October 14, 2008 at 19:07:43

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By David Barboza (about the author) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: Publius - Writer

Our immigration policy has lots wrong with it. It has a strong tinge of racism: would be be reacting the same way if there were a huge wave of British immigration instead of Mexican and Central American immigration? The irony of this is that we conquered the southwestern part of the U.S. from Mexico and now we're trying to keep Mexicans out, and calling them criminals. It's also ironic that we support the free movement of products across national borders but not the free movement of people. It's wrong that there is a huge class of workers in this country, who have no right to vote, and are so scared of being deported that they can only see the government as a force hostile to their survival.

Having a huge class of illegal immigrants allows employers to exploit a source of cheap labor that has few socially recognized rights. The solution isn't to deport them all, which would be impossible, break up families, and destroy our economy, but instead to legalize the immigrants. Yes, some of them came in violation of our laws, but 99% of them came because they were having trouble surviving at home, and there is no crime in doing what it takes to survive. Immigration will continue from countries with low wages to countries with higher wages until the global distribution of wealth is more equal. Immigrants accelerate that equalization process through their remittances.

Bottom line: if you couldn't find a job here and you heard there were good jobs in Mexico, you'd do anything to feed your family. That's why people are coming here. There's nothing wrong with that. There's something wrong with a system that labels them criminals.

My intellectual awakening is ongoing. Lately, politically, I'm most interested in efforts to break down two-party rule in this country. I registered Green after the Democrats won control of Congress. The more I think about it, the happier I am with (more...)

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