Before World War I a boat arrived in the United States carrying my grandmother, her parents, and several siblings. They hailed from southern Italy which at that time was a land of landowning aristocrats, peasants, criminal bandits, and very little opportunity. My great-grandfather took his family to Barbour County where he started at the bottom laboring as a coal miner.
Like immigrants that come here legally, he worked his way up. Eventually he saved his money and operated a general store and then a coal mine. The family lived in a comfortable brick home beside the current Alderson-Broaddus baseball field. Although proud of their heritage, my ancestors had no doubt what their identity was. I remember my grandmother telling me repeatedly that her father forbade his children to speak Italian. “You are Americans now,” he’d say, “speaking a foreign language around Americans is impolite.” As a result they worked hard and mastered American language and culture.
My grandmother went on to work for many years at Du Pont in Charleston. One aunt went on to teach high school, another uncle for a time was the winningnest high school football coach in Michigan history until his records were eclipsed by his son. Her brothers served their country with distinction in the military. This one story proves that when immigrants respect the law and respect their new country that they can move forward and the country as a whole benefits.
My ancestors faced expectations when they came to this country. The government and society expected that they would obey the law, educate their children, and conform to the language and customs of the United States. Because of these high expectations, they and other Italian immigrants assimilated quickly and within a generation became citizens that could produce and even lead in their new homes.
Contrast that to the current dominant immigrant group. Those that come to our country legally and respect the law ought to be welcome. Their faith in capitalism and America keeps our country rejuvenated. Embracing the American way will speed their ability to contribute and succeed. However the allowing of illegal aliens into America helps to develop a dangerous underclass. These men and women learn and teach how to skirt the law as a way of life. Businesses such as poultry plants force native English speakers to learn Spanish instead of vice versa. Encouraging them to act as parasites on social services they do not pay taxes into saps the strength of our nation and leaves citizens with less. Down the road we will be paying for this with higher taxes and exploding crime rates.
Our state legislature, Governor Manchin, and our local governments need to take a strong stand. Support the hard working legal immigrants that will help strengthen our society, but deny illegal aliens the means to work, live, or sustain themselves here. Illegal immigrants continue to come because market conditions encourage it. They get health care, education, and public housing with few questions asked. Shutting down the market and slamming the door will do more good than a hundred foot high wall. If the federal government lacks the will, then at the very least West Virginia should cease to be a place where breaking the law is rewarded.
"These men and women learn and teach how to skirt the law as a way of life. Businesses such as poultry plants force native English speakers to learn Spanish instead of vice versa. Encouraging them to act as parasites on social services they do not pay taxes into saps the strength of our nation and leaves citizens with less."
ReplyDeleteWell, parasites?--I don' know. Surely the poultry plant laborers--for example--pay their taxes, because the plants withhold taxes from their paychecks. And far from being lawbrakers, without their place in the labor pool--and thier hard, reliable work--those plantes might well have to move to some other town, becasue in this area the plants can't fill their labor needs without hiring immigrants. So without the immigrant workers, we might lose the plants, and all that income base it generates and the multiplier ecomomic benefits it brings to the area--to merchants, banks, professionals, etc.
And if you want them to speak Enlgish, provide the opportunities for them to learn.
And (B), you sound as if learning a second language (Spanish) is a crime, or a disgrace, or something other than a broadening of one's mind and expansion one's abilities and horizons.