I don’t know too much about Arthur’s story, but it strikes me as a classic “immigrating to America to find freedom” story, especially since he’s Armenian. You know, some immigrant family happily arrives at the United States after years of oppression from their communist / totalitarian motherland, and their grandkids achieve the American dream years later. More American than apple pie and bound to warm up the hearts of Americans. But what’s the narrative for some Mexican illegals? “If you kick us out who’s gonna pick your fruits and wash your dishes? You need us to do your dirty jobs for you” Counterproductive, friends.
The author is objecting to the apparent double standards involving illegal Mexicans. This is an occasional complaint from Mexicans who beleive that they’re targeted while Asian or European illegal immigrants are left alone.
The answer is quite simple IMO. For one thing there’s a whole lot more illegal Mexicans in America (especially in California) compared to the Vietnamese or French or whoever. Their community is sizeable and they receive more exposure from the media one way or another. Non Mexicans arrive here invisibly on planes, but most Mexicans simply cross the border. Americans can actully SEE them move here illeaglly.
And it really doesn’t help that many Latino activists appraoach the immigration issue with a sense of entitlement. They’ll wave Mexican flags, trumpet “raza” themes, run their mouths about how the US stole Mexican land, and basically thump their chests defiantly to enrage “Minuteman” types who aren’t sympathetic to their cause to begin with.
Now, I know how hard it is to obtain a green card, I have friends who are still illegal. I’m not quite on the camp that argues every illegal should be rounded up and booted off the country. But there’s a proper way to work on immigration reform. Some Mexicans decided to act like democrats, which involves making a lot of noise, randomly accuse the other side of bigotry, and rail about the evils of America.
If you gently promote America as a safe haven of democracy where Arthur’s story is made possible, you can win over some minds. You acknowldege America’s right to its borders and honor the concept of legal immigration, but also make the case for the decent, law abiding illegal families whose family and children are alreadly well rooted here. Make some sort of compromise
