Immigration: diversity should be welcomed

Ian Hoppe, Columnist
Published On: 11/ 3/2009

Recently, we’ve had a lot on our plate. America, that is.

We’ve been bickering and fighting here and there over health care reform and cap-and-trade legislation. Since the election of Barack Obama, “The 24-Hour News Cycle” has been beating dead horses into oblivion, bringing in the endless troops of “experts” to get their take on the events of the day. Add the death of Michael Jackson and the infamous “Balloon Boy,” and overwhelming becomes an understatement.

So, I thought I would discuss something a little obscure at the moment — immigration. If you remember, this used to be a hot button subject, but recently it’s been pushed to the end of the list of things to be dealt with. This isn’t the case with everyone, however. Much of the population is still raving mad about this issue. Let me give you an example.

One of my co-workers recently spent the afternoon on the phone with his bank, complaining loudly about the new language preferences available on the drive-up ATM. It seems that he was deeply insulted by the fact that the machine had asked if he preferred to make his transaction in Spanish or English, and he wanted it stopped — NOW!

This, of course, doesn’t concern me. The way an individual deals with a private institution is their business and totally legit. However, after presumably winning the argument he strode jovially from his office, triumphantly mounted his soapbox, and began a rant that inspired this article:

“We need to make English our official language!”

Thanks man.

At the moment, we have no official language. The majority of us happen to speak English (or some crippled form of it). Keep in mind that this in no way infers the superiority of the language, only the predominant number of those who speak it in our country. The slow creep of Spanish into our society is a real threat to a lot of people.

Try as I might I can’t understand this fear of diversity; then again, I’ve never been much into ethnocentricity. All that this can do in the long run is change our language slightly, add some words, and maybe widen our cultural assortment. Tell me, what happened to the melting pot?

As an electrician, I’ve worked side by side with Hispanics. They have a distinct and interesting way of life that complements our own and it is very much worth getting acquainted with. We could learn a thing or two from them. At the very least it might reiterate our values of hard work and family.

Don’t forget that the Irish were treated with the same disdain during their great migration at the beginning of the 19th century (“stealing” jobs, odd social behavior and negative effect on the economy), yet no one can doubt the contribution they have made to our society.

Let’s be clear; I don’t want to be accused of skipping facts. They are breaking the law, overstaying visas and crossing the border undocumented, working for cash under the table and consuming public resources. Here’s the kicker, though. When a vast number of otherwise ethical people break a particular law, this generally denotes a problem in the law itself. To argue against immigration in this way ignores the real problems within our immigration policy.
In the 1950s we were faced with the same issues — millions of immigrants illegally crossed the Mexican border. Border security was tightened, but we also made a huge increase in the number of work visas available to aliens. The result was a decrease of 95% in border arrests (LP.org).

Sure, we can build a fence. We can round up all of the illegal aliens and orchestrate some massive exodus. But we are ultimately shooting ourselves in the foot. Good people want to come to our country, so let’s make it easier for them to do so legally. It can only make things better.

Email: ianhoppe@uab.edu