#slavetraders

I have had a really difficult time the past two years trying to rectify in my mind what liberals can possibly mean by not wanting to have immigrants become legal citizens.  I, and my family, have lived in some very immigrant heavy areas.  None of us ever had any problem at all with neighbors from other countries, ethnic backgrounds or religious differences.  Living in any immigrant area will simply blow the "immigrants are lazy" argument out of the water.  I watched those immigrants work so much harder than most people I knew.  Some of them lived next door and spoke no English.  I didn't care, we figured out how to talk to each other.  A big smile and a happy "Hello" in any language will let a person know that they are appreciated and recognized.  What a big happy hello won't do is let people know exactly how much you value them, how very appreciative people are of the work that is done, or any other things that we might want to convey.

The next door neighbors paid roughly 2 times what their house was worth.  It was in poor repair when they bought it.  Oh, and did they work.  That house was so clean on the inside, the yard was swept and raked, yes I said swept.  Four people bought and lived in a 3 bedroom house, about 1100 square feet.  They were always working, they worked on different shifts so there were always people at home and always people working.  When we were moving we had a home inspector by.  He was appalled at the structural condition.  When he found out they were not here legally, I was clued in; usurious loans

Hellos and smiles only go so far.  Living in the USA only goes so far when the chips are down or people want to get ahead.  Being in the United States will not put a roof over anyone's head or put food on the table.  It will not guarantee your child is afforded the same education, help or guidance.  I personally witnessed elementary school children who were in the ESL classes prK-3 being excluded from state mandated testing.  I was heavily into volunteering from the time my son started Kindergarten through 2nd grade.  K-1 were horrible years.  I volunteered for 8 hours/day 5 days/week.  I volunteered in the library because they needed the help.  I worked with a lot of children and parents who spoke no English.  Most of the teachers liked me.  One first grade teacher detested me and my son because he could read before Kindergarten.  She was angry with me for showing the first graders in her ESL class where the older child bilingual books were located.  She got angry with me for helping them check out very basic books in all English to compare with the same book in Spanish.  Their parents liked this.  Their parents came in to check out books to read to their kids.  I worked on the parents and pretty soon they were getting those books.  The next obstacle was the PTA. Two white women ran the PTA devoid of any Hispanic officers, influence or input.  I'm white.  I wasn't standing for it.  I was elected President.  I didn't want to be President of the PTA, but I was.  I did some things that were not 100% altruistic.  I was opposed to no changes.  I got rid of the other 2 officers who were elected with me, and put in place the vice President and Treasurer who were on board with the changes.  Changes were made, the vice President was fully and truly bilingual.  All meetings were conducted bilingually, all flyers were bilingual aside from the one time my devious little mind sent home all Spanish flyers.

.

We moved to another state, also with a very high immigrant population.  Ethnic make-up has never been important to us when relocating.  Crime rates, proximity to the things we need, affordability and other important issues are what have always driven our relocation choices.  I was not in the least concerned by a very high Sikh population or a high Hispanic population.  We're all just people doing the best we can for our children and family.  I figured my son would branch out from Mexican food, slang, attire and vocal affectations to explore other cultures and learn new things.  He kind of did, but old roots run deep.  I saw a lot of the same issues, but as he aged, his friends aged and we all talked more.  I found out a lot more.  I learned that migrant field workers aren't given the same rights and privileges at work that US citizens are.  I also learned that they don't complain because they have no recourse.

We moved where we are currently.  This is the first time, since I was 15 years old, that I've lived in an area that's almost all white.  My son came home after the first day or so of school totally confused because he'd never seen that many white children in his life.  Third grade was the first time he was not the extreme minority in a school system or neighborhood.  Being here, we've learned that liberals just need to stop this crazy crap.

If any liberal or democrat truly cared about immigrants it seems to me that they'd want what would be most beneficial to immigrants and that's equality.  How on Earth in anyone's addled mind can they believe that it's in any way beneficial to an immigrant to be denied treatment, fair representation, be denied a good safe affordable home, have their children be ostracized in class or be treated like they are intellectually inferior when it comes to reading?  How is preventing people who came here for a better life helping anyone?  It seems that those who employ them may benefit, so might those who have hazardous or damaged property to rent or sell at ridiculously high prices and others who prey on people who just don't know better or don't have the right to appeal.

I want people to come here.  I want immigrants to feel welcome.  I am excited when people become citizens.  I want neighborhood diversity.  I want my son to experience other cultures here at home.  I fully support education programs and initial aid programs.  A good well rounded citizenship program would have access to classes in citizenship a safe place to stay during the learning process, it would ideally be staffed with recent college graduates in a work/ loan payoff program.  Student debt is too high, so why not allow immigrants, volunteers, and new graduates in debt work together to ensure brighter futures for all.  Teachers, doctors, lawyers, social workers, finance specialists, dentists, nutritionists, agriculture workers, job placement specialists... at least some of these people have loans and may be more than happy to work off all or part of that debt.  Many new graduates can't get a job without experience, this would be that experience to help them get a leg up and a job offer.  The new immigrants would emerge as newly minted citizens.  They would ideally have secured jobs, housing, bank accounts, voter cards and transportation.

There are so many places where this could be done.  Old vacant military bases have dorms, hospitals, grounds and all the amenities for a small community., empty hospitals, old schools, empty auditoriums, any old but structurally sound building will do.  I'm sure carpenters, masons, electricians, architects and plumbers have loans that they can't afford too,   It would be so much more cost effective to implement this training program than what is currently being done.  I have no facts or figures, just my own thoughts.