The Red, White and Green?

Crossing Lines.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since I started paying attention to politics, it’s this…

It’s always easier to pick on the little guy.

Whenever you have a problem and there are several suspects, the little guy will always take the brunt of the blame and will face the harshest punishment.  Take the “problem” of immigration.  Here’s what your police lineup would look like:

U.S. Government; American Citizens; Corporations/ Employers; Drug Cartels; Miguel.

Want to guess who gets picked out of this lineup? (I’ll wait.)  That’s right, Miguel with his evil plan to cross the border, terrorize a country and… take a below minimum wage job and live in complete fear and secrecy?  And he does this to provide for his wife and children who he had to leave behind.  Does that sound like someone we should hate?  But we do because he’s the little guy and an easy target.

One complaint is that illegal immigrants steal jobs from hard working Americans.  If so, then why are we quick to arrest Miguel but drag our feet when it comes to punishing the people that hire him?  When it comes to the ultimate job stealer, look no further than your corporations.  Under the guise of “appeasing shareholders”, countless jobs are outsourced to other countries.  But no fingers point at Bob the CEO for cutting jobs in Louisiana, they only point at Miguel.

Another issue is security.  People are concerned with drugs that are brought in by Mexicans.  This is a real issue.  Drug trafficking is a serious threat to thousands of lives on both sides of the border.  But you can’t blame this on Miguel.  Mexico is a poor country, so who do you think is spending all this money on illegal drugs?  Corrine and Jake who want to party?  Mike who needs a fix?  We tried the war on drugs before and it failed.  So who’s left to fight?  Right again.  Miguel.

Perhaps you’re thinking along the lines of rules and regulations.  I agree, we do have laws and they should be followed but there is a reason why only one of our borders is threatened.  You don't see Canadians trying to sneak into Oregon.  If Mexico were in a position to provide its citizens with a decent living wage, I wouldn’t have to write this post.  With all the aid that we send around the world, you would think that we would do more for our “neighbors” (Especially since ¼ of our country used to be Mexico).  But it’s too hard to fault the entire government and expect them to help provide Mexico with the resources to stabilize it; we have to blame Miguel for trying to survive.

The hypocrisy of my country baffles me as our entire existence was built on immigration and the premise of the “pursuit of happiness”.  I refuse to condemn someone who has no choice but to risk his life and freedom to provide a decent life for his family. (Watch: 30 Days – Immigration (Season 2))  Immigration is not a criminal issue, it’s a human rights issue and we owe it to Miguel to find the root of the problem and fix it.  If we continue down this path, the little guy will get squashed.

We already lost one state.