Illegal Immigration

I recently watched a video on Hulu about a family of illegal immigrants. The video was directed by Morgan Spurlock, the same man who was in Super Size Me. In the video, a man who opposes illegal immigration moves in with a family of illegal immigrants. The man not only opposes illegal immigration but is a minuteman as well. A minuteman a someone who is somewhat of a vigilante; he helps patrol the U.S. border and alerts border control when he sees someone attempting to make it across. When he moves in with the family, it is very tense because they have such opposing viewpoints on immigration. The immigrant family lives well below the poverty line in a one bedroom house with many children. When the man goes and lives with the family, it actually puts faces and names to the problem. It is no longer just an immigration problem; he realizes that they are actual people. Watching it is very sad, because the family still have relatives living in Mexico who they can’t visit. They know if they travel back to Mexico chances are they will never make it back into the United States. The mother of the family had just lost her parents in Mexico and as they were dying, she wasn’t even able to visit them. If she would have, she would have risked never seeing her children again.

A part of the documentary that is especially touching is when the man who opposes illegal immigration travels to Mexico. He goes and visits the relatives of the family that he is staying with. He takes a video of them and they get to record what they have wanted to say to their loved ones back in the U.S. It is not as simple as just calling them, as these relatives in Mexico live in such poverty, a phone would be considered a luxury. In the end, the man decides that he still opposes illegal immigration, but that he supports families who come here with their papers. He even agreed that if the family of illegal immigrants got sent back home to Mexico, he would be willing to sponsor them. Families or individuals can come to the United States legally if a family here is willing to sponsor them.

One thing that surprised me about the movie was that one of the daughters in the family, who was an illegal immigrant, got accepted to a competitive college. I don’t think it was an Ivy League college, but it wasn’t a regular university either. I was surprised though because I thought that illegal immigrants almost had to hide. I didn’t think that it would be a possibility for them to apply for college and be accepted; considering they are here illegally. I still don’t know whether I support immigration or not. I do feel sorry for these people, and I want them to have a better life but I don’t think they should be doing it illegally. I think if we allow this to continue, at some point it is going to threaten our security. If we do allow immigration, we need to come up with an efficient and safe way to go about it. If we decide not to go about allowing immigration, then I think we need to send the families already here, back to Mexico immediately. Whatever we do, I think action needs to be taken. Obviously, many families are here illegally and people know about it, but they allow it still.

Recently, Arizona has passed a law saying that illegal immigrants in Arizona are committing a criminal offense. Police officers and officials are required to inspect anyone who appears to be here suspiciously. The people fear this will lead to racial profiling which is illegal in the state of Arizona. I don’t think they should be so concerned about racial profiling all the time, if that’s what it takes to make a state safe then that’s what it takes. Mexicans who are here legally shouldn’t worry, if they show the officials their papers they will be free to go about their lives. I feel like what we are doing right now is saying it is illegal, but then not stopping it.