Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Immigrants
They're in the news a lot lately. Remember when there was a stigma attached to being an illegal immigrant? Now there are parades held in their honor. I haven't looked at the proposal for tighter immigration laws, so I can't comment on that. However, I am in favor of, you know, actually having a border with our neighboring countries. While I understand people wanting to come here, I don't think it's in our best interest to let just anybody in. The statue says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses", not "your drug smugglers, your infirm, your criminally insane."
The, for lack of a better title, "pro-immigrant" side seems to be making it more about immigrants in general, rather than the illegal aspect. I don't have a problem with immigrants. My ancestors were immigrants, after all. Hell, every single human being in this country descends from people who migrated from somewhere else. So-called "Native" Americans descend from people who migrated from Asia.
Of course, I don't swing so far as to say people can't be proud of their heritage and speak their native tongue. I've celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Oktoberfest myself. I don't have a problem with the singing of the National Anthem in Spanish or Swahili or Nyuk-nyuk. The point of the song is that they pledge their allegience to America. Fine with me any way they choose to express that. I do, however, support having English as an "official" language in the sense that any government dealings should be done in one single language and English is the most commonly used in the country. It's not unreasonable to expect people coming to live in this country to learn the language. It's what I'd be expected to do if I chose to live in Germany, France, Japan or Australia.
The, for lack of a better title, "pro-immigrant" side seems to be making it more about immigrants in general, rather than the illegal aspect. I don't have a problem with immigrants. My ancestors were immigrants, after all. Hell, every single human being in this country descends from people who migrated from somewhere else. So-called "Native" Americans descend from people who migrated from Asia.
Of course, I don't swing so far as to say people can't be proud of their heritage and speak their native tongue. I've celebrated St. Patrick's Day and Oktoberfest myself. I don't have a problem with the singing of the National Anthem in Spanish or Swahili or Nyuk-nyuk. The point of the song is that they pledge their allegience to America. Fine with me any way they choose to express that. I do, however, support having English as an "official" language in the sense that any government dealings should be done in one single language and English is the most commonly used in the country. It's not unreasonable to expect people coming to live in this country to learn the language. It's what I'd be expected to do if I chose to live in Germany, France, Japan or Australia.
