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Illegal Immigrants: Friends, or Foes? Published on December 29, 2007
-Senator Hillary Clinton on the immigration bill passed in House in last December 2005
Amid escalated suspense and
uncertainty, Americans and rest of the world are waiting to see what
country�s politicians and the law makers decide about the fate of nearly
12 millions undocumented illegal immigrants. With the strict and
inhumane anti-immigrants law already passed in the House in last
December�which would not only punish this vast number of illegal
immigrants, but also all those who would help them with jobs or
otherwise�it�s clear that settling immigrant issue is not simply a
matter of America�s security; it�s more of a political issue as US is
heading toward 2008 presidential election.
Needless to say, 9/11 has made
Americans more vulnerable than ever towards the issue of country�s
security. Suspicions, prejudices and ungrounded fears about immigrants
in general, and Muslims in particular, have been escalating since 9/11.
In many places, Sikhs were mistaken for Muslims and killed. In
other places, many even progressive and liberal Muslims were/are
discriminated just because of bearing Muslim names. However, the biggest
group of sufferers in post 9/11 US is most probably the illegal
immigrants who are currently about 120 millions in number. Even those
who have been living in the US for 15-20 years�having left family,
friends in their native countries�and considering US as their adopted
home, have encountered a new problem they didn�t tackle before: to prove
that they�re not a threat to America. Many employers took advantage of
their illegal status, kept them underpaid, sometimes even unpaid,
without any benefits and occasionally threatening to hand them over to
the immigration authority. What threat an illegal Latino
(if legalized) would pose to the US security who works 7 days with a
rate of 12-15 hours each day as a dish washer to support his family back
home? How does it make the US a more secure country if an undocumented
Bengali Muslim meat cutter�who constantly curses 9/11 hijackers for
their atrocity�remains on $ 250/week for years after years?
Despite all the odds, US still
remains the most liberal & tolerant country in the world, even to those
who live here but don�t like its policy. Many of my Muslim friends also
acknowledged to this fact when I asked them, what if 9/11 took place
in Europe? Or What if a counter version of 9/11 happened in a
Muslim country? Those who argue that legalizing illegal
immigrants would harm America�s security would probably have only two
choices to make: either you send them all (about 120 millions) back to
their original countries, or leave them where they are. I don�t think,
either of these choices would be a pragmatic solution. Hypothetically
speaking, undocumented aliens carry a greater risk to carry out a
malicious activity without easily getting traced out. On the contrary,
if steps are taken to document and legalize them, government would be
able to monitor their activities, jobs, transaction of money (for which
now they have to use other legal peoples� accounts)�not to mention,
millions of tax revenues that would go to the government as well.
The Republican policy makers are
divided over the issue of legalizing undocumented immigrants. While
President Bush has already proposed a Guest Worker Bill to resolve the
deadlock, Republican Senator and a likely Presidential candidate in
2008�Mr. John McCain�has worked on another bill along with his colleague
Mr. Edward Kennedy�also a respected Senator from the Democratic Party.
It seems, the Kennedy-McCain bill has already earned much praise and
drawn good attention from the media as a pragmatic approach to this long
pending problem. Republicans who are opposed to any kind of legalization
of the illegal immigrants say, doing so would make US a less safe
country. Many, however, believe the real concern lies elsewhere. Some
Republicans fear, 120 millions illegal immigrants, if legalized, would
heavily add up to Democratic Party�s vote bank. So, they must stay in
dark!
Vice President Cheney�s
Halliburton came into the media�s attention again. His company took the
contract of supplying US soldiers in Iraq with drinking and other type
of water. According to newspaper reports, to gain maximum profit out of
the contract, the water which Halliburton supplied to the US soldiers in
Iraq is dirty & of low quality. Any one serious about the issue of
patriotism and security of his/her country have to think it on his/her
own. Let�s not allow the politicians think for us. Let them deal
business only.
New York
03/26/2006
Jahed Ahmed is a co-moderator at www.mukto-mona.com, a South Asian Humanist Online Forum. He lives in the New York City & could be reached at worldcitizen73@yahoo.com
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