92. May Day - "M' Aidez"

It was a year ago today that immigrants (some of whom are probably in Louisville illegally) and their non-immigrant supporters (some of whom probably have outstanding legal issues of their own) held a huge rally in Jefferson Square, replete with flags, both American and others, and other signs carries rallying cries, the main one being "Si Si Puede" taken from the motto of the United Farm Workers Union, the union from which Cesar Chavez made his mark in American history. I was one of those in attendance at the rally and I remain supportive of immigrants in general, including working toward an amnesty program for those who are here in our Republic illegally. I am supportive - to a point - of several of the proposals President Bush has made toward finding some answers to America's problem with immigration, both legal and illegal. There have been a variety of measures introduced in the Congress, none of which have made it very far at all. The president has been the lead man on most of these, countering the very aggressive tactics of Congressman Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican who has called the estimated 11,000,000 illegal immigrant in this country "a scourge that threatens the very future of our nation," lamenting "the cult of multiculturalism," and worrying that America is becoming a "Tower of Babel." His words treat these illegals as non-humans.

The threat of multi-culturalism is the real sentiment for most who are so vehement in their proposals for - actually against - illegals; it is not the false cry that the economy suffers from such a workforce. The argument has often been made that many of these illegals are here taking jobs from Americans, and I am sure that in some instances, that is the case. But when I see immigrant-after-immigrant doing roofing job-after-roofing job repeatedly, where all the workers seem to be non-American, it makes me believe that perhaps Americans aren't willing to do the jobs these people have taken, and in a sense, many Americans have come to expect to find them in. When a so-called red blooded Amnerican drives past a roofing, landscaping, or driveway resealing job, or other such occupations, it is nearly a given that one will see immigrants doing this labor, and not Americans, and many of these red-blooded souls have hired these same immigrants to do work on their own homes and driveways. There should be an avenue available under federal laws to work these folks into our system, paying taxes legally (as many who use false Social Security numbers are currently paying into the system illegally), and generally enjoying the benefits that many of our forebears first came to enjoy when they first came to America, in a sense illegally, as for the most part they usurped and cheated the Natives out of the territory that came to be the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.

As I said, I support the president up to a point - and it is a very sharp point. It is the point at which he begins to speaks from both sides of his mouth - and his mind - and from both sides of this issue. He has talked about three year visas, called Z-visas, which cost $3,500.00 each, and available only after people make the trek back home and then back to the states, whatever that might cost, and in some cases pay a $10,000.00 entry fee. And it eliminates anyone who can not come up with an extra $3,500.00 every third year from their employment making between $5.75 and $8.00 an hour. Think about that. If you are making that amount of money, paying rent, buying goods, and covering basic needs, from where does the extra $3,500.00 Bush proposes you spend come? Well, the method is that it doesn't come. The plan is conveniently designed for failure.

Another part of the Janus-like words emanating from the president are his ideas of turning over to local policing agencies the power - and requirement - to enforce federal immigration laws. Does his plan help pay for this additional enforcement duty? No. It is yet another unfunded mandate, something both the federal and the state governments like to pass along to local governments at an alarming rate.

The other part of Bush's deception in this matter has to do with the Wall. The great Wall dividing the United States from Mexico is a waste of money. Plans are to spend Billions (with a B) on a high-tech border, ultimately resulting in more deaths of those seeking to enter our Republic illegally. Making plans which knowingly result in the deaths of others is not an occupation in which my country should be taking the lead role, but it is. And if the illegals do not die crossing the border, and are then caught, their lives in one of the several detention camps the federal government operates in Texas and elsewhere will cause them even more sufferage.

I'm not sure what the answer might be to solve America's problem with immigration. I know the proposals fostered by Tancredo are morally and ethically wrong. I know the president has some good ideas, but he is unwilling to cross the conservatives in both parties to execute those good plans, without also accompanying them with the Draconian measures of excessive fines and unattainable fees, a Wall reminescent of the one Berlin erected in 1962, and detention camps approaching Hitler-like conditions in the South of Texas. This is a mark of shame upon the Republic of the United States of America.

A year ago, there was some willingness to look into this problem with some degree of compassion. Is it still there? On this May Day, it is my hope that it is.

A note: the word Mayday, when repeated three times, is a distress signal. It derives from the French language phrase for "Help Me." "M' Aidez." Come to my aid. Its derivation makes today an appropriate time to work for these, some of the least among us. Remembering the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Saint Luke, would it not be better for our efforts - in the Billions of dollars - to be centered on the poor, the brokenhearted, deliverance of the captives, and setting at liberty them that are bruised, rather than just the opposite?

Are we the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?