Immigration and the Border

There’s something comic about this book. I got the feeling that some folks just never learn, especially Congress. For the last 50 years, Congressmen have been whining about immigration, but they never do anything about it. If you want to know why, knock on every door in Beverly Hills and ask who cleans the bathroom and does the yard work. In all of those nice suburbs of California, do the local teens mow lawns for pocket money? Do the homeowners mow their own lawns or clean their own toilets? Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-appointed guardian of American security, and the biggest hater of Mexicans in the USA, probably doesn’t mow his own lawn either.

Immigration and the Border is about the “fourth wave” of immigration, and the difference from the earlier immigration. Back in the 1890’s, when Ellis Island was the crossing point, there was no question about legality; you were welcome to enter the USA. Sure, some complained about immigrants diluting the labor pool, but the immigrants weren’t a “drain on our society.” They couldn’t have; there was no welfare in those days. As Ralph Da Costa Nunez writes in The Poor Among Us, there was no safety net. If you didn’t work you didn’t eat.

Nowadays, most of the cross-border immigration is illegal. The immigrants from Mexico can’t gain the same image of respectability because of this illegality; if they could be thrown out at any time, how can they gain prominence. Take for instance the case study of “Marcela,” a longtime illegal resident. Her children were born here, so they can’t be thrown out, but she can. Nobody can accuse her of being a “drain” on society, because she probably can’t get any benefits, and if she’s paid in cash, she probably has no social security.

The border of the title is really what this book is all about. It’s a border that’s so close that the immigrants aren’t really that far from home. It’s not like the way Jewish people came here from Russia; that was 2000 miles away. But the average Mexican immigrant only travels a few miles to the USA. If you’re working in San Diego, then Mexico is a short car ride. It’s not like the Italian immigrants who would never see their homeland again; if you’re here legally, you can cross back and forth as long as you can afford bus fare. Let’s also keep in mind the difference between political and economic refugees. If you come here fleeing persecution (like the Russian Jews of the 1800’s) then you have no intention of going back. But the economic ones, like the Irish and Italians, often did return when they could afford it. Like the Irish in the USA who visit Ireland once a year, the Mexicans can visit home half an hour away. If they can get there by car, they might visit once a month.

Whenever I hear a Senator or a Congressman talking about legal and illegal immigration, I ask myself “where have you been for the past 40 years?” Did they not see this happening years ago? The US-Mexico border has been around since 1845, did they not see that people would cross it? As California’s population ballooned, did they not see the number of low-wage and low-skill jobs increase?

Someone better tell that to Sheriff Arpaio, unless he intends to mow his lawn himself.