Undocumented workers being hounded by the White House came long ago as a result of our own economic policies leading toward greater globalization and, in the case of Mexico, greater economic integration. Without these policies they wouldn’t have come, my ancestors included.
These folks do not stand at busy street corners holding up a dog-eared sign asking for a handout. Like my parents, they stay busy, working long hours at minimum wage, on jobs the panhandlers tend to avoid as much as you and I do. I don’t want those jobs for my own children or grandchildren, and neither do you.
Still, we need our fruit harvested, our lawns maintained and new shingling on our roofs. Who will do this work after President Donald Trump scares these hard workers away?
Some of us might say, “These people are breaking our laws.” Yes, but laws are political constructions. Turning in a runaway slave in the 1850s would have been legal, but would it have been right? The same with reporting a mixed race couple living together the 1950s. Was banning same-sex marriage right a few years ago?
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Let us reject miserly, un-Christian policies that are also wholly impractical.
Carlos B. Gil, Ph.D., Kenmore