Immigration...
seems like you can't go a day without hearing, or seeing the word these days.
People are so passionate about it on both sides of the issue that it's almost
becoming one of those taboo topics, like religion or politics that it's not
polite to talk about because people get so heated. Well since I'm Greek which
is code for (born without a filter) you had to know I would
have to put my two cents in. WARNING: (This blog is not politically correct).
It's everywhere
from your local community to the talking heads on TV and most everyone understandably
feels very strongly about it. I wonder though if it's far more simpler than anyone
realizes. It really boils down to the law. Either we have a country with laws or
we don't. We don't get to pick and choose which laws we are going to enforce...
or do we? Sadly these days it seems to be the latter.
Sounds like a
line from a Trump speech does it? Dang right it does because he is right.
Gasp... is Greek Girl a racist? No! HELLO (my dad immigrated to America
from Greece before I was born with just $20 in his pocket) I'm the
last person anyone could call a racist. It's really just about the law. Are we
going to follow our laws or not?
Yes America is
the land of opportunity, we welcome the poor the tired, and we want to do
whatever we can to help the least of these. The question is what about the poor
and the tired who are here who are effected by the astronomical costs of
illegal immigration? Think about it, what would happen to any random American
who decided to go live in another country illegally. Lets just say Saudi Arabia
for example... anyone who violates their immigration law is subject to
deportation, fines and possible imprisonment. I'm willing to bet an American
ICE holding facility is like club med compared to a Saudi Arabian jail cell.
Forget Saudi
Arabia, pick a country. Any country... be as simple as a Google search. It's
all there. Australia for example has implemented one of the harshest border
policies in the world. Characterized by three core points: turning or towing
back boats of asylum seekers at sea; forcing asylum seekers to live in
detention centers across the Pacific in Nauru and Papua New Guinea; and
guaranteeing they will never be resettled in Australia.
Compare that to
America. Can anyone imagine American authorities doing anything like that? Of
course not because that would be inhumane and the media's heads would literally
explode at the slightest hint of anything like that. So instead we have people
from God knows where who have come here to do God knows what, who have a
virtual red carpet rolled out for them. Yes there are good, decent people who
come here to find a better life like my dad. Even so, if they came illegally
they broke the law, and on some level the point could be made how decent is
that?
Our country is
full of sanctuary cities with oodles of assistance programs (in NYS we
have SSI, WIC, Welfare to name a few) where people receive free
housing, medical care, and spending money and in some cases free college (no
I'm am not kidding). HELLO do we not right now at this very moment have
boatloads (no pun intended) of indoctrinated college kids
jumping up and down marching and demonstrating at universities all over the
United States demanding free college, and that all student loan debt be
eliminated? It's enough to make ones head spin. Here's an example that could
cause a serious case of agida: right now at this very moment, there are
residents of Islamic training camps in Hancock and Deposit, NY who are
receiving SSI, WIC, and or welfare. All paid for by US tax dollars.
Yet we had to
have Obamacare so legal born American citizens could be forced to buy more
expensive insurance with astronomical deductibles that cover less, things they
don't want or need. Meanwhile we have illegal’s receiving all kinds of things
that these programs when instituted were never intended to be used for what
they are being used for today. Either by people who mean well turning a blind
eye or by policy loopholes and or lack of enforcement. It's a serious
problem... at the same time complicated and simple enough to be a sitcom
episode.
My dad went
through the legal channel to become a citizen. It was hard, and he had setbacks
like when he and my mom got divorced he had to start all over again, and go to
the back of the line. He didn't complain, he didn't go to a government agency
and the news and carry on about how hard it was. He got up every day and did
whatever he had to do to provide for his family and meet the requirements to
become a citizen legally. He washed dishes; he worked construction as a bridge
painter. He worked his way up to owning his own restaurant and eventually even
to own his own bridge painting company.
I remember a
story about a time before I was born when he was painting bridges down in the
south somewhere. He had another week until he would get paid, and it was hot
summertime. He was hungry and thirsty, so he took his last ten cents to get a
coke from a vending machine. You know the old fashioned bottles that have now
come back into style. He put the ten cents in and waited. Nothing... so he hit
the machine. Still nothing, it was hot and he was dying of thirst so he hit it
again. Just before he turned to give up he kicked it, then all of the sudden
cokes started coming out one by one. So he grabbed one of the empty plastic
bottle holders that were lying on the ground. He filled several of them, and he
thinks it must have emptied the machine. The beauty of it is that he lived on
those cokes until he got paid again.
Somehow
somewhere in the days from that time to now there has been a shift, a shift
from victors to victims. It seems were living in a day when some want to label
an entire group of people as victims rather than enforcing the law and
empowering people to utilize their strengths and talents and help them help
themselves. Sadly in the midst of this problem as I mentioned above we have
those who wish to do us harm and they are taking advantage of the gaping holes
in US immigration policy. I fear what it will take for our leaders to wake up
to the reality of what is actually happening.
What do we do?
We have to do something. One thing is for certain Lady Liberty is tired and
America did not become a Great Nation by being a doormat. What happened in
Paris is a horrible tragedy, it is happening all over the world, and it has
been going on for years. No one person has the solution, but unless we want to
see it happening here in America... Maybe that wall isn't such a bad idea after
all.
Blessings, Love
& Music ~
Ava xo