An American Businessman
As I see it, he’s a self-made man. He eschews credit cards and bank loans. He holds a strong home with a loving wife and a loved step-daughter. He owns two small businesses and will open another soon. He understands the legal intricacies of filing for zoning permits and incorporation papers. He has an internet presence promoting his businesses. Because of his entrepreneurial skills, he has benefited households and businesses within his community. He provides jobs and he needs services just as much as he supplies services. That’s the way business works, at least in the decent day-to-day business of our American homeland, aside from greedy Wall Street and socially corrupt corporate entities.
Revealing Article
Since I am an immigration attorney, readers have probably figured out that the paragraph above is somewhat loaded. Yes, the guy has been a “shadow” American for nearly twenty years. Yes, he is a Mexican by birth. But guess what else the guy does? He moves about using only buses and trains. He can’t get a driving license. This particular situation was revealed to me, though I have seen somewhat parallel lives in my own practice, in a recent article in “New York Times” by Nelson D. Schwartz. Entitled Transformation of a Town Underscores Immigrants Impact. It covered issues such as low wages and unskilled natural citizens being undercut regarding employment opportunities – the usual and understandable complaints. But, a lot of hope describing the promise of our American immigrants was there as well.
Taxes, Taxes, Taxes
No matter your citizenship status, payroll taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, and the list goes on, cannot be avoided. And many low-income legal U.S. citizens do not pay income taxes. So how can one really complain that a person without papers doesn’t pay income taxes, or general taxes? Perhaps most telling were some of the readers’ responses that accompanied the article mentioned above. For one: “Larry,” from Brooklyn, New York, regarding the use of taxpayer identification numbers, as opposed to Social Security Numbers, said: “I have an undocumented friend from an unnamed country who has paid his taxes on several million dollars income over the years. Leaving people like this in limbo makes no sense at all.”
Communities Revived
Meanwhile, because of the influx of immigrants, many communities, once nearly dead, are now thriving. The article cites that a wave of legal and illegal Hispanic immigrants have transformed the small city of Port Chester in New York. Factories and mills had closed in the 80s and 90s and the population dwindled. “Bombed out” neighborhoods came alive again with immigrant-owned stores and markets. “Clare,” from White Plains, New York, commenting on the immigrant influx regarding her village said: “The immigrants that live here are family-oriented, hardworking people. Yes, some of them may be here illegally, but they do what they have to do to give their lives a chance. They go to church and enroll their children in the local schools and they work!! I love this Village and its multiplicity. We have to do something to help these people.”
Confronting Racism
Race has always been a highly charged issue in America, despite, or maybe because, it is one of the most racially diverse nations on the globe. Of course, Irish and Polish immigrants were reviled, despite their European heritage. One reader pointed out that just this year the Daily News, a New York paper, reported that over 50,000 undocumented Irish live in the five boroughs of the Big Apple and that one doesn’t hear much about them. She thinks the concern about illegal Hispanics is racism disguised as concern for the law. So, just how much does skin color play in this whole immigration dilemma? Probably a lot. The presence of Hispanic and other so-called “brown-skins” can have, and have had, an economically beneficial effect in many areas of the United States. Still, the ever-so-tasteful epithets are bandied about: beaners, spics, wetbacks, among them.
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
However true it may be that immigrants, at some times and in some places, do indeed pull down employment opportunities in terms of availability and reduced wages, the benefits often outweigh the losses. Like it or not, they do indeed take or perform jobs for American businesses that legals really will just not take. One reader, “Michael,” of Wappingers Falls, New York, said: “Many illegals are lured by American businesses that require labor to survive. Here in the Hudson Valley … onion farmers on Pine Island and the [Hudson] apple orchards … require thousands of illegal immigrants to survive.” A reader who owned a roofing business said that he paid a good wage, but that out-of-work legals and college students off for the summer were often no-shows and usually quit within a week. His illegals, well-paid, always showed up and were happy to put in overtime. Go figure. Regular American citizens have changed.
The Senate Tinkers
Considering all the above, following the debate over acceptable immigration reform that is now happening on Capitol Hill is obfuscating. Senators eager to sustain or defeat any action are each adding their own little tags to the nascent legislation. Meanwhile, over 11 million undocumented immigrants, such as the ones described above, are in limbo. A degree of humanity seems to be lacking. Are these law makers really considering the most economically feasible and the most morally sound way to deal with these people and those who may follow them? Or are they just politicking? Are they just grandstanding to the baser instincts of their constituencies to garner more future votes and more campaign funds?
Real “American” People
We’re dealing with real live people here, not votes, not numbers on a chart, not colors or races. Or, as one reader said, and I’m paraphrasing: People who work hard, fix up neighborhoods, start businesses, and send neatly dressed kids to school every day. Isn’t that worthy of a hand? Ain’t that American?
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