2 Commentary
Clackamas Print!
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Face off: illegal immigratior]
Immigrants already abused
- criminalization won't help
E. E. West
The Clackamas Print
The United States is a country almost entire
ty composed of immigrant peoples, and yet
there has always been a streak of xenophobia
in the American social fabric.
Germans, Scottish, Irish, Italians, Chinese
- all these groups and more have encountered
bitter resistance in their adopted homeland.
From the beginning of the 20th century to the
present the issue of Mexican immigration has
been a focal point of America’s fear of the
unfamiliar.
No, illegal Mexican immigration is not a
new issue by any stretch of the imagination.
Just ask your mother, father or grandparents,
and they will tell you that the “illegal problem”
has been with us for at least as long as they’ve
been alive. The issue comes up every few years
or so, as some political figure or other attempts
to make a name for himself by blustering about
fee scourge of illegal immigrants. Despite fee
fact feat there’s been much sound and fury
about fee subject, next to nothing has ever been
done about it Why might this be?
Let’s imagine a hypothetical illegal immi
grant, newly come to America in search of
a job feat simply doesn’t exist back home in
Mexico. Because he has no legal status in fee
United States he is forced to take a job under fee
table or wife false identification. His employer
knows full well feat he is not in fee states legal
ly, and feat he has little or no recourse should
he be paid less than the going rate for fee job.
Beggars can’t be choosers after all.
More rarely employers will treat such immi
grants poorly in defiance of labor laws, secure
in fee knowledge that their employees will
either take it or risk deportation. This, needless
to say, works to an employer’s benefit
Many smaller employers are simply doing
what they can to keep competitive in a fierce
market; they have few options but to hire those
who will work for the lowest wage. Other,
larger employers are not so blameless.
To see just why illegal immigration has
never beat dealt wife we only need to examine
those who make immigration laws, and how
they come to power. Representatives and sena
tors rely in part on fee contributions of large
employers to fund their campaigns. Is it any
wonder then feat both houses have persistently
refused to change a situation that favors their
contributors?
Lately a vocal segment of fee body politic
has been advocating “stricter” immigration
laws that would criminalize illegal immigra
tion. They would see the estimated 11 million
illegal Mexican immigrants in the United States
today become felons, with absolutely no pos
sibility of ever becoming citizens.
This same group would love to see a 700-
mile long, dual-layer wall along the Mexico-
U.S. border, watchgd ceaselessly by border
patrol. The immense cost of such a policy
becomes all too ironic when you consider that
one of the primary objections this group has is
that illegal immigrants eat up social benefits
that would otherwise go to citizens. Apparently
spending vast sums of cash on a police state is
not nearly as wastefill as feeding, clothing and
giving medicine to needy human beings.
To criminalize immigrants is to marginalize
them even further than they already have been.
By labeling them felons we will only encourage
those who use the illegal status of immigrants to
their advantage.
One thing is certain: as long as America
remains a place in which a person has a reason
able chance at securing a happy, fruitful life,
people are going to want to come here and they
are going to find a way to make it happen. I for
one hope we are never rid of that “problem.”
No matter the idealism,
immigration is a problem
Elizabeth Hitz
The Clackamas Print
They called it “May Day,” and it was a
plea for help, though not in the way you might
think. On May 1, hundreds of thousands of
people across America marched in protest of
a bill.
That bill, which has already passed in con
gress, will put up a 700-mile wall across the
United States and Mexico border. It will also
make being an illegal alien a felony, as well
as forbid any illegal immigrants already on
American soil from ever becoming American
citizens.
Bleeding heart stories and phrases like
“The American Dream” are all very idealistic,
but it’s time that politicians and the American
people face the music. However harsh reality
can be, it remains a necessity. Our govern
ment is not prepared to deal with the number
of illegal immigrants that flood the United
States every year. It creates a rapidly grow
ing populace that we simply do not have the
resources for.
States like California and Arizona are going
CAUTION
PROHIBIDÓ 1
" I
Illustration by E. E. West
Clackamas Print
bankrupt trying to fund things like public edd
cation and healthcare for illegal immic™®
However, economists say that wc canno
deport all of fee illegal aliens heron Jj
make up a pillar of our workforce. But wiftj
all of those extra bodies, would we be facin
fee massive work shortage we are now?ffl3
would be many more entry-level po®
open to the American worker. Some peopi
look down on manual labor or low skill jobsi
menial; but to fee average Joe a job is a job. I
Bush has recently put forth a plan to m
thousands of National Guard troops to pad
fee U.STMexico border. The cost of sum
scheme seems horrendous; $1.9 bill®
emergency funds will be needed to even*))
cute fee intended proposal. And there is a hig|
probability that another $20.3 million wfflN
needed to hire more judges to help the cai
system adjust to fee extra court cases wh3
would result as a side effect of Bush’s plan.I
But fee fact is this - it is a plan. An into]
set of actions, which is more than most adna
istrations would ever attempt Someth™
to be done. On feat fact alone all of the poM
parties agree.
But what kind of affirmative action) ha
they promoted? None. Passive-a
attempts by Democrats and Republicans!
to come in fee form of more paperwork;
fee proposed orange cards which would1
illegal immigrants here longer than two y
a chance at citizenship. But paper#
not fee answer for an already overt
and overstrained INS. Some sort of de
action is needed to stem or at least si
flow of this massive problem. An estj
2 million illegal immigrants live and wl
fee United States, and fee numbers only
continually.
I am not saying we should stop immi
altogether, or feat immigrants should be
any differently than any natural-bom U.S. d
zen. My father’s parents were both immi
I know how hard it was for them, and ho
they worked to get where they did
What I am saying is that we have to
fee line wife illegal immigration. Ifwe|o
curb fee idealistic nature of our own nati
could very quickly cause our own d
As much as we would like life
perfect for everyone in fee world we
make every person in a third world c
an American citizen and we cannot
our own country’s wellbeing on the
Utopia.
If there is a plea for help, it is from our if j
government, and it is a plea for reason.
From ‘No Child Left Behind' to ‘No Child Left Alon
Laura Cameron
I Commentary Editor
The Pentagon has a file on every stu
dent on this campus.
That’s right, every single one. They
have their names, addresses, emails
and cell numbers. They know where
they were bom, what their grades are,
their credit information and their Social
Security numbers. They know every
thing.
No, this is not a conspiracy theory.
This is part of the No Child Left Behind
Act.
Section 9528 of the act requires sec
ondary schools - the definition of which
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varies from state to state to include
junior highs, high schools and colleges
- to provide “directory information” of
all their students to military recruiters.
Section 9528 was added after intense
lobbying by the Pentagon; hardly sur
prising, considering that one-third of all
school districts in America had policies
against giving student information to
recruiters before the act was passed.
We all know that the military is hurting
for recruits.
But this goes beyond making it eas
ier for recruiters to call students at
home. According to Oregon Senator
Ron Wyden, “the Pentagon has retained
a private marketing firm to gather and
analyze extensive personal information
E ditor - in -C hief : Ben Maras
C opy E ditors : Katie Weinberg, E. E.
West
N ews E ditor : Katie Wilson
C ommentary E ditor : Laura Cameron
F eature E ditor : C.J. Ciaramella
S ports E ditor : Mike Guidice
A&E E ditor : Tayo Stalnaker
P hoto E ditor : Jeff Sorensen
A d M anager : Sam Krause
about high school students for the stated
purpose of identifying potential military
recruits.”
This program is called JAMRS, Joint
Advertising Market Research & Studies,
and the information the firm is gather
ing for the Pentagon can include credit
card records, Social Security numbers,
DMV records, grade-point average,
class schedules and ethnicity.
This
information is purchased from a vari
ety of other firms, including ones that
process college scholarship and loan
applications.
Yes, students have the opportunity
to opt out, but considering how quiet
everyone has been on this issue I can’t
imagine that most students even know
A d A ssistant : Helen Conley
S taff W riters : Derek Erickson,
Justin Goe, Elizabeth Hitz, Frank
Jordan, Mike Kimberiing, Megan
Koler, Adam J. Manley Matthew
Olson, Kyle Steele, David Stark,
N. P. Delzell, Helen Conley
P roduction A ssistants : Adam
J. Manley, Kim Maier, Elizabeth
it exists.
This is sickening. The gove
does not need to know what cla
am taking, nor my driving record|
fact that a private company is com"
this information makes me even I
nervous. Can anyone here say “id(
tity theft?” Not to mention that 1
is a gross violation of the Privacy 1
and possibly a violation of the Foo
Amendment.
I thought the Republicans were s
posed to be all about “getting govt
ment off the backs of the people.” N
that they’re in power, it appears tl
they are not only on our baiks mi
than ever are but peering ovei I
shoulders.
Hitz, Chris Anderson,. Scott
Risvold
P hotographers : Adam J. Manley
Lara Hedbor, Elizabeth Hitz,
Matt Olson, N. P. Delzell
D epartment A dvisor : Linda Vogt
D epartment A ssistant : Chris Hennel
G oals : The C lackamas Print aim
to report the news in an honest I
unbiased, profess >nal i n- .er. 1
The opinions expressed do not. ■
necessarily reflect those of tlie stu- ■
dent body, college adminttratiOT®
its faculty or The Print. E-mail ■I
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