Random Thoughts on Immigration: The Wall

The ancient Chinese built a wall to keep out the barbarians.  The barbarians did not pay for it.

The English centuries ago built a wall, called Hadrian’ s Wall, to keep out the Picts, present day Scots.  The Picts did not pay for it. I haven’t been to China, but I have hiked along party of Hadrian’s Wall. It wound up  being a rather scenic ruin, providing a nice walk in the country.

Walls are being built in Europe today to keep out refugees and there is no hope  at all that the refugees will pay.

Nevertheless it is worth thinking about control of a nation’s border.  Most people I know are vehemently opposed to a wall and not very worried about immigrants. A former foster child who slipped in across the border insists we should close the border.  If we opened it, she says, we have no idea how difficult it would be to  control drugs  and gang  warfare.  David, a former student, bellows “Close the border.” He is a graduate in Agriculture from a Mexican University and himself a former illegal immigrant, now legal and a citizen, thanks to an amnesty. Another friend who is a Quaker is  for open borders all around; I am not  certain whether that is her own opinion or a position by her church community.

We who live in a state where agriculture is important have a unique point of view. Our farmers need the workers. Their harvests and profits are suffering for lack of workers.  We respect immigrants from Mexico and Central America because they are decent family people and hard workers.  We know them as neighbors; our children go to school and play with their children. Every now and then we read in the papers that a pregnant woman working in the fields has died of  dehydration and we are reminded that even one such death is too many, that workers need protection from the sun and from pesticides; they need water and sanitation, and they need fair working conditions.

Most people I know would agree that if there were no other way to provide for their children except by sneaking across the border into Canada illegally, they would do it. My point is that there is a difference between illegal and immoral. It is not wrong to want a better life for one’s family.

Our immigrants from the Southwestern border work on lawns and gardens; they do construction work. and they fish. They work as short order cooks and they do the backbreaking work of weeding and plucking produce.  They have a high rate of accidents on the job because agriculture and fishing are dangerous. If anyone in the Midwest thinks the immigrants have taken away their jobs, they should come out and sign up.

Unlike most of my friends, I my self would not object to a guest worker program if it could work effectively. Although such programs have not been a success in Europe, where guest workers have not assimilated well,  we have visa programs that do work.  One is the H2A. What we need would be clearer if we acknowledged that immigration from Mexico and Central America is a  unique situation unlike that from Europe and Asia. Quotas should be set independently.

There may be some possibility of a terrorist slipping across the southern border and I’d like for us to be safe from that possibility. However, the would-be terrorist who was interrupted in his plan to bomb LAX airport several years ago had  come in via Canada.

Gangs and drugs are already crossing the border. We are importing them in exchange for the guns we sell various  rogue operators.  If North Americans could give up their drug habits, border problems would be a lot simpler. Now there’s a problem I’d like to see a solution to.