I have to say that I know a few families who came here from Peru legally years ago and have been trying to get their families here her for the last 20 years. They are doctors, stock brokers, financial analysts, etc. They have thought about smuggling them across but have decided against it because IT IS ILLEGAL and they don’t want to break the law. They want a better life too, but they are waiting in line just as countless others have done, just as my grandparents did at Ellis Island and just as our law dictates. They did not jump to the front of the line or sneak in the back door.

My friends are of Peruvian decent and they get very angry about the lack of prosecution, attention and deportation of illegal immigrants. The argument that these are people are just looking for a better opportunity and are doing jobs at an illegal wage that make the US affordable is BS as an excuse for lack of enforcement of illegal immigration laws.

The problem is bigger than just the illegals. Of course, there are opportunists capitalizing off the situation and they are just as guilty, as you mentioned. That doesn’t make coming here illegally OK any more than it make jaywalking legal. It’s still against the law and punishable.

I have nothing against immigrants. Just come here legally, pay your taxes, work your way up and attain all that you came here to attain – legally. I am just wondering when all these illegals are going to figure out the real American way, that you don’t have to work in order to get food, housing, healthcare and money. That’s when the fun begins – then who will do those jobs that only illegals do now?

If you aren’t just whining and would actually like to change the situation then I repeat to you the same the invitation I made in another comment… don’t stay in another hotel in America until the problem (illegal immigration) is solved. Don’t go to another fast food restaurant either. Don’t buy tomatoes, lettuce, peaches, strawberries or any other hand picked fruit unless they are imported. The same goes for beef and pork. Don’t do any of those things because when you do, you make illegal immigration profitable and as long as it is profitable it will continue in the USA. To believe anything else is naïve.

Your Teddy Roosevelt quote is pertinent. The problem is, however, that we are trying to fix too many of the 21st century’s problems with 19th century solutions. Hispanics integrate into society as fully and as quickly as other immigrant groups. Do you really think that your Dutch/Swedish/French/Italian/German/Polish/etc. great-grandfather spoke English without a thick accent and making bad grammar mistakes? If you do then you’re fooling yourself. Most kids who grow up in the USA in a Spanish speaking household are only receptive bilinguals (meaning they understand Spanish but can’t speak it) and almost all of them prefer the English language and America to the Spanish language and Mexico. The reason it seems that they don’t learn is because new waves of Hispanics keep coming. Most Hispanics speak English as well as your great-great grandparents did but prefer to speak their native language when they are among themselves, just like your great grandparents.

“In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…

There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile…We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
-Theodore Roosevelt

As Christian so aptly reminded us, this blog is about learning Spanish. I truly believe that bilingual Americans are better equipped to handle this problem than their monolingual neighbors. I’d like to echo what James said: It won’t solve the problem but silence never solved anything so let’s give it a shot! I’m sold on the idea Hispanic culture has positive things to add to America just like the Italians, Irish, Germans, Scandinavians, English, Scotts, etc. added something positive to America. The world is getting too small for anyone to remain monolingual and that Spanish is a rich and colorful language that gives us access to a delightful people.

While some may call me naive, and the media loves to exploit the whole parent/child separation deal. When the plant in Iowa was raided, the next day a whole line of Americans were waiting to apply for a job.

Regarding being bilingual, I say the more knowledge the better. I’ve always loved the Spanish language and have studied it on and off since I was in high school, so many years ago. And THAT is why we are here on this web site, correct?

For personal reasons, I won’t go into great detail why the topic of illegal immigration currently hits so close to home, but I certainly agree that the ability to speak more than one language is a skill and a talent we should all posses. No, it will not change the status of illegal immigration, nor will it change the feelings of those who resent those who are here illegally, however I feel it enriches us all as a people to be able to communicate with one another regardless of where we are from. I have been trying desperately to improve my Spanish for about three or four months now and while I still have a long way to go, I feel much better about my ability and hope to continue to progress to the point where I can carry on full conversations with any other fluent Spanish speaker. Will being bilingual make the worlds problems go away? Of course not, but nothing was ever solved through silence either. Let’s give it a shot.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that these workers did something illegal and so do they. They see it as illegal as jaywalking and find it hard to understand why getting up in the morning, working in the fields, for American bosses, and coming home and watching soccer games and playing with their kids is so offensive. My point is not to excuse all illegal residents but to point out that White America doesn’t understand the problem and is wrong to put all of the blame on the workers. Speaking Spanish won’t solve the problem but it will help us understand it better. This is something I that I believe has real value.

“Help find those hiring illegals.” Christian, do you honestly think that this is any secret? Do you really think they “the authorities” need any help finding these people? Everyone knows that it’s the hotels, the farmers, the slaughter houses, the fast food chains and the construction companies, just to name a few. I don’t mean to be vulgar but blaming the immigration problem completely on the undocumented workers is like blaming prostitution completely on the whores or blaming the drug problem completely on Colombia or blaming underage drinking completely on stores that sell liquor. It’s only half the problem and as long as we continue to deal with half the problem we will never find a real solution.