Friday, July 30, 2010

Why you should not believe Jesse Hernandez

A day after the injunction of the worst parts of Arizona's SB1070 passed, I was listening to a CNN interview with Jesse Hernandez. Jesse, a Mexican-American man in Arizona who supports SB1070, rattled off the age-old anti-immigrant sentiments. Yes, those that completely ignore the facts. Of course, what does it matter if one more person propagates lies if Arizona's own governor bases her legislation and PR on exaggerations of the crimes committed by undocumented immigrants?

What is so wrong with what Jesse had to say? Let's take a look...

1. Jesse is against "illegal immigrants," firstly, because they are a "nuisance." Yeah, I really can't stand that the guy in Five Points just asked me for 5 bucks. Or that the person in front of me took a long time in the line at Target. But that's okay. I walk on. I don't start a campaign to send them to some far-off land because they're a "nuisance."

2. Jesse said that it hurts the local economy because the undocumented individuals that solicit work in the parking lots don't pay taxes. Oh, Jesse, you couldn't be any more wrong. We all pay taxes; if we buy a Coca-Cola, we pay tax; if we own a car, we pay tax; if we have to buy work boots or tools, we pay tax. Those individuals are no different. If they were to pay taxes on their wages, well honestly, their wages nowadays are so small that the taxes wouldn't amount to much more than a bag of spaghetti that Jesse gets for his own kids with food stamps.

3. Furthermore, the unfortunate part of this situation is that, while indeed they DO pay taxes, they almost never see the benefits. Jesse, you are wrong, yet again. If you do not have a social security number, you cannot apply for food stamps. Unlike what that chick who bought the drop house in foreclosure said, you cannot get on "welfare" if you don't have a social security number. What does that mean? No medicaid, no medicare, no social security, no unemployment, no disability. Also, if they are working informally, they do not have health insurance and the other work-related benefits. That means, if they go to the Doctor's Care, they have to pay UP FRONT. Got it, Jesse?

4. Jesse said that undocumented individuals do not pay their hospital bills. First of all, one report (I'll have to find it later) stated that Hispanics (not necessarily the undocumented, mind you) accounted for less indigent patients than African Americans. So, really, don't exaggerate things, Jesse. Also, if they really aren't paying their bills, why would that be? From my experience in working with clients, they just don't know - the emergency room doesn't charge you when you're there, and a few weeks later, a bill or two or three or four, in English, arrives in the mailbox from "Laboratory Services, Inc." and "Dr. Green" and "RadioSurvey Corp." The thing is, those bills make no sense to those of us who are familiar with the system, so how are they going to make sense to people who are new to the system?

5. Jesse made it sound like a horrible, dirty thing for the children of undocumented individuals to be attending public schools. Do you not think that education is a good thing, Jesse? (Probably not, because you certainly don't know how to make a sound argument.) Perhaps, if we educate these children, they won't have to be in the same, poor economic situation that their parents are in. Not to mention, some of those children may be US citizens (just like you were, Jesse!) born to immigrant parents, so they have EVERY right to attend those schools. I can't believe you even went there, Jesse. Really.

6. Jesse emphasized the crime that is happening because of undocumented immigrants. Ok, but did you realize that it wasn't ALL of the undocumented immigrants who are doing the crimes? It's the smugglers. Those individuals are taking advantage of the broken immigration system in America, the poverity in Latin American, and the people who are simply searching for a better life. That mom that was 3-months pregnant - she risked her life to come to the US because she wanted a better life for her and her baby. This shows the need for comprehensive immigration reform that also considers the international economic policies of the US, so that we take the jobs from the smugglers, not the innocents!

7. Jesse said his main issue was that undocumented individuals were using false documents. Let's return to the root of the problem. Why are they using false documents? Because the US immigration system is so backed up that there is no way on earth that a person, going through the process "legally" can enter this country legally if they come from certain countries. Using false documents is certainly not the way things should be. So, let's fix the system, Jesse, so that one day, maybe all immigrants can say that they did things the "right way," just like your parents, right Jesse? (Because it certainly wasn't you that did the work!)