We are all descended from immigrants, even Native Americans, who anthropologists and geneticists believe stem from ancient ancestors who immigrated here over 14,000 years ago. Most who identify as “Blacks” are descended from ancestors who came here in chains, in the holds of slave ships, during one of the darkest periods in American history. But the rest of us, with very few possible exceptions, are descendants of courageous immigrants who came to America in search of a better life. Some came fleeing religious persecution. Some came to escape famine in their home countries. Some came for the promise of free land or better opportunities for their children, but all came for the possibility of improving their lot in life.
So it is with those who are trying to get here today from across our southern border. The vast majority of these newer immigrants are hard-working, honest people. Yes, there are a few “bad apples” in every barrel, but to broadly characterize this huge group of people as “rapists and murderers”, and more recently as “animals”, is an insult to every descendent of every immigrant, from every period in our history.
Every time an undocumented immigrant commits a crime, it makes headlines, but the increase in crime in our communities isn’t from the increase in immigration. Crime is another topic entirely. Statistically, the number of crimes per capita committed by immigrants is lower than that of crimes committed by citizens, and the number of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants is lower than it is for immigrants as a whole, because undocumented immigrants typically do their best to keep a low profile for fear of being picked up by ICE and sent back to the famine or threats of death they ran away from in the first place. For the most part, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants aren’t rapists; they’re the people that pick our crops, because most citizens don’t want to take on such a menial task. They’re not murderers; they’re the people who clean our hotel rooms. They’re not criminals of any sort, and certainly not “animals”’; they’re the people who toil in low-level manufacturing jobs for minimum wage or less, because Americans want their low-priced manufactured goods, but very few citizens are willing to take these poorly paying jobs.
Arguments have been made that undocumented workers are a drain on our economy because they “take” from our education and healthcare systems without paying taxes to support those systems. But all of them DO pay taxes. They pay gross receipts, sales and excise taxes on everything that they buy, and they need to buy things just like the rest of us. Many don’t avail themselves of our education and healthcare systems at all, once again for fear of calling the attention of ICE to themselves. Many seek employment using fake Social Security credentials, and pay into Social Security and have income taxes withheld from their wages with no hope of ever collecting Social Security benefits or getting their annual income tax refund that most Americans look forward to, because undocumented workers can’t file a return, even under a fake SSAN. Without these essential workers prices on food, lodging and many other commodities would rise. Something to think about the next time you sit down to eat or stay in a nice hotel while traveling.
Our immigration system is broken. That much is true. It needs to be fixed so that we can legally welcome this new influx into our workforce. But that’s a job for the federal government, not the New Mexico House of Representatives. Fred will stand tall in the legislature, opposing those who would have us become like the racist and xenophobic isolationists in Texas, building steel and razor wire barriers to keep people out of our state. Immigrants are not “poisoning the blood of America”. And with 9 million job vacancies in this country right now, they are giving us a very necessary transfusion.
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