The Orkin Man is Anti-Immigration

No comprendo this ad. So, a giant termite comes to your door and asks to use the telephone. So, you call in The Orkin Man to regulate. So, the termite rolls off in a low-rider that looks like it's straight out of East LA and the bug's gonna go rob a convenience store and tip a 40 with his amigos. Again, maybe I've been reading AdAge critic and legendary curmudgeon Bob Garfield too much, but the choice of car and demeanor of our "pest" gives the spot an oddly discriminatory vibe. Is that my own stereotyping? Perhaps. Am I overreacting? Probably. But you can't tell me the auto selection and portrayal of Tommy Termite isn't a little off-putting (and not just because he's a creepy, talking termite!). I mean, wouldn't it have been funnier if he was driving a Prius or something a little more conservative? I guess termites aren't green. And I think I need a nap.

This week in Congress

There is a bill in Congress called The Effective Immigration Enforcement Partnerships Act of 2008 (S. 2717) whose purpose is (to quote Congress.org) "to provide local governments and law enforcement the resources, training, and authority to enforce U.S. immigration law at the local level. According to his website, aspects of the bill include:
-Clarifying their authority to enforce federal immigration laws during their normal course of duty
-Expanding the 287(g) program to every state. Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes state and local police to perform enforcement duties related to illegal immigration
-Offering a basic training course for all state and local law enforcement officers
-Compensating state and local entities for immigration enforcement related expenses

There are a couple of reasons I think this is a bad idea. First is that it will divert local law enforcement's focus and resources away from their main responsibility of dealing with local crime. But secondly, and in my opinion more importantly, it will cause illegal immigrants already living in the United States a complete distrust of local law enforcement. This means that those immigrants will not report crime in their neighborhoods or step forward to be witnesses for fear of being deported.

But in the interest of fair and balanced reporting, I will let you decide for yourselves and encourage you to let Congress know what you think no matter what side you are on. The links are below:

If you think that YES, local law enforcement should play a role in enforcing immigration law, click here:
http://capwiz.com/congressorg/utr/1/GFZHIEUKUE/CPSFIEUYWW/1802712426

If you think the NO, local law enforcement should not play a role in enforcing immigration law, click here:
http://capwiz.com/congressorg/utr/1/GFZHIEUKUE/AJYGIEUYWX/1802712426

This Just In: America Is Full

Sorry, poor, tired and huddled masses. According to an anti-immigration and overpopulation group, it turns out that America Is Full. They even have the t-shirts to prove it. One of my co-workers, a French immigrant, saw someone wearing one of these yesterday and was not the least bit surprised. Just another notch in the belt for the ugly American.

In his "Oh, shit...I lost Ohio" speech last night, Senator Obama stated rather astutely that the world is watching us and our actions. He was talking about the election, but I couldn't help but think of it on the larger scale. What are we doing as Americans to improve our place in the world? What good is being a world leader if no one wants to follow? And what good is putting up a wall? It's like Microsoft Windows and other proprietary software: people want to hack the walls and get in simply because someone says they can't.

Somehow I don't think shutting our borders to the world is a solution. In black t-shirt lingo, I say "FCUK that."

Mr. Bush, tear down this wall!

Societies are marked by symbols. History guides us by the lasting symbols we leave behind. For the Romans you could say the coliseum represented all that was good and evil in their culture. The Parthenon of the ancient greeks tells us of their engineering skill and devotion to thought. The great wall of China gives provides us with a symbol of exclusion and prohibitive safety.

But walls are the symbol I want to talk about in this post. A wall (of sorts) is being erected by our government or at least it is supposed to be. That wall is going to be constructed because we Americans, the richest, most powerful citizens this planet has ever produced are afraid. We fear what lies to our south and thus we are building a wall to make certain it cannot come north.

What are we so afraid of? Has our Southern neighbor, Mexico, grown powerful enough to invade? Do we believe a larger insideous foe will trample over the weakened Mexico and storm our southern border? Was it the Islamic terrorists of 9/11 coming over the border and hijacking our planes that created the worst terrorist attack in the nation's history?

We know none of these are the case. No, we are afraid of people that cross our border clinging to the underside of trucks, or traveling the swealtering desserts to rob us of the right to pick our own fruit, move our own stones for the yard, and build the places we don't have enough workers for.

We, the American people are afraid the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The very people from all over the world that Lady Liberty welcomed into New York harbor. We are afraid to give economic opportunity to those we are mightier than.

What is truly insideous about our fear of the Mexican people is that they have become the straw man for nearly every domestic policy issue we face in America today. Lou Dobbs and the rest of his xyenophobic allies have convinced middle class Americans that their jobs are in danger-despite 4% unemployment. Illegal immigrants are blamed for the high cost of health care, because they often use hospital emergency rooms without paying. While this is certainly a drain on our system, it is nothing in comparison to the price gauging that occurs when it comes to prescription drugs, or the cost of malpractice insurance, and does little to effect the 47 million Americans who simply go without healthcare. Illegal immigrants are charged with bringing everything from drugs, to violence, to syphilis to our nation. This is a false argument. Of course there is a minority of the population that brings with it these issues. But Dobbs would have you believe these are the people that took your job, closed your hospital and raped your drug-addicted daughter.

There are over 12 million illegal immigrants living in America. The vast majority of which work for low minimum wages, performing the tasks no one here, not even high school kids want to do. They do it because even our worst living situations often outshine their best. They do it for hope of a better future. Like the Italians, the Irish, the Scandinavians, and the rest did in the early part of the twentieth century. I can almost hear Dobbs now, "BUT THEY CAME HERE LEGALLY!"

Well of course they did. There were huge quotas in the US. Immigration was seen as the engine of a growing economy. Millions streamed into this country, bringing their work ethic, skills, passion, and desire for a better future. They were welcomed, certainly as second-class citizens expected to do the jobs no one else wanted to do, but they were granted legal entry and allowed to build their life. What is so different between then and now? 

When did we let the American ethic of free trade and open markets get overrun by fear mongering? We seem to have wanted it both ways here in America. We wanted the cheap produce, landscaping, contractor work, manual labor and child care. But not the responsibility to make these people American citizens, like our relatives were allowed. We have decided that the American dream is the exclusive domain of those already here. That is a great tragedy. 

It is a tragedy that we are more likely to build a fence than solve a problem.  We will build ineffective barriers that send a signal to the world that we are not a country that welcomes the new. We are a country that seeks only to take advantage. 

Comprehensive immigration reform that gives people a path to citizenship and changes the way the naturalization process works is vital to the future of this country. Walls and fences don't work. Just ask the Chinese.