Illegal Immigration

For an English class, I was tasked with reading The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle. Although it's stuffed with caricatures, it serves as a pretty strong analysis of xenophobia in our country, particularly on the point of immigration. Either way, it got me focusing on the 'problem' that our country faces with illegal immigration.

I do not, lest you crucify me immediately, mean to imply that I'm for or against any drastic measures in immigration that would be entirely game-changing. Rather, I refer to the problem of the two opposing forces - both of which are entirely justifiable in their viewpoints.

For we natives, it can be discouraging to have to interact with people who have little or no grasp of our language. For the working class, it can come as a point of unfair competition in the job market. For every licensed worker, there are hundreds of illegal immigrants willing to work for absurdly low wages. A surge in illegal immigrants living in an area can lead to a gathering of impoverished men and women that are desperate for money, which in turn can lead to petty and organized crime alike. From that perspective, it's really not hard to see why the problem of illegal immigration can be upsetting.

For the immigrants, their situation oftentimes can be unfathomable to us. They've come (for one reason or another) to our country to make the very same attempt at the American Dream that we do, and are often willing to take far more drastic measures than we are. It's impossible not to feel embarrassment at the petty problems mid to high income families experience, and then compare them to a a couple that may not even have a roof over their head.

Frankly, it's an extremely sticky situation largely because both sides have valid points and concerns, both of which are strongly in line with not only their well-being, but our supposed ideology. So, what do we do about it? Frankly, I don't have a satisfactory answer - and by the way that the issue is so hotly debated back and forth year after year, none of our politicians do, either.