The American Dream

Much is being made of our being a nation of immigrants. However, the current immigration debate is over a different group of immigrants. Let us examine the difference.

Millions of Americans are descendants of mostly European and Asian immigrants who came here in the late 19th - early 20th century. Families came on boats and landed at U.S. government supervised customs stations (like Ellis Island) where their paperwork was verified and they were greeted by their sponsors. They went to their new homes and started the jobs which had been arranged for them by their sponsors. They worked hard, began to learn English and started studying to become citizens. They paid taxes, sent their English-speaking children to school and achieved the American Dream.

The immigrants under discussion today are the ones who, more recently, sneaked over the border from Mexico under cover of darkness. They looked for work and housing and found some unscrupulous employers who would pay them insulting wages to do work that lazy Americans don't want to do. Many have made little effort to learn English, and seem to have little interest in becoming citizens. They pay few if any taxes, and actually send the majority of their earnings to their families who are still in their lands of origin. Even though there is still a legal route to U.S. immigration in those countries, they have chosen the illegal option.

If these immigrants were to do the things their predecessors did, they would improve their situation and become eligible for higher paying employment. Unfortunately, to counteract that possibility, some greedy employers and their political friends have proposed a "guest worker" program so that they can perpetuate a PERMANENT underclass. This doesn't seem to be the American Dream.