Nasty Little Man

The many flaws of the anti-immigrant crowd

Along with Israel-Lebanon, immigration is the other issue brewing this summer that has had me itching to blog. A few thoughts on the misconceptions and the misinformation espoused by those opposed to immigrants:
"Immigrants burden our communities with crime." Immigrants commit crime at a lower rate than non-immigrants. In Hazleton, PA, where much of the summer debate has been focused with that focus on latinos, 22% of the city's crime is committed by latinos, who make up 30% of the population.

"Illegal immigrants burden our welfare system." Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for cash-assistance, food stamps, public housing, or Medicare and Medicaid. This argument is a non-starter.

"Immigrants don't assimilate into and embrace American culture." First-generation immigrants throughout the nation's history have hung onto their own culture and language, but by the second and third generations, their children are Americanized. I saw this recently when an Indian neighbor held a party. Those from my parents' generation wore traditional Indian dress while those in my generation dressed like me and others our age.

"Immigrants demanded that we provide services in languages other than english." Admittedly, I do not know the history of how we started offering government services to people in non-english languages. But I find it hard to believe that powerless immigrants who barely have a pot to pee in were able to force the big, bad government to cater to them. Common sense tells me that the government realized it could operate more efficiently and effectively if it offered services in other languages. A good example is the case of Alberto and Anna Pacheco of Luzerne County, who lost their children for more than a year simply because the county did not provide them with a spanish interpreter to aid them in dealing with Children and Youth Services.

As Grits for Breakfast said (see link above):

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Often though, the immigration debate seems virtually fact-free.

posted by Kinder Gentler Little Man @ 2:06 PM