Squeezin’ the Juice
by SVEA SAUER

Arizona’s recent legislation about immigration is an example of the backward way we approach problems. I lived through Prohibition and saw the Mafia grow in power as a result. We got smart and removed the profit from illegal trafficking in alcohol by abandoning the Volstead Act. In the meantime, the Mafia had become entrenched in crime and the drunks had increased in numbers.

I am assuming it is the drug traffic that is the cause of the fear of illegal aliens, or at least that is my hope. Having laws that create high profits for drug traffickers increases the likelihood crime will increase along with drug wars among cartels. Vicious crime results and, like the Mafia, we inherit the wind of entrenched crime. Do away with the profits and even though the demand for drugs is now established by our encouragement of it, we will have fewer wars on the border.

The illegal immigrant who is climbing the walls to find work does not fit this category but we fail once again to solve the problem in a way that will remove the stigma. In the past, we have tried to use his services, which are badly needed, by various plans that recognize both our needs and his, especially in agriculture. We have to admit we cannot do without him. So why do we not welcome him with complementary services which only we can provide? Try a decent wage, clean living quarters, education for his children, and health care, perhaps with the condition that he learn to speak English and apply for citizenship, or return home at an agreed time. If he disappears, he becomes an outlaw. A green card is a simple solution.

I am not naive. Any plan is difficult to implement, but any plan is better than the laws now being proposed by several states which resemble Nazi restrictions on Jews, something we supposedly fought a war to prevent forever. I am suspicious that the fever over illegal immigrants is caused more by our fear of being outnumbered by aliens than by fear of drug cartels. We are facing a change that is inevitable and we might as well accept it and make plans to use the opportunity to make the experience positive.

I have lived in Raymondville and I have lived in the South Plains and am familiar with the conditions of the agricultural workers and some of the indignities the immigrants suffer. I also know that they benefit in many ways, just as we do, but If they are made unwelcome by the laws we create, we too will pay a price. Our farmers will be the first to suffer, the tourist industry will suffer, especially hotels and restaurants. As the earlier immigrants become educated, they will become prosperous and begin to contribute to their communities as all immigrants have done. The more we discourage this normal progression of welcoming the stranger in our midst, the more we will suffer as they suffer.

They have freed us to advance just as they advance.

All this hoohaw about how we are saving our democracy is just a cover for bigotry and a fear of dark colored skin. I have known too many Mexicans who have worked for me not to value the contribution they have made. I have never given to them more than they have returned to me. If we do not appreciate them as they are, they will become what we are at our worst.

sveasauer@gmail.com