“To label Elvira criminal without a larger analysis of the immigration/race issue is ignorant and reactionary. To attack her as a mother is to show little understanding of the history of Latina mami activism.”

Ms. Arellano is not a criminal in the traditional sense, but she is a law breaker. I do not blame anyone for wanting a better life for themselves or their loved ones that is only natural. With that being said, and keeping in mind that we are a nation of immigrants, there a number of issues that irk many people. Speaking for myself, why should my tax money pay for the education of the children of illegals, pay for their medical bills and why is speaking Spanish practically a mandatory requirement for getting a job these days? God bless Ms. Arellano for wanting what is best for her child, however she is still a law breaker.

Don’t be ridiculous Emily: “they will figure out a way to earn a living in their country” Why do you think they came here in the first place? The situation in many towns in Mexico is desperate for many families who can’t even feed their children. You think they want to come up north to be the subject of raids, deportations and the vitriol of ignorant ill-informed xenophobes like yourself?

Its not as simple as saying “well they should come here legally” either. The government, in their infinite wisdom, chose to close down the immigration quotas in the 60s(making getting legal papers literally like winning the lottery) even while they knew that the demand for immigrant labor in this country was extraordinary. What do you think is going to happen? When there is extraordinary demand for labor north of the border and an extraordinary supply of people literally dying to work just south of it, people will come.

Lastly, saying “WE ARE TIRED OF IT” is so disingenuous. You, like the rest of us Americans, benefit from the illegal immigrant influx because they fill jobs that aren’t being filled otherwise. Our construction industry would be in shambles without them. Our tourism industry would fall apart. Our farmers… do I need to talk about the fact that undocumented workers pick ALL OUR FRUIT AND VEGETABLES? Our meat processing, manufacturing production, delivery drivers, all benefit from immigrants.

IF you look at demographics, you will see that the bulk of our American, non-immigrant population is older and getting older as the Baby Boomers start retiring. Remember they are the largest group of people in our history. So our average age is getting older and older. Who do you think does all the work in the low end of the wage scale in the above mentioned industries? Its younger, less experienced people and immigrants. Since we have less younger native born people, we need more immigrants. Japan, a country with a terrible immigration policy, is now suffering from lack of workers. They are so worried that they will grow old without enough people to take care of the elderly that they are investing billions in developing domestic robots to take care of the elderly. Seems like a reasonable solution? Switzerland and other countries in Europe are suffering the same fate, but we are not. Why? Because we have the much desired labor. An economy simply doesn’t work without enough labor.

I know it is annoying that there are so many people here without any legal papers. The solution, however, is not to deport them one-by-one… something that will NEVER happen. Or to make their lives miserable. It’s to open our immigration quotas to make migration in and out (and back to Latin America) easier. We need the people.

If your issue is the illegality, but not simply the ethnicity of the people, then surely you would be glad to open up the quotas to allow enough people in to fill the jobs that need filling? That’s where your energy should be spent, not on deporting, harassing and otherwise belittling the millions of honest, hard-working individuals who help drive our economy to be the powerhouse it is today.

Mario. I couldn’t agree with you more on you point of not allowing in people indiscriminately. In fact, a hefty fee, a background check and references should be required. I would never suggest to “just open doors” without any accountability. I just believe that the current system is so restrictive that it only lets in a small percentage of the number of immigrants that are really needed in this country. If we had had the same quotas back in the 1900s during the immigration influx from Europe, we’d have turned back 90% of the people at Ellis Island. The process should be swift, efficient and the quotas should reflect the economic realities of the labor markets here in the US. Why do you think that big business is such a big proponent of legal immigration? Even the conservative CATO institute is pro-immigration and argue for more not less. We want, we need, we require, the labor force. In economics, labor and capital flows to where it is needed. People don’t immigrate to places that don’t have jobs readily available. Very few barriers can prevent that flow (e.g. the Berlin Wall) because it is human nature to seek the best for one’s family. When our public policy goes against our own economic well-being, we force people into an unfortunate situation.

The people who talk about “let’s just deport them all” are amazing to me because they are so cavalier about destroying the lives of so many honest, hardworking people. Many of the people they want to deport have been here for years, are part of their community, have raised their children here. I guarantee that if they met these people, got to know them, they would not wish for their harm. It is so easy to let our frustration dehumanize people so that they’re just “things” or “illegals” or some sort of scourge to be gotten rid of that we forget that they are human beings with families just like yours and mine. The punishment, in my opinion, does not fit the crime.

Unfortunately, humans seem to have an on-off switch when it comes to empathy for other humans, especially those they see as a threat for whatever reason. (e.g. Bosnia, Darfur, Somalia, the dirty wars of Argentina, Chile, Nazi Germany, etc.). I am not trying to say that our current anti-immigrant sentiment is like these other unfortunate episodes in our world history, but in each of those cases, a community was wrapped up in fear, paranoia and misunderstanding of the “unwanted” members of their population and that fear was exploited by darker forces.