Today I particiated in a march in Santa Barbara along with 15 thousand others in support of immigrants rights. It was wonderful and amazing to see so many folk in solidarity with those most vulnerable workers in our system - the undocumented.
There has been a lot of hype and fear mongering around this issue. Let me just throw a few pieces out the window. Undocumented workers pay taxes. They do not take jobs away from Americans. They do jobs that most Americans of any race will not take (I can't imagine bending over a field of strawberries day in and day out). Many of them have children who are US citizens. They make a significant contribution to our economy and should be allowed the benefits of the society. Unless you are 100% Native American, you have undocumented immigrants in your family tree. (Even then, at some point those folk immigrated to this continent). If we were to send all of the undocumented workers back to their homelands, the impact on our economy would be enormous. Folk who are having to choose between food and energy now would find that choice pressed not only from the energy side but from incredible increases in food. (One expert has said that nearly 100% of the folk working in the fields in CA picking produce are undocumented... even if they are off by 50% the impact on food costs would be unbelievable).
Si se puede!
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