Why should American citizens have to support illegal immigrants? What
are we doing to train and employ the millions of unemployed,
underemployed, and marginally employable American citizens, especially
AfroAmericans whose families have been in this country for well over a
century, not to mention Hispanics who have been living in this country
since even before the transfer of territory from Mexico to the USA in
the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo? Most of all, is it fair to Native
Americans who are the aboriginal inhabitants of these lands, and who
have the lowest per capita income, standard of living and economic
opportunities?
Perhaps until we can solve some of the gross economic and social
injustices that plague our country and its citizens, we should shut off
immigration, period.
In addition, giving immigration preference to elderly family members of
recent immigrants, transfers the burden from their countries of origin
(where they have lived and contributed to those economic systems), to
this one to which they have not contributed anything! It is far cheaper
for everybody to assist elderly in their own countries than in the USA
where healthcare and associated expenses are enormous evenn by developed
world standards. Most European countries do not generally allow
immigrants over the age of 50 (or 55) from out of the EC, for those very
reasons.
Instead of being overly sympathetic for immigrants whose benefits come
from our social security pockets, not theirs, let us instead put that
money into economic redevelopment to retrain and employ American
workers, especially people of colour. In parts of the rural south, there
are fewer opportunities for residents who have lived there since slavery
than there are opportunities in Mexico! If we do not take care of our
own problems and our own needs as a nation, then we will cease to become
a nation and begin to look more and more like the Roman Empire, and end
up just as dead as Imperial Rome, and in a shorter period of time.
jamil b.