the immigration paradox

Posting for the week of Spring Break.

It is very intriguing to me that so many Americans treat illegal immigrants (and pretty much anyone coming in from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries) as somehow less than human. Is it the fact that we don't understand their language, and it makes us uncomfortable? Or the fact that many of these individuals have less money than the average American citizen? Or less education? Or are we simply selfish with our space, and don't want to be surrounded by anyone who isn't one of our own "kind" (whatever that may be)?

Perhaps it is more than that. America is known for its radical individualism, where it's each man for himself, where we ALL have the opportunity to make it, no matter one's race, creed, etc. Yesterday, watching the Oscars, many of the winners kept saying that if you have courage, you can achieve anything you want for yourself, to become the person that you are and that you can be.

It's the American Dream.

But if immigrants have the courage to make it, and they're working for it, why aren't we making it easier for them? Why are we asking that they be educated, or be able to fill out long forms in English -- basically, making them become more like us -- in order for them to be themselves, the individuals that they are and want to be?

It's a paradox, in order for immigrants to become U.S. citizens, achieving this goal they set for themselves as individuals in this individualistic country, they have to let go of some of who they are as people.