I watched the movie last night, expecting it to be about illegal immigration and with all of the discussion as of late on this topic was curious as to what the movie was about. Really the title is misleading, sure all of the "Mexicans" disappear but they are gone for more than a day, and the actual result of what ending illegal immigration would be like is not shown since all Mexican's disappear, including those who came here legally.
If the producers really wanted to make their point as the stats they threw in during the movie that support illegal immigration then only illegals should have "disappeared" then it might have had more of an impact as far as creating discussion.
The message that not all Latino's are Mexican is promoted thru out the movie, and I'd suggest the creators of this film forgot something just as important...All Mexicans are not illegals, lumping those who worked hard to come here legally or those who have been here for as long as some of the Southwest has been part of the union is really a slam on their contributions.
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9 comments:
This is a very complicated issue. Being that I'm Mexican-American (literally, having been born in Mexico to a Mexican father and American mother), this issue is close to my heart. Although I've been a citizen since birth (thanks to my mother), I appreciate (thought in a very limited form given my different experience) the sturggle an illegal immigrant must go through in order to come here, even putting their life on the line at the border.
I think that the movie tried to send a general message about the extent Mexicans contribute to the US economy and culture and to underscore how underappreciated Mexicans are. The movie is set in California, where the distinction between legal and illegan Mexicans is blurred (I have a friend who had to carry the soc sec card with her since she was four in order to avoid being deported during INS street raids)...
California is also a place where, if Mexican, for example, you cannot rent/own land just anywhere, you have to rent/own where other Mexicans live. My brother was "steered" away from La Jolla (a wealthy, non Mexican suburb of San Diego) by realtors that claimed there were no apartments for rent there [we think] because of my brother's name and accent (He was a doctor in the Navy at the time). He got married in La Jolla a couple of months later and we saw quite a number of Apartments for Rent signs. The fear of others is not limited to California, of course. I was steered away from a house for rent by the landlord in Ann Arbor, MI, who tried to convince me that the house wasn't right for me when I called to inquire about it. I was getting a PhD at the University of Michigan at the time. However, for her and many others, we're scary people who are here to take over, kill people, steal things, paint graffitti, and do other horrible things (some are, just like in any other group).
What many Americans don't realize, given scapegoat politics ("illegals are the source of many of our problems"), is that illegals take jobs people here don't go for. Who wants to pick strawberries 12 hours per day for $4/hr. For those who don't know, strawberries grow in low bushes very close to the ground, so you have to bend over to pick them. PBS had a special about illegals in Long Island and one of the businesses, a landscaping company, complained that they would go under if they didn't employ illegal day workers. They said that only high school students went to work for them, but had a bad work ethic and usually quit within a few weeks (they were wealthy suburban kids who really didn't need to work). So, they need to employ illegals in order to get things done and to have a stable workforce. Illegals (at least from Mexico) also don't use welfare (even if they get fake documents, illegals from Mexico come from a culture where there is dignity in work and working 12-14 hour day is a good thing, so living off the state is very shameful, and the last thing they want is to go to a government agency to bring attention to themselves). Even if they don't pay income tax because they get paid under the table, they pay sales tax on everything they buy and keep many industries afloat. Even the CATO Institute concluded a few years back that immigrants, legal and illegal, contribute more than they take. However, I only saw this piece of news in Univision, the Spanish language channel.
I won't ramble anymore...
At any rate, if nothing else, I thought the movie was very funny. It also gives us all something to think about...
oops, sorry about the long comment. I only realized how long it was when it was posted.... :)
You can write even longer comments if you want to, I think what you wrote is important and sharing your point of view is why this whole blog is here. Heck I write novels so there is no reason why those of you who make this blog what it is shouldn't.
I see the point you are making and I think that is why the illegal immigration issue has not been dealt with. No one knows how to really deal with it. If the jobs were not there, then there would be no illegal immigrants. Some of those jobs you are very correct, most americans don't want to do.
My husband is Puerto Rican, the majority of his family still lives in Puerto Rico, which is why I guess I keyed in more on the contributions legal residents have made that should be kept separate from the illegal immigration issue. I have friends who have gone thru hell to become legal residents, they jumped all the hoops, filled out all the forms, had the sponsors and became US citizens. If there really is a need for these workers, which I think we all realize there is, then there has to be a way to do this so it's not against the law.
The way we are dealing with it now as this movie demonstrated by some round ups every now and then at the border and a few NIS arrests is basically a wasted effort.
Unfortunately, having a temporary worker's visa, like many other countries do (particularly in the middle east where the host country does not have enough of a work force), makes sense. The problem is that those who see foreigners as aliens who are here to destroy our way of live, who are also many of the people voting, think such approach would mean giving our country up.
I'm glad to hear you have a multiethnic household (I'm assuming you're not Puerto Rican, but could be wrong). My wife, how is German, Irish, Swedish..... -American will be happy to hear that.
Diversity is the spice of life, otherwise, it gets boring...
Cheers
My father's side of the family was here even before there was a United States, they fought in the American Revolutionary war. There's supposedly some Native American blood in there as well. My mother's side is Polish/German, they came here as immigrants to escape Hitler.
I feel it's unfortunate anyone would feel immigrants illegal or legal would destroy anything here, realistically we are all immigrants, the only difference is how many years have we been here.
Being illegal creates a situation that is not only against the law but leaves them susceptible to being taken advantage of and abused. While I realize there have been illegals that have come here and committed crime, it's obvious more has been done "to" illegals rather than "by" illegals. A good portion of that goes unreported since they can't report it.
That's why I focus more of the blame for this on those who hire them. While the Mexicans of course know what they are doing is illegal, it's not like Mexico is doing enough to provide a living wage economy. That's the real solution....
catdaddy,
While I sympathize with the racism you've faced, and find it wholly deplorable, and I applaud what both you and your brother have accomplished, I must disagree with some of the conclusions you've drawn. Because responding to them all would involve posting something even lengthier than what you did (something I usually don't shy away from, as Lisa well knows) I will stick to the main thing I had issue with.
"...a landscaping company, complained that they would go under if they didn't employ illegal day workers."
To me, that's not an excuse to break the law. Callous as it may sound, perhaps they shouldn't be in business, then. If a company would go under if they complied with environmental laws (which are weak enough as it is, right now) does that mean environmental laws shouldn't be enforced? Should Enron have been allowed to continue it's illegal practices, because that's what it took to remain in business? To me, the answer is no. If you have to break the law to stay in business, you don't belong in business. Laws aren't supposed to be something you comply with if they're convenient. They're laws, to be followed or to face legal consequences for breaking them.
I have had a strong interest in the American civil war since I took a certain junior high government class where it was high-lighted. That class raised many questions for me. One such question is:
How could American citizens, who obviously valued the American ideal of life and liberty for themselves possibly justify using human beings as slaves?
The answer, as far as I've come up with (though it's by no means this simple) is two-fold. 1) They honestly believed that their slaves (people native to Africa) were less human than they were. 2) They needed the cheap laborers to support their way of life.
The same can be said of many who hire illegal immigrants. The justification that they NEED to break the law in order to make their business work...means to me they lack the ingenuity to find a legal means of doing so. The fact that they are WILLING to hire for sub-standard wages, offering poor working conditions, and often mistreating their workers...means to me that they value their workers less than they value themselves.
Southern plantation owners claimed they needed slaves to get the work done they needed done. Now, many of those same "plantations" hire illegal immigrants, and make that same claim. It didn't make slavery right in the 1800's. It doesn't make hiring illegal immigrants right now.
Often, it simply amazes me that people who consider themselves ADVOCATING for the welfare of illegal immigrants would want to perpetuate this situation. I have to temper the outrage I feel about that with the knowledge that...as bad as it is for them here, it's often worse back in Mexico. However, as painful as that reality is, the solution isn't turning a blind-eye to these companies that break the law, or changing the law so that they're not breaking it. Nor is the solution simply deporting the illegal immigrants and letting Mexico deal with its own mess (because the Mexican government either can't or won't and I'm not sure which). The solution is to help Mexico become self-sufficient.
How exactly we do that, I admit I don't know. But I believe if the creative energy that was used to circumvent our laws and to survive here were to be used instead to make Mexico thrive, if the sympathies that were used to advocate for the "equal" treatment of illegal immigrants were used instead to advocate both governmental and non-governmental "teach a man to fish" type assistance programs, then a workable solution would be reached. And we could help to make Mexico a home the illegal immigrants would WANT to return to, willingly and thankfully. That, of course, would force American businesses who use these illegal immigrants as cheap labor to come up with better, legal ways to make their businesses work...but American's have done it before and can do it again.
Allowing illegal immigrants to come into this country to "better" themselves is a very short-sighted solution, imo, which hasn't really changed anything for the better as long as it's been going on. It has helped some (relatively) few individuals both here and in Mexico, and there are American citizens born here that have individually had better opportunities because of it...yet, Mexico is still impoverished and the crimes committed by illegal immigrants and the squalor in which they are often forced to live continues to make the racial stigma of being hispanic and/or Mexican a heavy weight to bear.
There's got to be a better solution. As a conscientious and compassionate American, I feel pursuing this elusive "better solution" is the most appropriate action I can take.
Lisa,
*sigh* Ah, well. Mine ended up longer anyway. *shrugs*
:-)
"it's not like Mexico is doing enough to provide a living wage economy. That's the real solution..."
I agree whole-heartedly with that. Despite my own financial situation, my husband and I are trying to help a Mexican family (up in the mountains where food is scarce and work is scarcer) to give their three children an education. Our hope is that these young people will be able to find a way to help their own community become more successful and prosperous once they're older. It's way too early to determine whether or not we'll actually be able to accomplish this, but we're trying.
So...back to the movie (which I had not even heard of)...is it worth checking out? Is it in the theater now, or is it something to rent, or is it a documentary that might be hard to find?
It cannot be avoided when looking at the facts in aggregate: Hispanic immigration, whether legal or illegal, is a developing disaster for America. Even after generations of 'assimilation', they are, when compared to the native population, on average: 1) significantly more likely to commit a crime, especially a serious, violent crime; and 2) significantly less likely to be successful academically, i.e. to attend college and to graduate. Question: How can it possibly make sense for a nation to import a population of people like that? Any failure to honestly acknowledge these facts can only be put down to racially sensitive political correctness, which IMO the US as a nation can no longer afford.
"putting their life on the line at the border"
Please point me to the news stories about mass starvation in Mexico etc -- something that would justify risking your life to cross the border illegally; I must've missed those. There are literally billions of people in the world poorer than the average Mexican. In fact: When compared to other Latin American nations, Mexico is relatively well off -- e.g. it has more billionairs than the rest of Latin America combined. What Mexico has in addition is a corrupt ruling class and government that does nothing about fostering the sort of economic development that would aid in lifting more Mexicans out of poverty; instead they prefer to rely on millions of their poor emigrating to the US. Nothing will change in Mexico until the US puts an end to this safety valve for the corrupt Mexican elites by enforcing its immigration laws.
catdaddy,
"Illegals (at least from Mexico) also don't use welfare (even if they get fake documents, illegals from Mexico come from a culture where there is dignity in work and working 12-14 hour day is a good thing, so living off the state is very shameful, and the last thing they want is to go to a government agency to bring attention to themselves)."
Now, there is a work ethic that we could use more of, especially from our own spoiled, rich American youth...
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