Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: The idea is that those seeking to become citizens of our country would invest something in it.
I’m disappointed in Arizona’s new immigration bill. I think the enforcement of this new law will result in the deportation of many gardeners, day laborers, and maids, and leave the gun-runners and drug dealers largely untouched. I understand the need to combat the ever worsening violence and crime spilling across the border. I just don’t think this bill is the way to do it. If anything it strains at gnats while swallowing camels.
Let’s think practically and honestly for a moment. It is logistically and perhaps ethically impossible to round up and deport all 3 million (estimated) illegal immigrants in the United States. Doing so would require mounting a massive military operation reminiscent of Nazi Germany. I think we agree that illegals arrested for crimes in the US should be deported. The quandary is what to do with the millions of illegal immigrants who just go about daily life and are otherwise law abiding citizens. Here, I offer my idea for a solution:
Step back and think for a moment. What kind of attributes do we want from American citizens, especially in these times of economic hardship? Do we want them to be hardworking? Willing to give back to the community? Seeking for the common good? One way to obtain the positive changes we hope for in our country is to foster these attributes and attitudes not only in our citizens but also in those who hope to become citizens.
I think it is in the United States’ best interest as well as the best interest of the immigrant families seeking for a better life to allow those illegal immigrants who are otherwise law abiding citizens a path to citizenship. However, I agree that those who have come into the country illegally have broken a law, and that there must be a penalty. The best penalty would be mandatory community service – and I don’t mean puttering around while picking up trash on the freeway. Immigrants seeking citizenship or residency should be required to give back to the community in a meaningful way. We are in desperate need of volunteers in so many of our big cities. People seeking papers could donate time to food banks, national parks, and relief efforts. They could help organizations like the Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, Three Square, Goodwill, and local libraries to name just a few. Even the most unskilled person could paint over graffiti or pass out food at a homeless shelter. The idea is that those seeking to become citizens of our country would invest something in it. In doing so, they will form connections and develop ideals that will make them much more willing to continue giving back and to teach their children to do the same. Not only will we be encouraging good citizenship, but we will be giving a scorned minority a chance to embrace the country they fled to and be embraced by it.
This idea also has the ability to change attitudes – both of those doing the service and those watching. Hopefully we have learned from the past that fighting anger with more anger is never successful. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” I hope we can jump at the chance to turn the marginalized immigrant minority into a dedicated minority that will influence the nation for good.
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