 |
|
|
|
|
| Return to Tonia's Home Page | |
| Return to Migration and Culture Home Page. | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Return to Tonia's Home Page | |
| Return to Migration and Culture Home Page. | |
| P1010264 |
This photo could be Phoenix or Nogales................
When this Crossing the Valley project began, I was unaware of the human consequences involved in migration and immigration. I was unaware of the horrific circumstances that have evolved. Some of the most eye opening stories for me are from the speakers from the Border and Justice seminars. Excerpts and comments on all four speakers from April 7 are in the Border and Justice pages of my web pages.
People immigrate and migrate for many reasons. Global policies and changes influence them the most. Seeking a safer life, seeking employment, seeking education. America was built on immigration. It is painful to me this is now blamed for so many problems.
"The forging of strong economic and geopolitical relations between countries of unequal development and unequal job opportunities tends to promote labor migration from poorer to wealthier countries. Until policymakers understand this basic fact, and abandon the notion that immigration control is a police matter, attempts to "stem the flood" will continue to fail."
from Why Migration, by Saskia Sassen
People seem to buy into what ever the consensus of the moment is selling them. The economy has been pretty good for years now. What would happen if it was not. Immigrants would be targeted for violence, especially undocumented ones,. They would be harassed, abused, chased out and blamed for all of our problems. Politicians would be selling the idea that a bad economy was all the fault of the immigrants being here. The immigrants would be the scapegoat. Then organizations (like INS, state and federal and local governments) would jump on the bandwagon and say, "see we are taking action to fix all your problems." This is pretty much what happened in Nazi Germany when Hitler blamed the 300% inflation and severe unemployment on the Jewish people. He got most Germans to buy into it and the rest is history. Politicians already do this, blaming many things on immigrants. Blaming h health care costs and education costs to immigrant intensive states, for example. This are problems we have always had to work on. No one ever talks about the money put into the F.I.C.A. and federal taxes by workers that will never be able to collect benefits, because they are not legal, or they won't live here when they retire, or they won't live out the full length of their life.
from The New Immigrants by Charles S. Clark
We could not enjoy the country we enjoy without our immigrants. They are in every aspect of our life, our armed services, our medical fields our day workers, our airlines. Please give them a break and appreciate them. Please combat hate of any kind to any group. History has shown that things can quickly get out of hand when life becomes challenging.
