We expected President Obama’s executive order declaring a moratorium on the deportation of “illegal immigrants” to draw a strong reaction from the Tea Party crowd. Hiding behind the mask of patriotism, that reaction has been vile and mean-spirited.
In a short letter to the editor in last week’s paper, reader Tom Coffey expresses much of the rationale that others of his leaning try to hide.
He writes, “The harsh reality is that these Central American and Mexican illegals are the impoverished and unwanted masses of those nations. Obviously, they came here to better their circumstances but their circumstances are not our problem.”
He goes on, “That they work hard is irrelevant. Do we need labor? Yes, skilled high-value labor, namely; doctors, engineers, economists, etc. We do not need more low-skilled manual which exacerbates our already serious urban employment problems.”
Compare Coffey’s words to the immortal words of Emma Lazarus inscribed at the Base of the Statue of Liberty:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
America has every right to control its borders, but if we lose the spirit of those words, we lose more than we can gain by deporting every “illegal immigrant” in Nassau County.
Baby Boomers will remember when President John F. Kennedy launched the Peace Corps in 1961. His words inspired a nation that was still feeling the effects of WWII and the Korean War to think about people in nations with far less than they had.
Thousands of young people signed up to spend two years in impoverished third world nations helping others without pay.
Imagine a candidate today saying what Kennedy said in his inaugural address:
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
“My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Some might call that “sanctimonious blather” just as Mr. Coffey called the defenders of Obama’s immigration order.
In justifying his war on immigration, Coffey claims that “USA is no longer an agrarian and rural nation.” That may be true for Nassau County but it is not true for states like Alabama that rely on immigrant labor to help with harvests. Many of the migrant laborers are immigrants. The crackdown on immigration has hurt farmers and resulted in higher prices for food – even in Nassau County.
Blaming immigrants for the nation’s high unemployment is foolish. Arguing that the suffering people of the world “our not our problem” is un-American.
