| On March 31, 1596, a child, named Rene, was born in | | | | losing their homes because of the actions of |
| the French village of La Haye en Touraine. In 1684, a | | | | unscrupulous lenders and inattentive government |
| work of his titled Rules for the Direction of the Mind | | | | regulatory agencies? Shouldn’t we feel sorry for |
| was posthumously published. Today he is known as | | | | the homeless? Shouldn’t we feels sorry for |
| the French philosopher, Rene Descartes, and on the | | | | maimed veterans? Shouldn’t we feel sorry for |
| 2nd of October, 1802, the village of La Haye en | | | | those who work for minimum wage? Shouldn’t we |
| Touraine was renamed Descartes in his honor. | | | | feel sorry for the elderly who must live on social |
| Together with his Discourse on Method which was | | | | security, or the impoverished who must live on welfare, |
| written in 1637, Rules for the Direction of the Mind lays | | | | or the unemployed who must live on unemployment |
| out a method for solving problems that has never | | | | compensation? In truth, if we are to invoke sorrow, we |
| been surpassed. If the American educational system | | | | can find good reason to feel sorry for a huge number |
| were not mediocre, Americans would be familiar with | | | | of Americans, and many of us do, but there is little that |
| this method and applying it would have given them an | | | | we can do about it. Why should it be different for illegal |
| efficient way of attacking social problems. In the | | | | immigrants? |
| absence of this knowledge, however, Americans have | | | | We are told that we can’t deport millions of people. |
| instead developed ways of obfuscating problems to | | | | Why do we have to? They came here without our |
| such an extent that solving them has become | | | | assistance; if they discover that jobs are unavailable, |
| impossible. | | | | why does anyone suppose they won’t leave |
| To illustrate this method of obfuscation, consider the | | | | without our assistance? |
| controversy over illegal immigration. People, on one | | | | And finally, we are told that rounding up illegal |
| level, see the problem as so simple that the | | | | immigrants is a form of racial discrimination or profiling. |
| controversy defies explanation. People who break | | | | But is it? When I was a boy, I lived in a part of |
| laws, when caught, are punished in one way or | | | | Pennsylvania that was, at the time, environmentally |
| another, presumably in hopes of getting them to | | | | unspoiled. The hills and woodlands that surrounded our |
| conform, and no good reason exists for excluding | | | | town were replete with wild berries every summer, |
| illegal immigrants from this practice. When a | | | | and we all picked them. There were blackberries, |
| government is blind to one form of illegality, all legality | | | | raspberries, and especially blueberries which were the |
| becomes suspect. | | | | most numerous. So when we went berry picking, |
| But then the obfuscation begins. | | | | although we picked all kinds, we usually come home |
| Illegal immigrants, we are told, alleviate a labor shortage. | | | | with greater numbers of blueberries. Were we |
| Yet no signs of a labor shortage exist. Jobs are not | | | | engaged in berry profiling? When people go out |
| going unfilled and wages are not rising. | | | | searching, they find the most of what is most |
| Illegal immigrants fill jobs that Americans refuse. But | | | | prevalent. |
| since the wages for these jobs are not rising, no | | | | I am not anti-immigrant. I am a first generation |
| evidence exists that Americans won’t take them. If | | | | American son of immigrant parents. I have a son-in-law |
| market forces were allowed to work, wages would | | | | of Mexican heritage and three darling grandchildren |
| rise and then and only then could we determine that | | | | who are officially classified as members of a minority, |
| Americans won’t work those jobs. But the | | | | although you’d never know it by watching the way |
| business community that talks the talk of free-market | | | | they act or listening to the way they talk. They know |
| economic theory won’t walk its walk. | | | | no Spanish, although I, not being Hispanic, do; they know |
| Illegal immigrants are merely decent, hard-working | | | | nothing of Latin culture, although I not only do, I admire it; |
| people only trying to make a better life for themselves. | | | | they have no understanding of how the Southwest |
| Well, some are and some aren’t. When a person | | | | became part of the United States, although I do and |
| illegally crosses the border into the United States, there | | | | believe it to have been unjustified. My two best friends |
| is no way of knowing if he/she is coming for a | | | | are of Mexican decent, and my favorite ballroom |
| low-paying job or for the promise of highly rewarding | | | | dance teacher is too. I prefer Latin music, especially |
| crime. | | | | Cuban to American, and I read the works of Latin |
| When illegal immigrants, many of whom have sired | | | | writers. Yet I do not believe the illegality of immigrants |
| children in the United States, are deported, families are | | | | should be overlooked. Not because I don’t have |
| broken up and children, who are here because of no | | | | sympathy for them but because I fear both for them |
| fault of their own, are left without a parent or parents. | | | | and for the rest of us if we don’t put an end to it. |
| Since Americans, so they say, don’t punish children | | | | Immigrants are always happily welcomed in |
| for the crimes of their parents, deporting illegal | | | | prosperous times. But when economies slump, |
| immigrants is unfair, since it punishes their children. But it | | | | immigrants, especially illegal ones, become targets. And |
| is untrue, of course, that the children of criminals are | | | | it is not a coincidence that the current furor over illegal |
| not punished for the crimes of their parents. Although | | | | immigration is simultaneous with our declining economy. |
| not legally punished, they suffer in countless ways. If | | | | If this economy should go under, as many believe it will, |
| we don’t protect the children of ordinary criminals | | | | discrimination will sprout like Jack’s beanstalk. Race |
| from such hardship, how can we justify protecting the | | | | relations could get very ugly. |
| children of illegal immigrants? | | | | The America known as a melting pot was never a |
| Illegal immigrants contribute more to the economy than | | | | real place. Many other nations have carried out racial |
| they extract. Although the accuracy of this claim is | | | | melding far better than America has. One hundred |
| dubious, suppose it’s true. Everyone who acquires | | | | years after the Emancipation Proclamation, our black |
| money, whether legally or illegally, contributes to the | | | | population was legally discriminated against and still is, |
| economy when the money is spent. How could one | | | | albeit illegally, in many ways, today. In every period of |
| determine, for instance, if Al Capone contributed less | | | | mass foreign immigration, immigrants faced |
| to the economy that he acquired? How many people | | | | discrimination, and there is no reason to believe that |
| did his criminal syndicate employ? How large was the | | | | they won’t again. That all larger nations are merely |
| magnifier effect of the wages they were paid? And if | | | | pseudo-communities invented and imposed by |
| we had determined that he, in fact, contributed more to | | | | nation-building elites has often been pointed out. Such |
| the economy that he took from it, would that have | | | | nations are entities unable to command the public's |
| justified overlooking his criminal behavior? | | | | loyalty and support or display a willingness to endure |
| Finally we are told that we must surely feel sorry for | | | | sacrifices. In The Social Conscience, Michel Glautier |
| these people. Having endured the hardships of coming | | | | asks: can a caring society exist in a market economy? |
| to America illegally, having endured the low wages and | | | | His analysis suggests that recent and continuing |
| horrible working conditions of the jobs they take, and | | | | changes to our market economy are putting a caring |
| having endured the discrimination they have been | | | | society beyond reach. If he is right, and if the American |
| subjected to, must we not feel sorry for them? We | | | | economy is in decline, this “caring society beyond |
| must surly feel doubly sorry for their children. Well, yes, | | | | reach” will not act kindly to immigrants, especially |
| of course, we should feel sorry for them, but we have | | | | illegal ones. For that reason alone, our problem with |
| reason to feel sorry for many groups of people. | | | | illegal immigration must be resolved or both our illegal |
| Shouldn’t we feel sorry for the many that endure | | | | immigrants and the rest of us will have hell to pay. |
| illnesses but have no access to medical care? | | | | Obfuscating the issue does not help. |
| Shouldn’t we feel sorry for the families that are | | | | |