The Other Side of Illegal Immigration

In last night's Republican Presidential debate one of the hot topics was illegal immigration, which came as no surprise. It seems to be a big topic everywhere these days, and never fails to be in the news. There are two sides to this issue, but almost everyone I hear say anything is ready to "throw the bums out." There was a time I would have agreed with them. But after coming to know some of them well, I have mixed feelings on the subject.

If I hadn't worked at a church which had a daycare, and hadn't volunteered at the elementary school for a couple of years, I would probably feel differently. But after meeting children of illegal immigrants, I just can't condone deporting all illegals. If an immigrant, legal or not, is caught selling drugs or committing other crimes, I'm certainly in favor of locking him up and/or deporting him. But if they're only trying to feed their family, I'm for leaving them alone. Whether or not anyone will admit it, they contribute greatly to America's economy.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma recently, a family who was doing well, working hard, contributing to the community, was suddenly deported. Were these drug dealers? Criminals? Not unless the subject of illegal immigration is brought up. The man was running a successful business in construction, roofing, as I recall. They had a nice house in a good neighborhood and were well thought of. They had two teen-age daughters who were born in America, and knew nothing about Mexico. Yet the whole family was yanked up and deported. Why? My guess is, to make an example of them. Of course the girls wouldn't be forced to leave, but if their parents were deported, what choice did they have? I'll come back to that later.

While few illegal immigrants will come out and admit to that status, one very nice family I knew did admit to me that they were not legal. They wanted to be here legally, but had been told it would take 50 years to do so. True or not, they believed that. They hadn't been able to support their family in Mexico and all they wanted was to be able to provide the necessities of life for their children. The parents both worked at the same place for years. I've lost contact with them, but the last time I ran into them, the man proudly told me about his promotion.

One day the man told me that he had taken his wife to the hospital emergency room the night before, but she had been refused treatment. He had been told upfront that he must pay $150 before a doctor would examine his wife. He told them he had the money in his pocket and would be happy to pay the $150. But they still refused to see his wife.

I thought a hospital was required to see any patient who needed emergency care, but apparently that's not the case. I called a local doctor who worked in the emergency room and he promised to help. And he kept his word. I wondered what would have become of her had she had a really serious illness. What would they have done without a little help from a couple of friends? At that time, they had nowhere else to go.

When this family first came to the daycare, they had a four-year-old boy and a sickly baby about 18 months old. The mother said she had been anemic when she was carrying him. I can only assume it was because of lack of a proper diet, because a few years after coming to America she had another baby, a plump, healthy boy.

This family, and to my knowledge, all the Mexican families who brought their children to our daycare always paid their bill on time. That was not the case with many local residents. If the natives of our area had had the integrity of the Mexicans who used our daycare, it might still be in operation.

The Mexicans kept the daycare afloat for a while, but eventually it had to be closed because so many of the others wouldn't pay their bills. The church put thousands of dollars into it, since it was a ministry rather than a business, but just couldn't afford to keep it up forever.

As for the complaint I frequently hear about the Mexicans getting free medical care, that may be the case in some places, but it certainly isn't around here. Our town has a medical center with a doctor, and a walk-in clinic with only a PA, which is always busy with the Mexican patients. They pay upfront for treatment and go about their business. Few of them use the regular clinic because most of them have no insurance and can't afford traditional medical treatment.

When I was volunteering at the school, I worked with a tiny Mexican boy who soon became my favorite. He had such a neat sense of humor and was cute as a button. I came to love all the kids I worked with, but he was special to me.

One day at school I noticed "Pedro" (not his real name) was missing for the third or fourth day in a row. I didn't think a lot about it, as he was often sick and his parents didn't work very hard at keeping him in school anytime. Then my husband came to the room where I worked one-on-one with the first graders and told me he had just been informed that "Pedro" had been severely injured and might not even live.

His mother had taken him to the nearest hospital two or three days after the injury. I shudder to think how the poor little thing suffered during that time. After becoming acquainted with the family, I felt that she had probably begged her husband to take him for help and he had refused because he couldn't pay the bill. Although she doesn't drive, she finally found some way to get him to the nearest hospital, where he was briefly examined and sent on to a Fort Smith, AR hospital. There he was kept for the day before being transferred to the Children's Hospital in Little Rock.

He had fallen through the roof of a building his uncle was tearing down, and had broken the ball off the ball-and-socket joint of his hip. One of the doctors who cared for him told a school contact that it was the worst injury of the kind that he had ever seen.

After a few weeks, when "Pedro" was feeling a little better, I asked at the school about getting a tutor to go to his home. The answer I kept receiving was that he didn't have the required paperwork to qualify for a tutor. Eventually I asked his teacher to gather up needed materials and I started going to his home to work with him. Although I'm not a certified teacher, I felt it would be better than nothing. Eventually he was approved for a tutor, but it was hard to find a teacher to go to his house, which epitomizes the word "poverty." It's overrun with cockroaches and is one of the darkest, most dismal places I've ever been in. Finally one brave soul made a few visits at the end of the school year. But by then he had missed so much school that he had to repeat first grade.

After several years of treatment, body casts, etc., "Pedro" is finally able to walk with a barely noticeable limp, but he had two or three years of absolute misery. To see him walk now seems a miracle after watching the little twisted body hobble around before his last long session in a body cast straightened out the problem.

Back to the deportation story. Recently Tulsa, OK decided to crack down on illegal immigrants. The announcement was made that illegals all over Oklahoma were going to be rounded up, jailed, and then deported.
During that time the story of the successful immigrant family's deportation was on the news.

My little Mexican friend, who is now 11, recently asked if I watch the news and if I had heard about the immigration announcement. He wanted to know how it might affect him and his family. I had no answer for him other than to tell him that he should tell his father and the other male relatives living in his house that they must be extremely careful not to break any law, as that would bring immediate attention to their situation.

I honestly don't know of any way the Mexicans in our area, legal or not, are taking anything away from anybody. True, "Pedro" received free medical care because of his drastic injury. But his doing so didn't prevent any American children from receiving needed care. I don't know how that hospital is financed, but I don't think it's with tax money. Even if it is, what difference does it make? They treat any child there who needs help. How could you turn away any child with a severe injury?

Our town was virtually dead before the Mexicans moved in. We didn't have so much as a dollar store. Now we have two. The Mexicans bought up most of the dilapidated old rent houses and most of them are working hard to fix them up. Our town looks better since they moved in, as any improvement to those places benefits the whole town.

We now have almost as many Mexican businesses in town as American ones, but that's fine with me. There is a Mexican restaurant and bakery here that does a booming business and is my favorite place to eat out. I'm sure most of these entrepreneurs are legal, but as far as I'm concerned, who cares? They provide a service and I can't see that they're doing anything to harm anybody.

Another frequent complaint I hear about the Mexicans is that they want American schools to be Spanish speaking. I don't know how things are anywhere else, but both in the daycare situation and in the local schools around here, the Mexican parents want their kids to learn English, period.

For a while the daycare was using a five-year-old Mexican girl as an interpreter because they had no employees who spoke Spanish. One day the little girl announced she couldn't help them anymore. "Me not speak Spanish. Me speak English," she said. Later her dad made it clear that he wanted his kids to speak only English. It's not uncommon to see a small child crying on his first or second day in our school, after just arriving in the country, because he speaks no English and is confused and frightened. Invariably, other little ones who have already learned the language come to his aid.

Ruby, a special little girl I tutored, had a brother about a year old, and when I jokingly told Ruby to tell her mother, Catalina, that I would like to have the baby, she said, with Ruby interpreting, that I could have him, at least long enough to teach him English. Later Ruby said her mother wanted to know when I was going to take Angelo. The woman was serious. I told Ruby she was the one who should teach her brother to speak English. Suddenly the family moved back to Mexico without informing Ruby's teacher or anyone except some of their friends. Imagine my shock when Ruby's friend told me Catalina had died shortly after arriving back in Mexico. I think she knew she was dying and saw me as a way for her son to have a good life in America with someone who could take care of him. She couldn't have known all the red tape that would have been involved had I tried to keep her baby. Hopefully the baby's dad, who seemed to be a good father, is able to care for him with help from relatives while he struggles to put food on the table. But I can't help feeling I let Catalina down.

As for illegal immigrants being hired, if the main employer in this area (for which I have little positive to say) stops hiring them, the place will have to be closed. There are not enough of the locals who are willing to take the mistreatment handed out by this business to keep it going. And if that business goes out, the city fathers had just as well roll up the sidewalks and put an "out of business" sign at the town city limits.

I also hear complaints that "these illegal immigrants don't pay any taxes." If that's the case, I wonder what they're doing at the tax preparation offices every year in April. Any of them who don't pay taxes are exempted from paying them for the same reason so many Americans don't. They don't have enough income to require it. But what about all the sales tax they pay when they buy groceries, food, and everything else? What about all the jobs they fill that nobody else wants? Regardless of what some people say, I know that's true. As I see it, they carry their own weight as well as most Americans do.

I freely admit that there are problems with the great numbers of illegal immigrants entering the country. But are these problems being blown out of proportion?

I don't know the answer to this problem. But I do know the Mexicans were in Texas and California before our ancestors drove them out. Now we call them illegal when they cross back into the U.S.

Our ancestors also stole the American Indians' land. They were banished to reservations, but are they called illegal when they leave the reservations? Thankfully,through the years the government has made some attempt to make amends. They've done a sorry job of it, but now some of tribes have privileges not afforded the rest of the population.

To me, it's just about the same situation with the Mexicans. But anybody who attempts to help them can count on bringing down the wrath of the majority who just plain don't care.

Those who so adamantly proclaim that "it's the principle of the thing" and that entering our country illegally is breaking the law should ruminate for a moment on what Mark Twain said. "Principles have no real force except when one is well-fed." I wonder what they'd do if their children were hungry.

I guess "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses longing to breathe free..." just doesn't apply to people south of the border.