sfsp's Journal: Immigration Reform

It's International Labor Day! May 1, here again, and again immigration is the hot topic here in DC.

Don't misunderstand me. I am not against immigration; after all, my grandparents were immigrants. I'm simply against ILLEGAL immigration. If you want respect when you come into this country, come in through the front door. Don't break in through the window!

I'm also for relaxed immigration laws. I think it should be EASY to come here legally, but I don't believe we should give amnesty to existing illegals. We did that once already--look where it got us.

Last year, as I drove through DC, I came to a stop as the light turned red. A swarm of immigration protesters swarmed across the street, and one tapped on my hood and said, "Back up!" Was I blocking the crosswalk? Was I too far forward? No! I was behind the line, and there was another car on my bumper--where was I supposed to go? In fact, the protester was OUTSIDE the crosswalk, and was technically jaywalking. Before you complain about my behavior, make sure you're in the right!

Which brings me to my final rant of the day. Americans are frequently criticized when travelling internationally for failing to learn the language of the country where we intend to spend two weeks, pumping cash into the economy. It even has a name--"The Ugly American". But there is a reason for this behavior: the United States, which is, what, the 3rd most populous nation in the world, has a landmass exceeding Europe in size, and is made up of arguably 50 sovereign nations sharing a common language. We can travel from coast to coast, through 300 million people, and we can talk to ALL of them. We never HAVE to learn another language.

Now, bilingualism is a wonderful thing, but should we learn Quebecois French or Mexicano Spanish to talk to our neighbors, just to be snubbed in Spain and France because we don't don't speak the proper langue or with the proper Castilian accent? Here in the United States, WE SPEAK ENGLISH, and if you want to come here to LIVE, and WORK, and EARN, come on over. We'll help you learn it. But learn it you MUST. If you won't, well, don't gripe when we don't learn the language of the day as we tour Europe ("Is it Thursday? Oh, I never did get my Romanian accent pure!")