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 Editorials | Opinions | April 2005 
Border Skirmishes Arise in Arizona
 Felipe Maya - U-Wire Service
| | Anti-American sentiment has distanced our countries, and part of it could be because of the crackdown on Mexican immigration to the United States. |
Who said Americans aren't arrogant? Sure, we are. For one, we're the fattest people in the world; we get as much of anything as we want, and we just throw away the excess. But now, some of us are doing more to prove this point, and it involves a very hot topic. A group in Arizona, calling itself "The Minutemen," has decided to take the law into its own hands.
Starting this weekend, they're going to start a month-long "vigil" along a 20-mile stretch of the Mexican border, according to The Washington Times. They're protesting the government's inability to control illegal immigration by acting as border patrol agents. But they're not allowed to detain anyone -- just report immigrants to Border Patrol.
This group is acting like those little kids on the playground who let some kids play on the merry-go-round with them but not others. They think they own the whole playground, but they don't.
Recently, the Central American gang known as the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) threatened to teach the minutemen "a lesson" if they go through with their plans. The Minutemen, who are made up of many retired military officers, aren't scared. They want MS-13 to "bring it."
"We're not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers," protest planner and Vietnam veteran James Gilchrist told The Washington Times. "And those guys are just a bunch of punks."
Yeah, they're just some punk kids ... with machetes!
MS-13 makes most of its money from smuggling drugs, weapons and people across the border, and The Minutemen are going to get in their way. The showdown would be like "West Side Story," only with more drive-bys and less choreographed dancing.
But tensions between Mexico and the United States are not limited to the border. During the Mexico vs. United States soccer game last Sunday, Mexicans chanted "Osama" and booed during the U.S. national anthem. This anti-American sentiment has distanced our countries, and part of it could be because of the crackdown on Mexican immigration to the United States.
Though The Minutemen demonstration is just an isolated case, it will, no doubt, make Mexican news and harm our relationship even more.
If The Minutemen were smart, instead of attacking Mexicans, they would protest the root of illegal immigration.
The protesters are mad because U.S. citizens are losing their jobs, but this doesn't necessarily mean it's because of illegal immigration.
People are forgetting that the government continues to allow the outsourcing of jobs to Latin American and Asian countries. The animosity on both sides of the border could be avoided if the government just took care of its citizens in the first place. But the government isn't the only one to blame; as long as corporations continue to hire illegal immigrants, they'll continue coming here. The Minutemen should go protest in front of corporations that hire undocumented workers.
Undocumented workers come to this country because they know someone will hire them based on their willingness to work for cheap. I don't see this minutemen group protesting in the fruit groves of California or Florida.
Immigrants take them because they do just as much labor in their own country, but in the United States, they get paid much more for it. It's survival of the fittest, and they're just trying to support their families.
As long as undocumented workers are doing America's dirty work, everyone looks the other way. It's OK for them to work on farms because their ultra-low wages keep food prices low. But, if they're actually visible in society, taking jobs that many U.S. citizens want, then all of a sudden, it's an injustice. |
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