2008 Woodie Awards
Viewpoint
Rethinking illegal immigration
Stephen Flynn
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Opinions & Editorials
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The illegal immigration issue has been absent from the front pages of newspapers for several months, but that shouldn't reduce its importance as a national issue.
I want to address a common attitude found in the debate: that illegal immigrants are bad people because they broke our laws. I don't think being an illegal immigrant makes you a bad person. Unfortunately, many Americans do because they equate right and wrong with legal and illegal.
Smoking marijuana is illegal therefore it's wrong. Driving 66 mph on a freeway is illegal, therefore it's wrong. Watching a DVD on a Linux computer is illegal, therefore it's wrong. Buying beer for 20-year-old college students is illegal, therefore it's wrong.
But history should teach us that morality and law are not mutually inclusive. In the 1850s, many Americans said that helping a slave escape to Canada was illegal, therefore it was wrong. In fact, the present-day efforts of politicians to solve the illegal immigration "problem" sound a lot like the former efforts of southern slaveholders to reign in the fugitive slave "problem" in the mid-19th century.
Slaves escaping to the free states had always posed a problem for southern planters, who hired slave catchers to exercise their constitutional right to retrieve their slave property. Before the Civil War, the Constitution said that if a slave ran away to the North, he must be returned to his original owner.
Due to pressure from abolition sentiment and a Supreme Court decision which abdicated state governments from responsibility over the fugitive slave problem, free states began passing "personal liberty laws" which forbade the use of state jails and police to imprison alleged fugitive slaves, thus making it nearly impossible to enforce the law.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed to make the slave catcher's job easier by establishing special commissions to deal with fugitives, heavily fining those who obstruct the process in any way, and rewarding judges upon every conviction.
I want to address a common attitude found in the debate: that illegal immigrants are bad people because they broke our laws. I don't think being an illegal immigrant makes you a bad person. Unfortunately, many Americans do because they equate right and wrong with legal and illegal.
Smoking marijuana is illegal therefore it's wrong. Driving 66 mph on a freeway is illegal, therefore it's wrong. Watching a DVD on a Linux computer is illegal, therefore it's wrong. Buying beer for 20-year-old college students is illegal, therefore it's wrong.
But history should teach us that morality and law are not mutually inclusive. In the 1850s, many Americans said that helping a slave escape to Canada was illegal, therefore it was wrong. In fact, the present-day efforts of politicians to solve the illegal immigration "problem" sound a lot like the former efforts of southern slaveholders to reign in the fugitive slave "problem" in the mid-19th century.
Slaves escaping to the free states had always posed a problem for southern planters, who hired slave catchers to exercise their constitutional right to retrieve their slave property. Before the Civil War, the Constitution said that if a slave ran away to the North, he must be returned to his original owner.
Due to pressure from abolition sentiment and a Supreme Court decision which abdicated state governments from responsibility over the fugitive slave problem, free states began passing "personal liberty laws" which forbade the use of state jails and police to imprison alleged fugitive slaves, thus making it nearly impossible to enforce the law.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed to make the slave catcher's job easier by establishing special commissions to deal with fugitives, heavily fining those who obstruct the process in any way, and rewarding judges upon every conviction.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 7
Angelo Mancuso
posted 11/09/07 @ 9:02 PM CST
Politicians and Americans for that matter should take a look at "American Harvest." Its a non-partisan feature length documentary about immigration as it relates to agriculture. (Continued…)
Anna
posted 11/09/07 @ 9:58 PM CST
I totally agree with your opinion. It is a shame to this country and its citizens how illegal immigrants are treated in the country that consists of immigrants!!!!! Don't let us all forget that our parents or grandparents were immigrants just like the 12 million undocumented PEOPLE in the United States. (Continued…)
dom
posted 11/09/07 @ 11:42 PM CST
IT,IS TRULY DISGUSTING WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW,HEY i AM ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ,BUT MY WIFE AND SON ARE US CITIZEN,DON,T FORGET ABOUT THEIR VOTE ,AND i AM NOT LATIN . (Continued…)
Ken
posted 11/10/07 @ 5:33 AM CST
I would love to immigrate to Australia from the U.S., but I can't because I don't make enough money. So, what would happen if I just went there and started working. (Continued…)
Wes
posted 11/10/07 @ 7:23 PM CST
This is not only spanish community problem. I know a lot of people from Europe and Asia that don't have opportunity for normal life here. After 9/11 is really hard to get documents like driver license and other. (Continued…)
David Diamond
posted 11/21/07 @ 5:43 PM CST
Mr. Flynn,
Coming from the liberal NY/NJ area I used to be in strong agreement to your position. That immigrants are just hardworking people that are trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. (Continued…)
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