If we have to pay more for tomatoes because it costs more to pick them, so be it There are so many Mexicans now living in California that a major Mexican political party, the National Action Party, known by the acronym PAN, recently held its convention in Los Angeles. In 2000, the party's successful presidential candidate, Vicente Fox, and his rival both campaigned in California to reach Mexican Americans who, since 1996, have with dual citizenship legally voted in Mexican as well as U.S. elections. One organization says "The U.S. is marrying Mexico." In the past two years PAN has formed chapters in 10 states and the District of Columbia. One of the states is Georgia. There are estimates of between 12 million and 20 million Mexicans in the U.S., a growing number of them with dual citizenship. Many of them exercise an assertive Mexican identity, resist assimilation and dream about reclaiming that part of the U.S. that formerly was Mexico. Those with U.S. citizenship also claim a growing measure of political power that can be used to gain benefits for illegal immigrants here. The Mexican government itself brazenly agitates in favor of the legal and social demands of illegal immigrants in the United States. A figure seldom reported, according to ImmigrationCounters, is that illegal aliens have taken 9.8 million skilled jobs. Of course, jobs are the lure of the U.S. to Mexicans willing to swim, hike and hide their way into this country. The result is $22.2 billion wired to Mexico City for immigrant families just since 2006 and no likelihood, not a chance, never happen, that the immigrant stream is apt to turn its back on that income. California, the state that is No. 1 in everything from wildfires and earthquakes to celebrity murders, is also the most populated by undocumented Mexicans. It's easy for Mexicans to get in and easily disappear. We can't be serious about curtailing illegal immigration when we print signs in Spanish, allow them access to medical care and other taxpayer-paid social services, educate their children and now, in New York state, even prepare to issue them drivers licenses without green cards. Mexicans are good parents and hard workers; most are law abiding and a valuable asset to U.S. employers. It's a crime that they cannot find decent employment in their own country. Illegals must be stopped not because we don't like Mexicans, but because there is no end to the number that will come. If we have to pay more for tomatoes because it costs more to pick them, so be it. Mexico's immigration laws, on the other hand, are draconian on immigrants. They must speak the language (there are no bilingual programs), must be skilled or an investor, are not permitted to vote or demonstrate, are denied welfare and go to jail if undocumented. California's Title 1 schools for disadvantaged children (read: immigrant) are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. Students get a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruit and juices that would make a Marriott proud. Teachers say the waste of this food is monumental, with tray upon tray of it dumped in the trash uneaten. These schools also provide daycare for unwed teenage mothers (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. Teachers frequently have to intervene for young substitute teachers whose illegal immigrant students raised so much hell with the teachers, calling them "putas" (whores) and throwing things, that they are in tears. Teachers complain that with free medical, free education, free food, daycare and other benefits, it's no wonder immigrant students feel entitled not only to be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements. Those who point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to society because they like having their low-wage gardener and housekeeper and enjoy paying less for tomatoes might do well to look at the real world of illegal immigration and what they're actually paying through taxes. Don North, a Times-News community columnist, lives in Hendersonville. His column appears on the fourth Friday of every month. |