me, this is a conflicting and difficult issue where there seems to be good arguments on may sides.
For me, personally, there are two men who factor into my thinking on the issue of illegal immigration, and which leave me still searching for an equitable and just solution. Rene and Carl.
Rene
Rene is an illegal immigrant from Mexico who first came into this country at least 6 years ago. Rene is a Christian, and is now married to a good friend of mine (an American citizen). They were married in 2003, and have a nearly two year old son. Rene works a number of jobs...largely in food service...and works as an artist in his free time. His wife works with a social service agency that works with the Latino community in their town to access basic health care, education and other social services.
They are like a lot of other young couples raising a child...they both work hard to put food on the table and a roof over their heads, they are active in their community and in their church. They are the kind of family you'd be happy to know and be friends with.
Carl
Carl is my father-in-law. Carl owns his own masonry contracting small business in a rural county in Ohio. He has a crew of between 6 and 10 men who work for him, depending on the season, and he bends over backwards to pay them good, living wages. He will often pay them, even when the work is not steady, to keep them afloat. All of his employees, like 99% of the residents of the county in the last census, are caucasian.
But in the past few years, Carl has been losing more and more jobs to other contractors who are able to underbid him. And they are able to underbid him because they employ a steady stream of illegal labor from Mexico which they pay less than minimum wage under the table.
Lessons I've learned from Rene and Carl
- The tag-line used by proponents of a guest worker program - "they're doing jobs Americans don't want to do or won't do" - is misleading. It's not that Americans won't do the job...my father in law has a whole crew of men who want to do the job. What they won't do is take the job of laying brick and block for $3.00/hr, or even for $7.00/hr. Nor should they. They are skilled craftsmen who have families to support. What the proponents of a guest worker program really mean is that Americans won't take these jobs for the criminally-low wages being paid. Let's be honest about that...
- The House version of the immigration bill would destroy families. Look at Rene's family. If the House version passes and becomes law, Rene would become a felon overnight, and would likely be deported. His wife would also become a felon...not only did she marry an illegal immigrant (aiding his illegal status), but she works for an agency which assists immigrants (legal and illegal alike) in staying in this country. THAT is a felony under the House bill. And so their 2 year old, who right now has a stable two-parent family, would lose both parents to prison/deportation and would become a ward of the state. Where's the justice in that? How is that a Christian response to the issue?