A Johnny Come Lately Hysteria

Those born and raised in the real California or old Arizona/New Mexico are not having much difficulty with illegal aliens from Mexico. They remember when there was no border, no Border Patrol (1924) and few Mexican haters outside those raised in other states of the United States. California, for example, elected the first Mexican American United States Congressman in 1875. New Mexico elected the first Mexican American governor and U.S. Senator. Its had two more since the Thirties. New Mexican Mexican Maximilliano Luna was a company commander in Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders (1898).

These citizens do not strenuously object to Mexican workers because they know that Mexican workers have always productively worked at levels that are and have always been the economic foundations of California—the American economic Shining City on the Hill. In fact, it was Mexican gold miners from Mexico who taught the 49ers how to prospect and mine California gold in the Gold Rush.

The objections in California and throughout the nation of those who crusade against illegal aliens, particularly those from Mexico, are mostly from people who have never interacted with Mexicans, legal or illegal. That is obvious when one sees allegedly scholarly and informed articles about how Mexico "treats" its illegal aliens, or how much Mexican officeholders earn while in office.

Complaints about Spanish-language use, Spanish language media and the public display of Mexican flags are with us daily, especially since the gigantic demonstrations in most large cities occurred and will take place in coming days. Reminder: Mexican flags don’t prove loyalty to Mexico, they prove cultural attachment to heritage, just as the Irish display on St. Patrick'’ Day.

While there are estimates that one in 20, 5-percent, of all workers in the country are illegal workers, in some industries and places they account for much larger percentages. Recent estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center are that construction and hospitality industries have more that 25-percent illegal aliens working. In agriculture, particularly in the American food basket, California, estimates are that 95-percent of California field workers are Mexican born. Most intelligent people know that the vast majority of them are not legal workers. Nonetheless, farmers complain that there aren’t enough of these workers to harvest all crops. Vital California crops are rotting in the fields.

In Georgia, Mexican farm workers harvest onions; they tend mushrooms in Pennsylvania, apples in New York and Washington State. In Arkansas, Mexican newcomers process chicken and turkey-- ditto in Oklahoma and North Carolina. In Nebraska and Iowa they process pork and beef. In Nevada, Arizona, Texas and California they build houses and roads.

Wherever they are, they provide childcare allowing American women to work thus increasing American family income by huge numbers. Wherever they are, they fill in the employment gaps left by other Americans who choose not to work for any price. In San Diego Indian casinos, for example, 25-percent of the 4,000 employees of two casinos are Mexican nationals who live in Mexico and commute a roundtrip 100 miles to work in jobs American could take, but don't.

As for how Mexicans treat their illegal aliens, I refer to the case of Border Agent Elmer who was charged with murder after shooting an unarmed Mexican in the back, dragging him off into a gully allowing him to bleed to death. A jury bought the argument that Agent Elmer feared for his life from the unarmed Mexican who didn’t even know Elmer was present. Elmer’s partner testified against him and was fired for not reporting the incident after Elmer threatened to kill him. Elmer was not fired by the Border Patrol despite violating Border Patrol rules of engagement. He was finally fired after being convicted of another shooting incident in which Elmer fired at a group of men, women and children.

Recently an Internet video game has surfaced in which the player shoots and kills illegal alien Mexicans as they cross the desert border with Arizona. The sponsoring web site disclaims that the video game or the sponsors actually incite shootings or murder, but most people understand that such is exactly the case. The Emigration Party of Nevada, for example, actively supports the shooting on sight of any Mexican on the Border-- man, woman or child.

Complaints have surfaced from an anti-immigrant think tank that Mexican politicians earn more than their American counterparts. The Think Tankers did not release the fact that Mexican politicians cannot run for reelection, that they can only serve one term, period. Senator Robert Byrd, for example, would have been forced to retire 50 years or so ago if we had a one-term limit and would not be the embarrassment he is today in the United States Senate.

Perceptions and comparisons are useless when one looks at the problems of illegal aliens. The perceptions are usually based on urban myths concocted by uninformed people who are frightened by the sudden exposure to Spanish-speaking immigrants. They should be reminded that there existed 200 Norwegian language publications in 1900 throughout the U.S. By the 1920s they were gone. In Texas the last German language newspaper quit publishing in German in 1958, two hundred years after German immigrants first came to America.

Currently California, Arizona and Texas appear to be the flash points of the hysteria over illegal aliens. The hysteria, however, does not come from longtime residents but from those who have recently arrived in California, Arizona and Texas. For example, Ted Hayes, the African American founder of the "Crispus Attucks Brigade" told the Los Angeles Times, "Illegal immigration is the greatest threat to African Americans since slavery." At an out door anti-illegal rally attended by 40 or so supporters, he chanted: "We’re fired up. We can’t take it anymore!" Blacks have never amounted to more than a small percentage of California, perhaps 5-7 percent. Hayes is planning to ask Black gang members (who are responsible for half of LA homicides even as they are less than 15-percent of the Los Angeles population) to "join border patrols (White Minutemen) to stop illegal immigration…" Racist kill videos, Black gang members and White Minutemen who have been totally rejected by California voters are now combining to fight "illegal aliens from Mexico. Will they succeed? No!

Perhaps Jose Haro, a 21 year old Mexican American, has it right. He told the Los Angeles Times that "Maybe Blacks weren’t looking hard enough for (jobs)." "It’s so easy to find a job anywhere! Haro (told the Times): I find one in one day: moving companies, offices, anything. These people (Hayes and his supporters) are lazy." The American people have two choices: Black gang members and White Minutemen on the Border or Jose Haro. He and those like him can find a job in one-day even when they don’t speak English, or, have a Social Security card. Then they mange to eat and live on what they earn after sending money home to feed their families. It’s no choice at all.

© 2006