The Plight of Children of Illegal Immigrants

Every time we turn the TV on lately, one of the first things we hear discussed is the illegal immigration situation in Arizona. I don't blame the state of Arizona in the least for trying to protect their state and their people from drug dealers and gangs. I don't think the federal government has any right to tell the Arizona government what to do. But I do have mixed feelings about the situation that cause me a lot of grief.

Since our little town in Oklahoma is now over 50% Hispanic, and since I'm acquainted with a number of the Hispanics, I've come to understand their situation much better than before. I'm especially concerned with the plight of the children--not so much the ones born in the U.S., but the ones brought here when they were too young to know what they were doing.

In order to understand what these children are facing, it helps to first know the problems their parents are dealing with. And their problems are many.

Sometimes I think of their situation compared to trips my husband and I have taken. There have been a few times when we drove a long distance from home and wished we hadn't. But if we didn't like the situation in the place we were visiting, we could just turn around and go home. These immigrants don't find it that easy. Many of them love their homeland and nothing would suit them better than to return there. But they can't make a living there and their children are hungry. Going home is not an option.

Our little town was just about dead till someone came in and built a chicken processing plant. That created jobs for a lot of people, from the ones who built chicken houses and started raising chickens, to the carpenters who did the actual construction, the people who supply the chicken feed, the ones who catch the chickens when they're ready for market, the truck drivers, and last but not least, the ones who work in the chicken processing plant.

Most of the ones who work in the processing plant are Hispanic. I dare say the majority of those are illegal. I don't know how they managed to get hired in the first place, but there are people around who profit from their misfortune by furnishing "papers" that might get them by for a while. Virtually all the chicken producers are local citizens, mostly long-time residents of the area. Most of the locals don't want the jobs in the processing plant. It's dirty, cold, unpleasant work, and the pay is not good. But it's apparently better than what the people could find in Mexico.

As I see it, the workers in the processing plant are used as virtual slave labor. I suppose they're glad to get the work, and I haven't actually heard them complain about it. Not that I could understand much of the language if they did. But I have discussed it with legal Hispanic friends who have told me of the often inhumane way these people are treated. I've been told that the employers say if they can work a person for a month, it will pay for their training, so they've gotten enough out of them. There are always plenty of others willing to sacrifice their bodies on the altar of another man's greed. I've known a number of them who have been injured on the job and just basically turned out to fend for themselves, although their injuries made it almost impossible for them to work elsewhere.

If the illegals could all be rounded up and deported, the chicken production business in this area would probably go belly up and many people besides the Hispanics would be out of work. I'm sure the situation is the same in many other areas. Yet I never hear that subject brought up in the discussions of illegal immigration.

We have a number of friends among the illegal Hispanic immigrants. How that came about is not important. A few days ago we were talking to a young man who will soon be 17. He was brought to the U.S. when he was five years old, and has been here ever since. He attends school here and is a good student. My husband asked him if he would be getting his drivers' license sometime soon. He sadly said no, he would not be able to get one. When my husband told him about a job opportunity he knew of, he said he would not be able to get a regular job because he doesn't have the "required paperwork". He tries to find such odd jobs as mowing lawns, etc. to bring in a little money.

This boy wants to go to college, but knows he won't qualify for a scholarship because of his citizenship status, can't get a decent job, and thus can't afford to go. His alternate dream is to go back to Mexico and attend the University of Mexico, where he would like to go into a computer-related field. But he would face the same economic barriers there.

He would also like to join the Mexican army and "help fight against the drug dealers and criminals." I'm not sure how well he understands how such things work in Mexico, but I fear if and when he goes back, he will be in for a big disappointment. Lots of disappointments. After living in the U.S. for all the life he remembers, I should think the shock he'd encounter when returning to Mexico would be extremely traumatic.

It seems to me our young friend and others like him are destined to a life of virtual slavery in the U.S. or a life of hunger and deprivation in Mexico. I have to wonder if the situation may be one reason why young Hispanics join gangs. This boy and his brother have become Christians in the last year and have always avoided trouble, but that does not affect the treatment they receive as illegal immigrants.

This young man's dad told me that he has a "small ranch" in Mexico and he plans to move them back down there and his son will "run the ranch and I won't have to work anymore." I can just see the ranch-probably two or three acres of desert land that won't even grow decent cactus. If it was prime farmland, he would be farming it himself instead of working at slave wages in the U.S. I would so like to see the young man be able to live his own life and have a chance at success, rather than be a slave to either his dad or someone else all his life.

I don't know what I think of the people who came here illegally. Mostly I feel sorry for them. But their children are the ones I most pity. It seems they just can't win for losing, no matter how hard they try. They had no say in coming into the U.S. It's not their fault they are here illegally. Yet they're the ones who have to pay the highest price.

It seems such a waste to educate these kids all the way through high school, then tell them that's all there is for them here. They could become productive members of society if given a chance. It seems to me if they qualify for a scholarship based on their accomplishments, they should not be denied it because they are not citizens. Nor should they be denied jobs or drivers' licenses. Many drive without a license. Seems to me it would make more sense to allow them to be licensed after taking the required drivers' training, rather than have a lot of unlicensed drivers on the road. Our young friend chooses to try to stay within the law. But I wonder how long he will be able to do so.

So far as the working adults are concerned, it seems to me that if an immigrant has been here for a while and has worked and done well, there should be some provision made for them to be given some status besides "illegal immigrant." Granted, they came here illegally, but with no intent to bring any harm on our country.

I hear constant complaints about "all the money the U.S. spends on medical treatment for the illegals." I've seen the other side of that, too. The ones in our area use a walk-in clinic run by a physician's assistant, with no doctor on premises. They pay for it upfront, and it costs no one but them. Most of the ones I know need dental work, but can't afford it.

They are blamed for the economic mess our country is in, while our government gives billions of dollars to failing banks so they can pay their executives obscene bonuses. Billions of dollars are sent overseas to help people struggling to live, and that's good. But our citizens as a whole don't want to help our nearest neighbor to the South.

As I told the young man we know who asked how I felt about the situation in Arizona, the bad guys make it hard on the others. This may sound cruel, but I think instead of locking up the drug dealers for our country to support for the rest of their lives or a big part of it, they should be tried, convicted, then "Drug Dealer" should be tattooed in big letters across their cheeks and foreheads. Then they should be deported and told that if they return to the U.S., officers of the law have orders to shoot them on sight.

This is such a difficult situation for those in charge of protecting the border and enforcing the law. How do you reject people who are just trying to feed their families? How do you distinguish the criminal element from the ones who could be contributing citizens? Not that it would matter, as the immigration officers' job is to keep them all out.

Far be it from me to try to tell anyone how to do their job. If I had the answers to such hard problems I'd be out running the country instead of sitting here at the computer in my nightgown. But it seems the ones in charge have no answers either. I would so like to help these young people who are caught in a trap not of their own making. I pray someone with more wisdom than I claim to possess can come up with some solution that will protect these innocent children and give them something to hope for and look forward to.