Immigration or Invasion
May 17th, 2008 -- Posted in American Politics, World Politics | 4 Comments »It was sometime in 2006 and I was catching the subway back to South Station when I overheard the following line: “We should just put all those immigrants into a container and dump them in the sea.” I almost said to the guy that I should push you onto the train tracks and see how you feel. I am not a homicidal maniac but those kinds of insensitive comments really get to me. How can someone even think about that? This event occurred in Massachusetts which most people consider one of the most liberal states out there but at the same time there is also a significant conservative population in the suburban areas.
I am generalizing here, but I think for the most part, conservatives are the most vocal people when it comes to immigration legislation. Liberals on the other hand realize like me that immigration has existed since the dawn of time but it must be controlled in a manageable manner so that it is far easier for people to immigrate than the current system allows. One of the biggest arguments against the current illegal immigrants residing in the USA is that they should have come here legally. Is anyone aware of the exhaustive process of immigrating to the USA? Let’s take a great example of Darren O’Brien, a fictitious Irish citizen with an MBA from Trinity College here in Dublin. Mr. O’Brien has decided that he can’t live on this small island and would like to immigrate to Canada or America. Mr. O’Brien qualifies as a skilled worker due to his education and his past work experience (2 years in Accenture):
1. Canada is actively encourages Skilled workers and since Mr. O’Brien exceeds the 67 points on the skilled assessment scale, he just needs to bring $10,168 in cash and make his application. Additionally they do not have a cap on the number of potential skilled immigrants that can apply for this program.
2. America is far more difficult as first Mr. O’Brien would have to have a job offer from an American company. This company would then have to advertise in the local and national paper for the job and wait the statutory period of time before offering the job to Mr. O’Brien. They then would have to file with the Department of Labor to get a certification. Once certified, they would then have to make a file an immigration petition with the Department of Homeland Security and pay over $1000 for premium processing which speeds the petition up to 15 days. There is also currently 65,000 H1B visas available but the DHS receives triple the amount in applications. This option would not seem very likely for Mr. O’Brien.
Given the choices, wouldn’t the logical choice for Mr. O’Brien be Canada. The U.S immigration system needs reform because it currently has so much red tape you could tie a big red ribbon around the country. This complexity therefore forces people to immigrate illegally because it is the only way they can earn more than they do in their own countries. Beyond the complexity of the immigration system, there is still the issue of the large number of undocumented aliens already in America which worries many citizens in the USA. The American Legion blames these illegals for the increase in crime, draining the social system, housing shortages and school overcrowding. The American Legion also forgets to include some of pertinent benefits of illegal immigration but then what do you expect from such an organization. Funnily enough on many conservative blogs, newspapers and other media, they only seem to talk about illegal Hispanic immigration, but not the illegal Irish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean and African people. I find this very strange and bordering on some hidden racism but I am waiting for someone to prove me wrong with a sound-bite or video.
I also remember talking to a lady at my old work who was tired of the Spanish nurses talking in their language at the nursing home. I remember her saying what most Americans have said, “Why don’t they just use English, this is America after all.” I love America for the simple reason that the culture is uniform however I think a time has come in world history when cultures amalgamate for lack of a better word. This amalgamation is going to take the form of more people learning Spanish and maybe even Spanish being declared as the second official language in America.
The best example of social progress and legal immigration is here in Ireland. Ireland has approximately 4 million people living in the country with 1 million people living in Dublin. Out of those 4 million people, we have over 600,000 immigrants as of the 2006 census. A lot of these immigrants would be people of Eastern European descent who come to Ireland because of the 8.65 euro minimum wage which is far higher than their native countries. This massive immigration has caused a lot of problems in Ireland with people echoing similar issues to those people in America; like a division of culture, lack of using English but the only difference is these immigrants are legal. It may be illegal for some nationalities to immigrate into America but there will come a time when it will be legal and the USA will face these same issues so better to work through them now rather than down the line.
For the most part, these 600,000 immigrants in Ireland are here legally but it has still changed Irish society fundamentally. It has given it a diversity that it never had before. I have a lot of Irish friends who only hang out with Irish people because they do not get along with Polish people or Chinese people. This cultural polarization is the first step in cultural amalgamation. In the future, what we know as American, Irish and Chinese culture will be fundamentally altered because that is the way society moves forward. My point here is that even with legal immigration in America, the core beliefs and values of the country will have to change. That is how society progresses (through change) but many people do not understand change and are afraid of what it brings into society. Change will always bring good and bad things but it is the choice of each person to look beyond the bad and see the good.
Reading a recent report by the PEW Global Attitudes Project, I was startled to read that there was only one country out of all the countries surveyed that disagreed that they should further restrict immigration control. That country being South Korea which might actually be my next place of work if all things work out for me but that is another post for another time.
I have said a lot in this post because this is an issue I am very passionate about and I hope that change will happen sooner rather than later. As a business student, most HR literature will tell you that diversity within a company means a greater spectrum of ideas and solutions and I think that logic applies to countries as a whole. Immigration is a good thing in my book and it should be encouraged so that society can continue to blend, evolve and grow. Gone are the days when we were African, Irish, British, Chinese or Hispanic. If society is to move forward, we must all be citizens of the world in a sense. Humanity can only move forward once we accept people for their differences and realize that we are all the same regardless of what we believe in. In all sincerity, I hope that this anti-immigration sentiment will start to dwindle within the world because otherwise we are going to be in for some tough years in the coming century.
