Heart Broken

Doug and I had an experience today that I don't think I will ever forget. We were leaving Smith's when a little old Mexican lady approached him and asked if we spoke Spanish--thank Heaven Doug does. She asked--in Spanish--if we could give her a ride to a place a few blocks away. We did and over the next 5 mins, while she was in the car with us Doug asked a lot of questions and carried on a conversation with her which relayed it to me after she got out. This is what he learned about her in that brief ride:
Her husband is laying in a hospital bed somewhere in Mexico with a brain tumor. They don't have the money to pay for the surgery that it will take to save his life so she came here to earn money to send home. She just lost her housekeeping job, but she said that she's grateful to be here because, with all the cartels, its safer here than at home. One of her favorite temples is the Mt. Timpanogus. Doug took all the cash he had out of his wallet (only $7...I wish so badly that it had been more or that I had thought to give her some of the food we had bought).

I've been thinking about it ever since...and quite frankly I can't imagine she was here legally--there wouldn't be time for all of the necessary paperwork to go through. That paperwork takes years! I've always been very vocal about the fact that I have nothing against illegal immigrants coming here to work, and as a result I have had multiple conversations regarding the issue. The points that I frequently hear from those around me is A) The insistence that these people are breaking a law and consequently deserve to be punished, B) They bring crime with them. In response to these points I have a question to pose and 3 points to make.

QUESTION: Where is the consideration of humanity in these conversations? I have yet to hear it. There are innocent families who are stuck in the middle of drug wars and illegally cross the boarder in order to get their children away from it. Or this woman that we met today...If I were in this woman's position I would be DESPERATE and FRANTIC to find a way to save Doug. In either case the last thing I would be thinking about is a law to keep me out--a law that no one has worried about enforcing for the last decade. How can any of us pretend that we wouldn't do the same thing for our families? The majority of these immigrant are simply people who are trying to make their lives better. I can see why this law seems so unimportant to Mexican immigrants, legal or illegal. Which leads me to point #1.

#1: Lets not forget the fact that employers used to cross the boarder in order to recruit day-laborers. Mexicans have seen us down there begging them to come work for us. Why are we surprised or angry now when they are still coming? We started it!!! No one bothered seriously enforcing the law for over a decade--during which we were enjoying an economic boom. We've only really started worrying about Mexican immigration since our economy started to head South. Speaking as someone who has lost their job twice due to this recession, I in no way begrudge her being here and trying to do whatever she can for her family. That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Why do I deserve those things than anyone else? How can I possibly believe that I have more of a right to the inalienable rights of man than anyone else? She is not hurting anyone. Just let her try to save her husband...perfect lead-in to point #2.

#2: Do some of these immigrants bring crime with them? Yes. All immigrants in American history have. But I absolutely do not believe that the majority of them do. How could they? The majority of them are day-laborers who either end up in a field or on a construction site of some kind--either way it ends up being a 14+ hour day. There is no time or energy left after that kind of work for crime. The majority of these people are like this woman that I met today; kind, honest, religious, and hardworking. Those are exactly the type of people I want to help!!!

#3: I would much rather be accused of being too compassionate than too punitive. I can't pretend to know difficult things are for these people. I have never lived the way that they have, but I know that their lives have been difficult. And I believe that because I have so much I get to help others that don't have as much as I do.

#4: I've looked at this so many different ways, and I can't see this being anything other than a race issue--despite all claims to the contrary. But if this were about immigration as a whole and not a race issue, then we'd be hearing about more than just illegal Mexican immigration. For example, there are currently about 50,000 illegal Irish immigrants living in Boston alone (they did a story about it on CNN). They come here with a valid visa and simply over-stay the visa. But I haven't heard a major, national out-cry about shipping them back to Ireland. The same thing happens with people of multiple different nationalities and races, but for some reason the only ones that people want to round up and ship out are Mexicans. I say let them all stay...but for those of you who feel that we need to get rid of one I have to ask you why one and not the other?


This woman put a face on it for me. And I'm in tears at the thought that there are people who would send her back with out a moment's hesitation. There are so many other points that I could address--these are simply the ones that I feel like I hear the most frequently. I lived half of my life in a small California town that was not too far from Watsonville (a major, agricultural area where most of the field-laborers are Mexican), and I'm fairly sure that the majority of my elementary school was comprised of the children of illegal immigrants. I've lived in one of "those" communities! I know what its like. These are not bad people, and I feel like they deserve everything I do. Listening to people talk about these immigrants as if they're less-than-human (like calling them "aliens") has left me heart-broken. There has to be a better way to handle this. I understand that there are communities in our country that are truly suffering because of the drug cartels, and they have a different kind of exposure to it than I do. And yet I feel that we as a country have lost perspective. There is a balance to this and we haven't found it yet.
...I'm sure I'm gonna get yelled at for this post...