In a prior posting I talked about border control issues and the impracticality of building a wall along the US Mexico border, when currently only half of the border has an existing barrier. Recent problems, controversy and reports on violence and drug trafficking along the border as well as the continued debate on immigration has motivated me to comment  further on this subject.  As many well know, illegal immigration has been a heated political issue in recent years as the Latino population has continued to grow in the US and many have responded negatively to the increased presence of undocumented immigrants. These people have become a part of our communities, yet our history with Mexico goes back much further. As a result of the US Mexican war from 1846-1848, Mexico lost much of its territory along the current Southwest of the United States. Mexicans have continued to immigrate to the US since then and have deeps roots within our Nation's history.

Current tensions around illegal immigration relate to individuals utilizing government funded resources such as schools and accessing healthcare primarily through Emergency Room visits without paying taxes. To state plainly before I go further, I am against many of the policies towards illegal immigration that our government has implemented. I do not see Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids leading to arrest and deportation and increased enforcement along the border as effective and sustainable methods for immigration control. Given that there is a long history of Mexicans in the US, we would be fooling ourselves to think that these methods are fair or just. 



                                                                  

Recent surges in illegal immigration became opportunities for many in the labor sector to exploit these individuals for cheap labor. Yet, this is also a historical issue that goes back to farm workers in California and the civil rights movement against this type of exploitation led by Cesar Chavez. This makes me wonder whether a narrow interest in our economy and assuring all who live in this country contribute equally is actually pushing aside our history and ignoring the fact that in many ways our country has condoned illegal immigration. Commercial industries have capitalized on the Spanish speaking population here in the US by developing marketing materials and campaigns in Spanish and geared towards these populations. Our government and healthcare systems have made efforts to accomodate these populations among others, by providing information and services in their native language.

However, when this seems to become too much or too difficult, we just decide to  seek out all undocumented individuals and send them back to Mexico? Who would work in factories, on farms and the many other industries where a large number of undocumented folks are currently working? What happens to the children of undocumented immigrants who were born in the US and are legal citizens? These are questions we must continue to ask and I hope that the new administration will consider.

A practical solution is to give individuals who've been here for longer than 5 years a certain amount of time to gain permanent residency or citizenship. We can take certain measures to ensure that recent illegal immigrants, particularly those with a criminal record will face deportation. However, let's not discount the fact that Mexican and Latino culture and traditions are a large part of this nation's culture, history and richness that it exudes.