Immigration mess

Dear Editor:No, it is not our responsibility to give people benefits and rights that even American citizens don't get themselves. ("Xenophobia," Letters to the Editor, 5/16/13). Beatrice Martinez calls them "immigrants" but in reality they are "illegal alien invaders" and need to be treated as such. After all, if we tried to sneak into Mexico there is a good chance we would be shot like Mexico does on its southern border. It's not xenophobia if they are here breaking our laws. As a 16-year resident of Arizona I can tell you that the federal government uses that border as a weapon against the great state of Arizona and its citizens. Police and sheriff departments cannot turn illegal alien invaders over to ICE because they won't pick them up. People who live along the border often live in a constant state of siege because the Border Patrol won't answer their calls. There have been beheadings in Casa Grande, Mesa and Phoenix. The ATF allowed over 2,000 weapons to flow into Mexico over a two-year period at the cost of one Border Patrol agent's life and paid for by the American taxpayer. Vekol Valley, south of Phoenix, may be the busiest drug route in the world where illegal alien invaders haul 100-lb. bales of drugs on their backs from the border to Casa Grande as payment to get into this country. To make maters worse, that stretch of land from the border to Casa Grande is under the control of the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency, and they allow no one to enter this wilderness to arrest these criminals. One should remember 1986 when comprehensive immigration reform caused the mess we are in. When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Kevin Myers Downey

Dear Editor: I wonder how many besides Ms. Stockton ("Immigration Reform," Letters to the Editor, 5/9/13) have not noticed that the majority of our major cities, including our capital, have Spanish names. There is a reason for that, and it's not necessarily pretty. The border between California and Mexico was established by the Treaty of Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War, during which California was invaded by the American Army. The population of California at the time had no vote on the matter, or the result might have been far different. In fact, it was two years later before California became a state and residents had any say about anything. Factually, California was settled by Hispanics and Americans took it by force. So much for morality! But after more than 150 years, morality has to surrender to reality. And while the border cannot be changed, the circumstances of its establishment needn't be forgotten. To conclude that the attitude of Ms. Stockton and those of similar views is unjustified cultural prejudice, I only have to compare it to my own heritage. Today, my mother would be called an "anchor baby," born in the U.S. of Canadian parents. My maternal grandfather's heritage goes back to the 1700's, first in Pennsylvania but later in Ontario and back and forth across the U.S. and Canadian border according to job opportunities. My grandparents were in their fifties and the parents of four U.S. born children before they became U.S. citizens. Did they need amnesty? Hell no, it wasn't even an issue. Was my grandfather ever called a wetback? No, even though the St. Lawrence dwarfs the Rio Grande. The difference? They had blue eyes and spoke unaccented English. Let's face it. In the absence of any evidence that the Iroquois nation issued visas, our founding fathers were all illegal immigrants. But that's the way it was in those times, just as when Mexico ceded everything north of the Rio Grande to the U.S. Right or wrong doesn't always enter into it, and the moral high ground can be a slippery slope. If there is a two-word phrase that should be banned from the language, it is "those people." It has been used referring to Jews, to blacks, and continues to be used in reference to Hispanics. Mexicans are just a bunch of drug dealing terrorists? Mexico certainly has a problem, and that problem is a criminal element armed with U.S. weapons and financed by U.S. drug users. But just suggest that a U.S. citizen caught with Mexican drugs should be shipped to Mexico for trial on charges of supporting terrorism, and then listen to the howls. Mexico has a drug problem, but refusing to take our share of responsibility for it is a problem we seem unwilling to face. Yes, undocumented immigration has occurred, in large part because documented immigration has been denied on a scale almost unheard of among neighboring nations. And among the undocumented are many who would be more valued citizens than many who can claim their rights by birth. Look at the service flags that line Firestone Boulevard, or read the casualty lists of those from Iraq and Afghanistan. Without Hispanics, who would fight our wars? And by the way, Ms. Stockton, your kids might have to compete for jobs with kids who are bilingual, and find themselves at a disadvantage. David Mathews Downey

********** Published: May 23, 2013 - Volume 12 - Issue 06