The Real American Heroes (Take That G.I. Joe...Ya Bunch of Girls)

America is not like any other nation. England is home to the English. France is home to the French. Russia has Russians. America is the one nation that always seems to be the “land of opportunity,” regardless of economic collapse. Thus, America is home to the Americans…and the Mexicans. Or if political correctness is the thing: Latin Americans. The facts state that “the illegal population was 3.5 million in 1990. For the undocumented population to have reached 8 million by the year 2000, the net increase would have been 400,000 to 500,000 every year during the 1990s.” [Dougherty 1] If this trend continued, the population of illegal immigrants now in the US is at least 12 million. But this is NOT, in fact, a problem. The article, A Day in the Life of an Illegal Immigrant by Matt Dougherty illustrates the benefits of migrant workers as well as explains why the workers are here in the first place. Many people seem to think immigrants are a drain on the economy and steal property. (Especially Delaney Mossbacher, who will be discussed later on.) In reality, the immigrants take the jobs no one else wants to do.

Of the two immigrants discussed, Rodrigo Nunez and Edna Alvarez, work hard and don’t battle with their employers for better wages like most Americans attempting to climb the corporate ladder. This, in turn, allows companies to make more money and keep more profits as they don’t need to pay quite as much to the employee who happens to be an illegal alien. Nunez, a construction worker, “wakes up, eats a banana and has a cup of coffee saturated with sugar and milk, and then throws on his ratty jeans and mud-caked boots, ready for yet another day of hard labor and monotony.” [Dougherty 1] He then hops on the bus, “a ride that he often looks forward to because he is able to sleep on the trip to the construction site.” [Dougherty 1] The work is tough and he is paid just above minimum wage. “America has depended on immigrant labor to fill certain sectors of our industries, and skilled immigrant workers have been very popular to our employers.” Says Nestor Rodriguez, sociology chair for the University of Houston.

But no one knows more about immigrant work ethic than Mrs. Antoinette Jones of Montgomery County. She hired Edna Alvarez to care for her mother. Friends with Mexican housekeepers told Mrs. Jones stories about immigrant workers “working for much less money than it would be to hire someone who had more experience – someone who was legal.” [Dougherty 1] So Edna was hired, and she worked wonderfully. She filled this niche that is normally filled by apathetic American middle-aged nurses for much less money, and with a smile. “I like working here,” Alvarez said. “The family is very nice to me.” I believe that says it all.

So this is what it’s like for immigrants in the US. Edna lives in a trailer; Rodrigo lives in a small apartment. But Candido and America live in a ravine. T. Coreghessan Boyle’s novel The Tortilla Curtain goes to extremes to point out the plight of illegal immigrants. Rather than workers in low-end jobs in meager hovels with people that try to hide their racism, Candido lives in a park, getting by how he can (such as a free turkey) in an area populated by rich, white Americans who fear and even loathe the immigrants and the end of white supremacy. A gate is built around the community of one, Delaney Mossbacher and his wife Kyra and the WASPs residing inside are hypocritical bigots, which is strange because the Mossbachers are liberals. It depicts how it doesn’t matter what your views politically are, everyone has a deep-seated fear of change, which is what the waves of workers bring: change.

The Mossbachers should talk to Antoinette Jones. Delaney should get off his high horse and let go of his anger towards the Rancuns using up all of the resources of the park and realize that they work harder than he probably ever has. They also work cheaper. Delaney should tell Rodrigo Nunez that he is a waste while he hauls cinder blocks around the construction site for about as much an hour as I make working part-time as a cashier at A&P.

Actually, in the jobs I’ve worked at I’ve encountered numerous immigrants. One such man, Raphael, worked as a dish-washer at Panera Bread, a used car salesman’s assistant (washed my car before I bought it and test drove it with me), and from what I can deduce, a CVS employee as I had seen him walking out of a local CVS with a uniform on. He rode a bike to work, thus cutting back on pollution. He worked with a broken arm instead of whining and taking medical leave. He, at 50 or so years old, worked at minimum wage yet he always had a smile and he even taught some of the other Panera employees some Spanish.

America houses the American Dream. Of course, this dream only applies to American-born, middle-to-upper class white men (or women) with some type of business savvy. The Mossbachers achieved their American Dream, but did the immigrants? Actually, some of the Mexicans entering the country find an American Dream. No, they don’t get a white picket fence, no they don’t have a dog and two dough-eyed children (a boy and a girl). They make more money than they did in Mexico? Check. Do they have freedoms they never would have in Mexico? Check. Racism isn’t a problem because they shrug it off. Discrimination in the workplace isn’t a problem either because it’s just as bad in Mexico. So a modified American Dream awaits.

Obviously, I am for immigration. But for me it didn’t get that way overnight. I was a follower of hypocrisy, just as Delaney is. "The coyote is not to blame--he is only trying to survive, to make a living, to take advantage of the opportunities available to him." He concludes the same column by writing, "The coyotes keep coming, breeding up to fill in the gaps, moving in where the living is easy. They are cunning, versatile, hungry and unstoppable." [T.C. Boyle] I was almost exactly like this. The Mexicans are trying to survive but they just need to stop coming. They are a vicious, unstoppable force bent on killing (the economy) like coyotes. Now I realize they are just another race of people, like blacks, attempting to gain rights, fairness, and meager wages. They just need an Abraham Lincoln.