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Originally Posted by willravel
I'll field this one.
I have worked with Mexicans for years, and thus I have as good an understanding as any gringo. Many Mexicans are too poor to make a living in Mexico, so they HAVE to come up into the South Western states in order to support their families. They take jobs that Americans cannot take and make wages that no one else can live on (well under minimum wage). Many are homeless, many starve just so that they can send money home, most are treated as a second class citizen (like a slave). The only difference between illegal immigrents are slaves is that slaves were at least given places to live, whether it was decent shelter or not. I've never seen a landscaping company or vinyard with shacks set up for the illegal Mexican immigrints working there.
They can leave if they want, but they doom themselves and their famimilies, as the Mexican econemy simply cannot support the whole populace.
One should also consider the great service they render for OUR econemy.
Edward James Olmos was in town a while back showing a movie called "Walkout". It was an exceptional movie, and he had a lot to say about it. I would reccomend it to anyone who is interested.
I know that the Mexican American community is strong enough to do this themselves. I *hope* that this is simply a protest motivated by civil rights, an d not some PR campaign.
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Will, SteelyLoins succintly responded to Samcol's comments before I got back to review the thread, so let me take a turn for him, by responding to you.
I would like to see some hard evidence, as opposed to your anecdotal personal observations, which demonstrates that the "great service" rendered to our economy is greater than the cost to the U.S. in Medicaid benefits, etc., and that employers generally disregard federal minimum wage and other laws protecting employees.
Assuming you can provide it, the real issue, for me at least, relates to your suggestion that returning to Mexico isn't a viable option for illegal immigrants.
This presupposes that it was a valid option for them to illegally enter the U.S. in the first place, just because things weren't going well for them in their home country. To state the obvious, those who have illegally entered the U.S. have done so in violation of U.S. law. Mexico has made their own economic problem an even bigger U.S. problem by opting to encourage illegal immigration by its citizens into the U.S. as a solution.
If I'm in another country illegally, I expect to have no rights, and to be punished or extradited. Why should someone living in Mexico, or in any other country for that matter, receive any different treatment from us here?
Legal immigration by Mexicans or citizens of other countries is O.K. Illegal immigration is not, and taken to its logical extreme, effectively destroys U.S. sovereignty.