Immigrants seek a better way of life
Recent headlines are filled with news about illegal immigration.
Before reading any further, I don’t know what the answer is. But I can share some of my experiences living and working as a reporter in these communities.
When I was in college in eastern North Carolina, large agribusinesses relied on migrant labor to pick tobacco or cucumbers. Outside Raleigh, in Zebulon, N.C., there was an authentic Mexican restaurant. The place was a haven for Hispanics. The Mexican flags that hung from the wall were no different than Irish flags seen in other pubs.
The locals ate elsewhere, so there was defacto segregation in town. That restaurant was not unique by any stretch of the imagination.
Later, I worked at a daily newspaper along the banks of the Ohio River.
Near the newspaper office, there was a laundromat where Hispanics washed their clothes. Racial epithets were scratched into the walls that were small enough not to cause a stink or cause anyone to file a criminal mischief complaint, but big enough for the patrons to notice.
And those words were never cleaned away but stayed on the walls week after week.
I talked extensively with farmers in that neck of the woods. Some tried to obey the law, but they said doing the right thing costs more than other farms that didn’t pay various costs and fees to the government.
Local authorities turned a blind eye.
Why not hire local? Farmers said without migrant labor, it was impossible to find good workers locally who were willing to do the backbreaking work needed to cultivate and harvest the crops in the hot sun. Though the money wasn’t too bad, the locals didn’t last but a couple of days before quitting, never to return to the fields. The locals had the option of welfare that many migrant laborers didn’t have or want.
I wrote a story about a teenage girl whose parents migrated from Mexico. She had been to numerous schools before she was able to settle down as a sophomore in a small school district. She didn’t see her parents for long periods of time because they traveled around following the various harvests, so she stayed with her uncle. While she had the requisite language skills, which is not always the case, her high school transcript was a mess.
The superintendent and the district’s guidance counselor put a lot of work into filling in the gaps. When the teen graduated, she received a scholarship to attend Marietta College to study nursing. I like to think the district’s investment in her education will pay dividends not only for her, but the nation.
She was the exception to the rule. The superintendent told me off the record that many such students attend school for a semester, maybe two, before moving on. Their basic academic skills are sub par, but the district is responsible for their education. That meant setting aside sometimes scarce resources in financially strapped school districts to pay for books and extra teaching staff. And student attendance is hit or miss because there is little incentive to pursue an education when faced with more pressing matters of survival.
Still, if our nation is to move forward, there shouldn’t be two classes of people separated merely by basic skills taught in school.
And really, how do you say no to a child in need?
Small town law enforcement was a nightmare for these folks. The police in many places I’ve worked were not too crazy about the paperwork associated with arresting someone on a work visa or staying illegally. On the flip side, the migrant population tends to be more law abiding than the locals. An arrest for them is not just 24-hours spent in a holding cell, but a host of other problems.
And when considering the flip side of keeping the cost of a tomato from growing out of reach, the taxpayer is picking up the tab on the back end through the hidden costs of hospital visits, education, law enforcement and more.
Through the years, the people I’ve talked with want a better life for themselves, their children. They are not here to mooch off the system, but to pursue the American dream.
As to those folks that talk about building walls, living in a “gated” nation is not how we should live. Those politicos who are salivating at the thought of how emerging demographics will offer an advantage at the polls — think again.
Hoping people come to their senses, I can’t help but remember those words inscribed on 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!”
Miles Layton is a staff writer for the Herald-Standard.