Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Opinion

Hop over the fence of indecision

ADIL SALEEM
Opinion Columnist 

First off, I'm really disappointed in the people who read The Daily Cougar, and especially those who sent in letters (about Melissa Correa's opinion column, March 27) last week. Most people just attacked the columnist as opposed to her viewpoint. It was just sad, because it looked like something that would happen in high school, not here at UH. 

With this whole immigration debate, there have been those who say we should make illegal immigrants felons, and then on the other side are those who would give them worker permits. Then following in those footsteps are people who say they should be provided a path to citizenship if they pay a fine, learn to speak English and work for a certain amount of time. But I think we're going about it in entirely the wrong way. 

Most people acknowledge that we need illegal immigrants to do jobs that Americans simply will not do. But that's not really true. Americans did do those jobs, until cheaper labor arrived. Americans did manufacture electronics and make shirts until said companies decided that cheaper labor was to be found in Mexico, or Vietnam, or Bangladesh. 

But that's how business works. If you could find a cheaper source of goods and labor, then you grab that opportunity. I really don't get the Minutemen either. I think that's just racism masked as patriotism. It's like biting the hand that feeds you, and quite literally at that.

I also agree that immigration laws are here for a purpose. We don't live in a time where thousands of people can just come here and receive citizenship. If that were the case, millions of people would show up at our ports.

For those who say we should give these people citizenship, I think it's absurd. It's rewarding someone who broke the law, while thousands of other immigrants who have applied to come here wait in line for 10, 15, even 20 years. Just because you're already here doesn't mean you should get such precedence. I'm all for legal immigration. Thousands of immigrants come here legally from countries all over the world. They don't have the luxury of jumping a fence to come here. If they can do it legally, why can't people from Mexico? 

As for worker permits, I think that's a wrong decision as well. It walks a thin line as it keeps them here, but makes them semi-legal. And 10 years down the road, we'll have the same debate as whether to allow them citizenship or not. 

No one has stood up and said, "Hey I think we're good, and we really don't need to change anything." Well, I just did. Most illegal immigrants work at, or below, minimum wage. This reason alone lets us hire a maid to clean our house and a landscaper to keep our lawn in good order. Illegal immigrants work in many restaurants making our food. They work in dry cleaners steaming our laundry. We hire illegal day laborers to build our decks, or to shingle our roofs. 

The sad thing is that we need these people to remain illegal. If they were legal, we wouldn't get labor as cheap. Your non-Hispanic maid would cost twice as much. Your house would cost more to build, as illegal immigrants make up a large portion of construction workers. Just like we are so dependent on China, we are also dependent on the illegal status of these immigrants. 

I'm not being racist, or coldhearted. This is just reality. Some people like to think that we don't do this, but we do. If we made them legal, would they really continue to work below minimum wage, or would they start working at Burger King for six bucks an hour? I'd bet on Burger King.

But it doesn't matter what we do. Making them felons will only end up hurting us. Giving them worker permits won't hurt us much. Granting them citizenship might hurt us initially, but the fact is that hundreds of illegal immigrants cross over daily. The pool is only getting bigger. We grant citizenship now, and in a couple of years, more people will demand the same. 

Reality is harsh, even if we don't like to think it is. Rewarding people for their misdeeds is not an option, and neither is granting them semi-legal status with worker permits. Laws are here for a reason; I think we should abide by them. Support immigration legally, or don't support it at all.

Send comments to dccampus@mail.uh.edu