Mexico Trucker Online

It’s not pretty, but comprehensive immigration reform is happening. If you don’t believe it, consider Friday’s headlines:

“Senate OKs border security bill: Veto-proof vote adds $3 billion for new agents, 700 miles of border fence.”

“Federal judge blocks city’s crackdown on immigrants.”

“Immigrants are rushing to beat increases in citizenship fees.”

From the Senate to the courts to the federal bureaucracy, immigration , and the need to deal with it,doesn’t stall in the face of demagoguery and sound bites.

The question is, do we want an orderly approach to deciding who can come to this country, how long they can stay and what rights they will enjoy once they are here?

Or do we want it to unfold court decision upon court decision, after derisive fights in Congress and in city halls from Farmers Branch to Hazleton, Pa., that leave no one feeling like a winner?

As good as our democracy is, it is struggling with immigration because it is so many things to so many people.

For some, reform is an opportunity to regularize an affordable work force for jobs that are difficult to fill. For others, it is an attempt to acknowledge the millions of people already living and working here

And to others, it is a dangerous proposition that shouldn’t be considered until the borders are sealed and every undocumented immigrant is forced to leave the country and come back through legal channels.

None of these approaches is without some merit. Sept. 11 fundamentally changed the world, meaning that immigration and national security could no longer be dealt with separately.

But as much fear as there is for the next terrorist attack, there is also an undeniable fear that America is changing. And it appears that only one racial or ethnic group is being blamed for this alteration.

It is hard not to be sensitive to the repeated suggestion that Hispanic immigrants are somehow at fault for the inability of local, state and federal governments to show fiscal restraint, to control crime and to preserve “American” values.

Earlier this week, the Houston Chronicle’s Web site ran a profile by the Associated Press of Tim O’Hare, the Farmers Branch city councilman who is leading a campaign to force illegal immigrants out of the Dallas suburb.

“The retail spots … for every two that went vacant, one would be filled by a Spanish-speaking business, then, you … saw what was once a really, really nice neighborhood start to decline,” O’Hare was quoted as saying.

The story elicited a vibrant online discussion by the story’s Web readers.

A writer identified as “USbornAmericanMom” wrote: “I’m sick of going to the doctor and paying $70 in co-pays for my 2 kids … while ‘No Speak English Maria’s’ kids get to see the doctor for free.”

A response from “watubby” started by praising the fact that “somebody’s doing something about these ‘illegal’ people.”

“Everytime (sic) I pass through a Hispanic barrio in Houston, I wonder how did this great country become such a dump. … If that’s the American life that they’re seeking, they should have stayed put in Mexico.”

Would it be better if ‘No Speak English Maria’ spoke Farsi, or Yiddish, or German?

Would it be better if the “Hispanic” barrio dwellers were something other than “Mexican”?

We need a comprehensive approach to immigration reform. Hopefully, it will be one that has nothing to do with what language people speak or what country they come from.

The question is how much are we willing to cut each other up as we struggle to find an answer.

Jaime Castillo

San Antonio Express-News