On The Plus Side, I’d Like To Run A Casino

Yesterday was “A Day Without an Immigrant,” which made me think: If your day wasn’t disrupted or altered in any way, do you hate immigrants? Because my day was pretty much the same.

Of course, being a bleeding heart 23-year-old socialist libertarian, I really feel for immigrants in this country. If someone wants to come to America for a better life, that kind of makes me happy. Heck, if you want to come to America and settle in Philadelphia, well, I’d be a little confused. But it makes me proud! Really? My city? You want to come here?

Now, should people enter legally? Uh, sure. But since we can’t seem to figure out how to make that reasonable to do, people are going to come here illegally — be they Mexican, Irish, Russian or whatever — and if they’re here, and they’re not bothering anyone, and they’re not kicking any puppies, then… eh. Seems like we have bigger fish to fry. Yeah, it’s not “fair.” Neither are a billion other things.

Plus, not only is deporting all 11 million illegal immigrants logistically impossible, but the idea of breaking up families and groups of friends makes me cringe. Really cringe, actually. I think even the staunchest isolationist isn’t all about breaking up families.

But, perhaps I’m being too bleeding heart. (And I’m sure some of you are already preparing an angry comment. Fair enough. But please keep it civil.) So I’d like to give the stage to this letter writer in today’s Daily News (emphasis mine):

Illegal Mexicans by the thousands scurry across our borders knowing they are doing wrong. They are paid peanuts by exploitative employers taking away otherwise tolerable paying jobs from Americans whose forefathers fought wars and paid taxes for years in this country.

Do you think these criminals (by definition of American immigration law) will keep our laws after they sneak in like thieves in the night?

History shows that the American Indians did not protect their borders and look where it got them. A few casinos out west are no recompense for the loss of an entire country.

Yes, the Iroquois Confederacy should never have offered amnesty to illegal European immigrants. That really didn’t work out too well for them.

A country that’s really tough on immigrants [Daily News, 2nd letter]
¡Viva Mexadelphia! [PW]
“Mr. Miki! you be good while I’m gone, Baby. Buh-bye!” [Cute Overload]
Photo by fotogail