Immigration Reform- Necessary, or Bullshit?

So, for those of you who haven't noticed, President Bush suffered legislative defeat #53025 of his second term, his push to reform immigration. It wasn't a completely awful bill, it wasn't good, but it was at least a step in the right direction. To briefly summarize, it provided a legal path to citizenship for the 10-20million illegal aliens (read:Mexicans) in our country while stepping up border security. While I don't necessarily agree with building a fence, I think legalizing those people already here was extremely important.

Sidenote to President Bush: When you are heavily relying on your weakened base to support an extremely unpopular war, do not push an immigration bill that they don't like, and more importantly, don't push it standing next to Ted Kennedy.

I don't understand the Pat Buchanans and Tom Tancredos of the US. They, if you did not know, are virulently anti-illegal-immigration. Rep. Tancredo is even running for President on the Republican line solely on his immigration stance.

First of all, at one time or another (save the Native Americans) we all had immigrants come over. I sometimes wonder about the legality of my Italian-ancestors showing up at Ellis Island and passing through. (seems like open immigration) They certainly didn't apply for Visas or Green Cards back home, they just hopped on a boat and came over. Tom Tancredo's grandparents all migrated here from Italy. Mine came from England, Germany, Italy, and a host of other countries. Mr. Tancredo and all should investigate the 3rd generation rule. Based on polls and surveys (which I have no link to, sorry) the grandchildren of the immigrants have no real connection to the homeland. They generally speak little of the language and don't identify with the country. A good example of this is a good friend of mine. His grandmother barely speaks English, (she's Italian) his mom speaks Italian and has visited Italy several times. My friend knows no Italian and really has no attachment to Italy, other than cheering for the Nazionale in the World Cup.

Secondly, immigration makes America far better off. Italians (in addition to every ethnic group) add an interesting and valuable part to American culture. Where would we be without the Godfather, Scorcese, Pacino, De Niro, lasagna, and all the little Italys? You can name contributions to America by just about every ethnicity. We are more diverse, more interesting, and more unique because of immigration. I have friends with Italian, German, South Korean, Chinese, African, English, French, Russian and Indian ancestries. With all of these cultures we forged a new culture, Americana. And if you haven't noticed, it's quite popular worldwide.

Thirdly, none of us chose to be born an American citizenship. I've often heard "It's ridiculous to be proud of your country when you didn't pick it" which is true at birth, but it doesn't apply when you have experience and personal history with a country. So why are we any better than anyone else? Should I be able to enjoy living in America and not Senor Juan? I firmly believe the answer to both is a resounding no. He has every right to be here that I do. If you and I were Mexican, I think there's a good chance we would be crossing over la frontera to come for jobs here as well.

Immigration adds a valuable element to the American nation and it is inexcusable to refuse entry to millions of people just because they didn't happen to be born here. Remember, a hundred years ago politicians were whining about the masses of Italians and Chinese coming into the country, with all the same complaints as today. Now, those immigrants descendents are a normal and critical part of American culture. Given a few decades, I'm sure Mexicans will be as well.