AOL News has a new home! The Huffington Post.

Click here to visit the new home of Politics Daily!

Hot on HuffPost:

See More Stories
Politics Daily
FEED
WOMAN UP

Illegal Immigrants: Caught in a Vicious Cycle

3 years ago
  0 Comments Say Something  »
Text Size
Luisita Lopez Torregrosa
Luisita Lopez Torregrosa
Correspondent
Author Bio »
Contact Author »
Subscribe :
It's the talk of all the Sunday talk shows, of course, the new Arizona anti-immigration law that crash-landed at the top of the nation's agenda on Friday.
On Sunday, everyone got into the act. On Meet the Press, Evan Thomas, editor-at-large of Newsweek, called the law "racial profiling," "polarizing and chaotic." David Brooks, the New York Times columnist, said the law was "an invitation to abuse.'' And so on. There was nothing new in any of that. Those are comments generally attached to the measure by critics since it became a national issue last Monday.
Then I heard Erin Burnett of CNBC say that businesses, which usually clamor for more immigrants, would not push back against the Arizona law because, she said, Arizona is a state of Hispanic immigrants -- not the immigrants that business wants.


"They want the Indian immigrant, the Korean immigrant, the Chinese immigrant, but not the Hispanic immigrant," she said, without elaborating but implying that Hispanic immigrants are not educated enough or skilled enough. She was being honest, reporting what she has been told and has heard, and when referring only to illegal immigrants, that is sadly the truth.
But it is an outrage that such stereotype of Hispanics is being applied to a whole continent of people.
It's a very complicated issue of course, with no single solution.

Speaking only about illegal immigration from Latin America, a huge part of the problem is rooted in Mexico and the other countries from which most illegal immigrants come. Those who come here illegally are, by and large, unschooled, unskilled except in manual labor, and in many instances unable to speak "good" Spanish, never mind English.
They often come from the lower levels of their society because they are poor, uneducated and unskilled in a technological age.

It's a vicious cycle. They are discriminated against partly because of their skin color, physical appearance and indigenous origin. They tend to be dark-skinned, dark-haired, short, stocky and broad-faced, the features of tribal ancestors hardly tolerated by the ethnically mixed and Iberian-blooded elites of Latin America.
One major difference between the prejudice they face in their countries and the prejudice they face in the United States is that in their own countries they are at home, they don't have to hide or lie. They are surrounded by family and friends. When they come here, they are virtually naked, without money, without resources, without family or friends, and they don't know American customs and history, language and social mores.
They hang together for self-protection and company. You see them at city corners and parking lots: day laborers, construction workers, restaurant dish washers and cooks. But they are not entirely safe, even in presumed tolerant areas like Long Island and New York City, where Hispanic immigrants have been wantonly killed in hate crimes.

Still, despite horrific obstacles, some illegal immigrants make it, learn English, get steady work, go to school, build businesses and good lives. But many do not escape the immigrant ghetto.
At the same time, we've got to acknowledge that the flood of illegal immigrants takes a toll on our border states. Arizona is in deep trouble. Texas is less so, perhaps because it's bigger, richer, tougher and has a deep historic connection to Mexico. New Mexico is squeezed in between, and Southern California, even with something of a border wall, has a scary drug and human smuggling problem.It's an enormous problem, but finally the battle for immigration reform is on.
Filed Under: Woman Up
Tagged: arizona immigration law, ArizonaImmigrationLaw, David Brooks, DavidBrooks, Erin Burnett, ErinBurnett, Evan Thomas, EvanThomas, illegal immigrants, illegal immigration, IllegalImmigrants, IllegalImmigration, sb1070
More articles from Luisita Lopez Torregrosa »

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.

Add a Comment

Sign in »
*0 / 3000 Character Maximum Comment Moderation Enabled. Your comment will appear after it is cleared by an editor.

3 Comments

Filter by:
Noel

Immigration has bankrupted California, hospitals, schools and social service programs if these folks do not share in social security and help pay for our programs it has and will bankrupt us and that is one reason why so many Americans
are angry, if you come to America you pay into the system, millions of these people do not. No government service knows there here, they are paid in cash, they do not pay taxes and they wire money millions of dollars out of the United States. I have put into the system since 1969 it is on my social security record
these folks should help our country and do the same....

August 15 2010 at 2:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
people59

secure the border and enforce the immigration law that's what the goverment need to do and that what pesident obama need to do

July 14 2010 at 10:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
gregory329

While I certainly understand the vicious cycle these immigrants find themselves in it should not be forgotten that these folks create and perpetuate the cycle itself. These folks were not kidnapped and brought here against their will, they CHOSE to come, they put extended time and effort into just getting here, and once here have the very American opportunity to decide their own destiny. As mentioned in the article, some embrace that opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families - most put the same amount of effort in here that served them so poorly in their country of origin....
Diligence and determined effort will serve you well anywhere in the world, but being content with illiteracy, minimal fluency, and no aspirations of bettering yourself is a ghetto of the mind and will follow you no matter your geographic happenstance.

June 21 2010 at 3:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

Follow Politics Daily


  • Comics
%PostTitle%
robert-and-donna-trussell
CHAOS THEORY
Featuring political comics by Robert and Donna TrussellMore>>
  • Woman UP Video
politics daily videos
Weekly Videos
Woman Up, Politics Daily's Online Sunday ShowMore»
politics daily videos
TV Appearances
Showcasing appearances by Politics Daily staff and contributors.More>>

News From Our Partners