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Leighton: Let's face legitimate criminals, not pretend it's all illegal immigration


Well, here it is. I have tried very hard to stay out of the melee that has become the discussion of immigration rights in this country, but in light of the fact that May 1 is the National Latino Boycott day, and that this is my last article for the semester, the temptation is just too great.

So, my hat is in the ring. The first question I have to ask is: what if the Native Americans of yesteryear had had the knowledge and power to keep the Europeans out of their lands in the first place? Or is it because we have the knowledge of history (as distorted as that perspective is) and the mess those immigrants made of everything that we are trying to keep that particular history from repeating itself? Or is it more sinister, as in, "we were here first, so there!"

I argue it's the latter. The former is too intellectual.

The next question I would ask is why is this a big deal right now? I mean politically speaking, the timing of this latest "problem-that-needs-our-immediate-attention-right-NOW" smacks of that scene from the "Wizard of OZ" and the infamous line, "Pay no attention to the man behind the screen!"

Just exactly who are these "criminals" hurting? Not I, because the two times I have had my purse stolen out of my car in the past four years have been by white males. That's probably because they needed the money since the Mexican immigrants have taken all of the really bitchin' jobs, man.

Gee, I guess that makes them a... wait for it... criminal! Shouldn't we be paying more attention to how Jack Bauer is going to get the secret recording of the president back from the hand of the terrorists?

In my other life (before I became a know-it-all-college-student), my husband and I owned and operated a landscape company for about five years. In that time, we had a grand total of four white employees, only one of whom was worthy of the coveted "employee of the month" special parking spot in our driveway. The rest of the Mexican faces that passed by our door were some of the most loyal, hard working and family oriented people I have ever had the privilege of knowing.

Please, let's try and keep those people out of our country! One time, three brothers we hired (who came with legal looking paperwork to my untrained eyes) did not show up for work for about a week. Unable to get in contact with them, we had just written them off as lost to the paperwork and other crap that goes along with the daily stresses of being unceremoniously tossed back into your "home" country. When they returned to work the following Monday, they haltingly explained that their cousin was in a bad car accident in Georgia, and they just got in their car and drove. They had no idea where this mysterious "Georgia" place was, how long it would take, or anything, only that their family needed them.

What the heck are these people doing in our country? These people do not fit our perfect American mold! Who are they to come in and display community societal values to our sacred individualistic lives?

If we really want to "keep our borders safe" we need to focus on the criminals who are legitimate criminals - like the majority of Congress members, pedophiles, murderers and rapists, as well as people who buy Sudafed in quantities that would put down an elephant. And let's toss in the conservatives who say they value others' opinions, but only if it allows them to tell them they are wrong.

As I said, we should really pull our collective attention towards something constructive and worthwhile. Punishing those who deserve better for themselves and their families is looking in the wrong direction, away from the men behind the curtains of our government.

What would happen if we showed compassion to another human? After all, we are all in this human race together, and none of us get out alive either way.

Good luck and best wishes to the lucky Spring 2006 grads. Please use your powers for good, and not evil. Reach me at angela.leighton@asu.edu.


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