Let me initiate this column by stating, I have nothing against Latin Americans, Hispanics or whatever tag line we are using this week to represent the segment of our population made up of Immigrants from Latin countries.  I myself am Portuguese and would be self deprecating if I expressed hatred for a people with whom I share an origin. Last week 3 of our Delaware Gubernatorial candidates took part in a debate in Dover on behalf of Hispanics in Delaware. Mike Protack, Lt. Gov. Carney and Treasurer Jack Markell sat down and debated their ideas for how to help the Hispanic Community in Delaware. Among the ideas presented by all three candidates was public school funding for the children of illegal immigrants. In fact, the entire debate featured three candidates pandering to the Hispanic population in Delaware. Combine that with Bill Lee’s brilliant idea to give illegal immigrants’ drivers’ licenses and what you see in Delaware is a lack of the backbone to express conservative values in a way that doesn’t appear mean spirited and racist. It may seem that my frustrations here are born of hatred for an entire race of people; this could not be further from the truth. Instead my frustrations are born of two distinctly different aspects of reality. First is my sense of patriotism and love of America. I love this country so much, and specifically I love Delaware enough to consider this influx of illegal immigrants an affront to everything I hold dear. Second, and not a distant second either, is a desire to see people come to this country and achieve their dreams, especially those who come from the same backgrounds and have a similar heritage to my own. 

In our current scenario, human beings are packed into the sweltering trailers of semi trucks along with the cargo or in SUV’s (such as the 19 that died today in AZ) like sardines in a can and driven thousands of miles to be dropped off in whatever hole in the wall town the driver stops at, of course, as we saw in AZ, some never even make it to the hole in the wall town. They are then forced to work beneath the law on farms, or doing jobs that are almost subhuman for below minimum wage. For those of us who stand up, myself included, and scream about no to the idea of reparations for the atrocities of slavery committed 150 years ago, touting the fact that we don’t have the same views as those slave owners, nor were we even born anywhere close to that time frame and had no opportunity to choose for ourselves which side to be on, we are on the verge of becoming hypocritical if we allow illegal immigrants to continue to be enslaved. How can they be slaves if they are being compensated? Five dollars an hour buys next to nothing in an economy where gasoline is near $4 per gallon. At three times that hourly rate it is difficult to make any kind of life for a family of three. Often illegal immigrant families are much larger than 3 persons and can any of us imagine supporting a family of 5 or 6 or more on $5 or even $15 per hour? Then there is the fact that estimates of the origins of current gang members done as recently as 2006 show that about 49% of all gang members in America are Hispanic. Many of those gang members are illegal immigrants and some of the most notorious gangs in America are comprised almost entirely of illegal immigrants. The 18^th Street Gang is one whose illegal immigrant makeup is estimated at over 60%. If for no other reason than a love for human kind, we must consider that compassion may be best served with these illegal immigrants, who risked their lives trying to get to a country where they can feel accepted, by returning them to their countries of origin and asking them to return to our country legally just as fast as they can. This way they can live above the radar not below it, and become productive members of a great society. 

It’s the disproportionate population of illegal immigrants who commit crimes, join gangs and subvert the government combined with 911 that forces us to consider illegal immigration a severe threat to our national security. Illegal immigration is not just a threat to our national security; it is also a threat to our economy, our society and our way of life. Too many candidates in all political spectrums pander to a Hispanic population who in my opinion, given the facts, would all but physically send their illegal breather back to their homelands themselves. Political strategists, candidates and staffers give so little credit to the Hispanic population of our country that they come up with schemes like drivers’ licenses and tolerance for illegal immigrants that appear to make them compassionate. The fact is that these ridiculous schemes actually make our politicians look like, well, politicians. Compassion doesn’t mean that we sit back and ignore atrocities being committed against undocumented aliens or that we advocate for these criminals to be allowed to participate in social programs which should be reserved for legal US citizens. Instead, compassion for Hispanic Americans should come in the following form.

Too often Hispanic Americans are labeled distastefully due to the vast majority of illegal immigrants being Hispanic in origin, especially in the Delaware area where many of these immigrants work on farms, manufacturing plants or in southern PA mushroom houses. Stereotypes, as distasteful as they may be, are applied to many immigrants regardless of their immigration status. Many in the Hispanic population are legal, hard working citizens who pay their taxes, and are productive citizens. It’s unfair that they be labeled within the same category as illegal immigrants who subvert the law and live below the radar often turning to crime as a way to make a living, and subjecting themselves and their families to living conditions akin to those of the slaves in the early days of our country. Legitimizing illegal immigrants by granting drivers licenses or public funding for social programs only serves to blur the lines and create more damaging stereotypes for the Hispanic community. The best way to combat these stereotypes is to work within the Hispanic American community to weed out those who have broken the law to get into the country and continue to break the law by not paying taxes, joining gangs, committing crimes against citizens, and provide false identities. The best way to be compassionate is to show Hispanic American citizens that we value their hard work and dedication to the American way of life. We should be working with Hispanic Americans to show them that we do want to offer them the same advantages that all Americans are given the rights to enjoy by our Constitution. We need to show Hispanic Americans that we are concerned about the stereotypes unfairly applied to far too many of our nation’s hardest workers and work to ensure that those stereotypes are struck down by ending illegal immigration. Through community outreach by local law enforcement and increasing communications with ICE we can help to restore a positive look to the Hispanic American community and ensure that everyone is given the same chance to succeed free from the burdens of immigration status concerns. 

By ending illegal immigration in Delaware we will not only restore the good name of our Hispanic American brothers and sisters, but we will help our economy, reduce crime and reduce stress on our public school system and social programs.   Unfortunately our mainstream candidates seem to be stuck on offering platitudes and slogans to our Hispanic American community and not really addressing the issues that they face. When are Delaware’s citizens, specifically the Hispanic Americans going to wake up and realize that what the Democrats and even our left leaning Republican candidates are offering is nothing short of a bait and switch to get votes? There’s no substance, there’s no answer here and there is no real solution being offered by any of these candidates. It’s time for new, fresh, young ideas for Delaware.