Illegal immigration needs immediate action – Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL 06/04/2006

About forty million people live in eight states in northeast India. Though no accurate records ore available, some accounts say fifteen to eighteen million of them are illegal immigrants, mostly from neighboring Bangladesh.

For a country like India, with a billion people and extremely high rates of unemployment and poverty, the weight of an additional fifteen million is almost unbearable. Illegal immigration over the last few decades has completely changed the demographics of this already remote, deprived and politically exploited region. Ethnic and religious differences between the local population and the immigrants have intensified the issue to a flash point. Civic action groups and militant outfits have sprung up on both sides of the porous border, the constant spiral of violence straining relations between countries and forcing illegal immigrants to hide in other states in the country, escalating the issue into a nationwide security concern. Politicians have buried their head in the sand, their preferred habitat, not willing or able to kill the hen that lays golden eggs at every election.

Who would have thought that these illegal immigrants from a Third World country would want to sneak into a comparably impoverished region? It just goes to show that all human beings long for a better life and will, unstoppably and without hesitation, sacrifice every comfort, sever every attachment, just to move to a place that can reduce the misery of their loved ones, even marginally. But it also goes to show a frightening face of illegal immigration when allowed to fester unchecked.

Having labored my way through the snarls of legal immigration traffic, I am amazed at what America allows. I think mass demonstrations and shutting down cities in the very country that has sheltered you and provided your livelihood is no way to go about it. This in-your-face attitude is alienating and antagonizing many Americans who might have otherwise viewed this issue sympathetically. No other country would have allowed such flagrant support of an illegal activity. If such a protest has happened in my own country, the opportunity would have been seized, undocumented protesters rounded up and promptly deported without ado. Immigration is not a right but a privilege and it must be respected.

The political power of eleven million is being overestimated and misjudged. The sheer numbers alarm and provoke rather than energize popular sympathy. America may have reacted differently had it been a smaller number, but by further rubbing in the arithmetic with a display of street power, the protestors are merely risking a boomerang effect – that of turning Americans against all immigration instead, cheating qualified, deserving and legal immigrants from all over the world.

America is fortunate that many of the poisons that vitiate India’s illegal immigration problems are not applicable here. In India, many of the immigrants proclaim allegiance to their own homelands and act against Indian interests. The people of central America, on the other hand, have been favorably disposed towards America for a very long time and have without doubt contributed positively to this country.

Emotional and misguided reactions to Outsourcing have exacerbated perceptions of job losses, but the underlying manpower needs of this nation's gigantic economy has already absorbed the additional labor provided by these immigrants.

Moreover, while there may be lingual and cultural differences, there is not much of religious divergence between Americans and the bulk of illegal immigrants.

Unlike America, India is not automated or organized, making identification, tracking and monitoring very difficult. For America’s technical prowess, the logistics of the solution are not overwhelming.

Given all that, it is imperative that America act now, before the issue becomes unsolvable and explosive like India’s has. Establish the criteria for staying, for deportation and return. Enforce the law, and the respect for it, once and for all. But first, seal the borders. There are no other options and there is no time. Political opportunism must not be allowed to desecrate the sanctity of law.

Having said that, let us not forget that these people have come here at the behest of, with the connivance of, and for the convenience of Americans. This has been an open secret for decades now, with politicians and sections of the population even wanting to grant them driving licenses, social security numbers and medical insurance. They have been allowed to make a life for themselves here, raise a family, and build attachments to this land enough to call it their own. Would it be fair, now that our needs, priorities - and fears - have changed, to simply rip out their roots, dash to the ground their hopes for a better future for themselves and their children?

We human beings cannot do that to a sparrow nesting in our attic. How are we going to do it to eleven million other human beings?

That is perhaps the difference between justice and human beings. Justice is blind; human beings are fair.