The real problem with illegal immigration
Ok, so the real problem with illegal immigration isn't that these desperate people looking for better lives are going to steal you jobs and not pay taxes. No, it's much worse than that. It's that many of them are being "sold" these better lives by people in our own country at the detriment of those of us here legally.
Let me give you a not so hypothetical story about a young woman named Juanita. Juanita is destitute, starving, and desperate in the streets of Mexico. She is desperately searching for a way out of her horrible situation. She is told "Go to the US. There you can make money, there you can find a better life." But she doesn't know how. She has very little money to get there, and she has no way of getting there. She is also told it is illegal to go there without the proper paperwork. She doesn't know how to get this paperwork she so desperately wants.
One day, a man approaches her "Juanita, I can help you. I can get you to the US. I can help you find a job, I can help you reach your dreams, but I can't do it for free. It's going to cost you money." Juanita is estatic, she can finally get a better life. She begs, borrows, and steals the money to give to this man. She gives him the money, he takes her to the US. He brings her to meet her associates who explain how she can have jobs, a place to live, everything she ever wanted and more.
They tell her that she has to buy "magical" numbers from them. These numbers will help her get jobs. But, they also tell her that she can only have one set of number for each thing she wants to do. So if she wants more than one job, she has to have more than one set of numbers. They give her one set to start with. She begins working, making money, being happy. But it isn't enough to really get what she wants. So she goes back and buys another set of numbers to get another job. Soon she realizes that it is too difficult to get to her different jobs using public transportation, and she needs a car. She goes back and purchases another set of numbers so she can get a driver's license and buy a car. In the end, she ends up with 7 sets of "magical" numbers. She is happy, she has a place to live, she has a car, she is making good money. She starts making plans to bring her family to the US.
Then one day, all her dreams come crashing down. Because, you see, those magical numbers weren't magical at all, they belonged to other people, people who were either born in the US, or working in the US legally.
A young woman, Sara, a legal citizen loses her job, she needs to apply for unemployment in order to survive until she can find another job. She applys and finds out that she has supposedly been working for a house cleaning company in Albuquerque, NM. How is this possible?! She doesn't even live anywhere close to Albuquerque. Sara panics, she goes to the police station and files a police report. Then she files an identity theft report. Juanita is arrested for identity fraud. Juanita doesn't understand what she did wrong. Juanita grew up in poverty in Mexico, she has very little formal education. She knows nothing about how things work in the US, except for what those men told her, her saviors, the one who gave her her dreams of living a better life. Juanita refuses to tell anyone who these men were, because they made her keep a secret, they told her they would never help any of her family if she told. They threatened her. So she says nothing, Juanita is deported, and loses her hopes of ever having a better life.
I say not so hypothetical, because, though I don't know the details of the life of the woman who used my social security number, and that of 6 other individuals, including 2 legal immigrants on working Visas, this is something can very well happen. I do know that she bought the numbers through some sort of organization. A big one. One that is stealing our info, and selling it to the highest bidder under the guise of being able to work and be here legally.
This was over 6 years ago, and that organization has still not been taken down, it is still "under investigation." I wasn't supposed to talk about it for fear that it would skew the investigation, but like I said, it's been 6 years and nothing has been done. How many more people have to suffer what I went through before something gets done?
I don't know the real reason why nothing has been done, but I can guess. I can guess that there are people in high places, like politicians, who profit from people coming here illegally. They profit off giving these people false hopes and dreams so they can buy their loyalty with false promises. I can tell you one thing, whoever is running this organization, and promising these people they will be able to work if they buy these numbers, is making a profit, in more ways than one. In a sense, this is like a human trafficking trade. Tell people they can have a better life if they pay money for "magical" numbers, then get them here, get them working, make more money off them as they find they need your help to get more jobs or things. If they get caught, well, no skin off your back, they aren't going to tell anyone because you've threatened their family. And you can just sit back and wait for the next person desperate to start a new life in a new country.
So maybe it isn't the people who are coming here wanting a better life that are the problem, maybe it's the people encouraging them to come here and in the process hurting those that are already here. Maybe it's the people who want to profit at the expense of others that are the real problem.
Let me give you a not so hypothetical story about a young woman named Juanita. Juanita is destitute, starving, and desperate in the streets of Mexico. She is desperately searching for a way out of her horrible situation. She is told "Go to the US. There you can make money, there you can find a better life." But she doesn't know how. She has very little money to get there, and she has no way of getting there. She is also told it is illegal to go there without the proper paperwork. She doesn't know how to get this paperwork she so desperately wants.
One day, a man approaches her "Juanita, I can help you. I can get you to the US. I can help you find a job, I can help you reach your dreams, but I can't do it for free. It's going to cost you money." Juanita is estatic, she can finally get a better life. She begs, borrows, and steals the money to give to this man. She gives him the money, he takes her to the US. He brings her to meet her associates who explain how she can have jobs, a place to live, everything she ever wanted and more.
They tell her that she has to buy "magical" numbers from them. These numbers will help her get jobs. But, they also tell her that she can only have one set of number for each thing she wants to do. So if she wants more than one job, she has to have more than one set of numbers. They give her one set to start with. She begins working, making money, being happy. But it isn't enough to really get what she wants. So she goes back and buys another set of numbers to get another job. Soon she realizes that it is too difficult to get to her different jobs using public transportation, and she needs a car. She goes back and purchases another set of numbers so she can get a driver's license and buy a car. In the end, she ends up with 7 sets of "magical" numbers. She is happy, she has a place to live, she has a car, she is making good money. She starts making plans to bring her family to the US.
Then one day, all her dreams come crashing down. Because, you see, those magical numbers weren't magical at all, they belonged to other people, people who were either born in the US, or working in the US legally.
A young woman, Sara, a legal citizen loses her job, she needs to apply for unemployment in order to survive until she can find another job. She applys and finds out that she has supposedly been working for a house cleaning company in Albuquerque, NM. How is this possible?! She doesn't even live anywhere close to Albuquerque. Sara panics, she goes to the police station and files a police report. Then she files an identity theft report. Juanita is arrested for identity fraud. Juanita doesn't understand what she did wrong. Juanita grew up in poverty in Mexico, she has very little formal education. She knows nothing about how things work in the US, except for what those men told her, her saviors, the one who gave her her dreams of living a better life. Juanita refuses to tell anyone who these men were, because they made her keep a secret, they told her they would never help any of her family if she told. They threatened her. So she says nothing, Juanita is deported, and loses her hopes of ever having a better life.
I say not so hypothetical, because, though I don't know the details of the life of the woman who used my social security number, and that of 6 other individuals, including 2 legal immigrants on working Visas, this is something can very well happen. I do know that she bought the numbers through some sort of organization. A big one. One that is stealing our info, and selling it to the highest bidder under the guise of being able to work and be here legally.
This was over 6 years ago, and that organization has still not been taken down, it is still "under investigation." I wasn't supposed to talk about it for fear that it would skew the investigation, but like I said, it's been 6 years and nothing has been done. How many more people have to suffer what I went through before something gets done?
I don't know the real reason why nothing has been done, but I can guess. I can guess that there are people in high places, like politicians, who profit from people coming here illegally. They profit off giving these people false hopes and dreams so they can buy their loyalty with false promises. I can tell you one thing, whoever is running this organization, and promising these people they will be able to work if they buy these numbers, is making a profit, in more ways than one. In a sense, this is like a human trafficking trade. Tell people they can have a better life if they pay money for "magical" numbers, then get them here, get them working, make more money off them as they find they need your help to get more jobs or things. If they get caught, well, no skin off your back, they aren't going to tell anyone because you've threatened their family. And you can just sit back and wait for the next person desperate to start a new life in a new country.
So maybe it isn't the people who are coming here wanting a better life that are the problem, maybe it's the people encouraging them to come here and in the process hurting those that are already here. Maybe it's the people who want to profit at the expense of others that are the real problem.
Comments
Post a Comment