Immigration Intricacies

My friend, Mike Kjergaard, re-published an interesting letter to the editor in his blog yesterday. It points out, logically, the fallacy of supporting illegal immigration on the basis that illegals are willing to work jobs the rest of us won't. The problem is, this is not a logical issue.

I've seen Mexican poverty first hand. Working in destitute border towns, it is easy to understand why Pedro and Patricia want to move three hundred yards north so their children and their children's children can have the chance at a better life.

There weren't any immigration laws when European colonists planted their flags at Jamestown or Plymouth. They, like these same immigrants today, simply wanted a better life.

I agree that illegal immigration is . . .well . . . Illegal. But I have difficulty going so far as to say it is immoral. It certainly is no more immoral than allowing our Christian brothers and sisters to endure squalid conditions because they were born in the only area that Santa Ana managed to hang on to when Sam Houston wrested Texas, New Mexico, et al. from Mexican control.

It is not an easy problem, and there aren't any easy solutions because we're talking about issues of the heart. But, if my kid is living on a dirt floor beneath a cardboard roof and is picking through garbage dumps for food, I swim the river. And, I'm betting you would, too.