Deny services to American Citizens?

The blog “Immigration” by jasonhol24 written on Tuesday April 13, 2010 discuss the controversial issue of immigration in America. Jasonhol24 writes his blog about an immigration article written by the Texas Tribune. I completely respect jasonhol23’s point of view, however I feel that this blog is not well researched and that some of the opinions expressed are not what it means to be an American.

To begin lets look at the history of the United States and of Texas. It wasn’t long ago that Texas belonged to Mexico, and Americans were immigrants to Mexico. Furthermore, we don’t live in the Republic of Texas but in the United States of America which was built on immigration. As an American I proudly believe in the inscription on the Statue of Liberty “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Who are we to claim immigration as legal or illegal after the way Americans slaughtered and took this land away from Native Americans?

Focusing directly on Jasonhol24’s blog he states, “Don't come to America to work, get paid under the table, not pay taxes, send your money back to Mexico, and not contribute a single thing to society!” I agree that everyone should pay taxes, but instead of proposing to deny state services to undocumented workers and their AMERICAN-BORN (as in LEGAL AMERICAN CITIZENS) why not offer work visas. The people are already here. Hunting them down and sending them back only adds to our tax burden. The statement “and not contribute a single thing to society!” is something I strongly disagree with because illegal immigrants pay rent, buy food, purchase cars, and they pay sales taxes on everything they buy (maybe another reason to consider a fair tax system). Unlike outsourcing where the jobs and money goes directly to another country. I understand that providing services to undocumented works cost tax payers money, but no one gives accurate numbers. According to the article “Study: Illegal immigrants’ care costs state $677 million” some argue that reports are inflated and others argue that with sales tax contributions the services pay for themselves. I must say that spending $677 million a year for the health care of illegal immigrants who put money back into the American economy and do the jobs most people aren’t willing to do is nothing compared to how much we spend on the war which contributes nothing to U.S. economy not even oil.

Lastly, I don’t understand why speaking English has anything to do with providing state services to undocumented children. I must agree that the language of the United States is English and that as such everyone should make an attempt to learn English. However, denying services because you don’t know how to speak English is ridiculous. In several Texas cities there are entire neighborhoods with street signs written in Chinese. Once again the U.S. is built on immigration and was built as free country where people have the freedom of speech. Not freedom of speech in the English Language!