I know that this stand is unpopular. But I owe it to people who I know and love. I owe it to people that I do not know, who can't knock to your hearts and souls. I am more privileged, I am a citizen. And as a citizen, I have to say it.
To uphold the law, if we need to ship the illegals out, we should. You saw it in the comments to two of my other blogs: Are You Ready to Ship Illegals Away? Everyone has the answer. Even if we do not understand the question Remember a ship carrying German Jews trying to flee the Nazi, and America turned them down? They died. There were a few hundred people and it is still a shame of America.
Do we want to create a humanitarian disaster of biblical proportions? When Afghanistan had 1 million of its countrymen as refugees, who left Afghanistan fleeing from the war and destruction, this is a huge number. When in any other country 1 million people have to leave, this is a humanitarian crisis. If US ships 12 Million people out, this would be a disaster not seen in recent history.
Do we understand that some of these people would end up dead? It is different when you are entering US, or you are entering Russia. People, who have been in this country for 15-20 years... Their children do not really know their native languages, they studied in American schools, they are different, and they will be physically beaten and abused and psychologically broken and destroyed. As a former teacher in USSR, i speak from the experience. You do not even understand the differences. The kids do not understand them, too. I knew a guy here. After he divorced, he took his son and returned to Russia. I remember talking to him before he left, and I asked him what he would be doing with his son and the schools in Moscow. He was surprised by the question, he did not think about it. He was from the established family, his father was a professor in Moscow, no problem with living arrangements. He called me after a bit over a year, he was in England, and he told me that though he had a great job and career, he had to leave because of the kid.
It is a different world. Not that there is less candy or more snow, it is radically different. Different in how you see people, and how they see themselves. We used to grow up with thick skin, we used to grow up and compromise to survive. American teen is not ready for that. It is a physical place. Your size and your strength means everything. It is a place for bullies. You have to be a very strong person, or you may be psychologically destroyed. Personality is one of the most cherished traits in America. Personality is one of the most hated traits in Russia. You do not want to be any different from the pack. Of course, you can learn it, but you will pay the price.
I also want to note that people were coming for decades, and there was a hope, there were amnesties, there were other programs and they are there now, by the way. People change their status from illegal to legal, while they are in the country.
When they were coming to the country on tourists visas, they would go to the immigration attorney, and start the application process. That worked for many years. With September 11 and Patriot Act and other changes, the time for consideration changed and a lot of those illegals just have to wait longer. Now, the overall tone is harsh, the nation wants them out. This is highly political and highly populist.
OK. You want them out. Where are you going to send them? There was a movie about an orca, that was too old for the Sea World show, so there was a movement to save it. Money was raised, and people tried to teach the animal to catch fish so that it had a chance in the wild. What about millions of people? Do they have a home there? How they will survive? My wife's friend, who, luckily, just got her greencard, used to ask herself this question all the time. She is from Estonia. He husband died in a car accident, her daughter is an American citizen and lives here with her husband and 3 children. To help her daughter, Olga (that's her and my wife's name) sold everything she had, and came here years ago. Since then property values in Tallinn have skyrocketed. If she had to go back, she would be in big-big trouble. She is ethnic Russian, but her dad was a seaman, and they lived all their lives in Estonia. Estonia was forcefully attached to the Soviet Union in 1940 as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Protocol. A lot of Estonians perished in Stalin's camps.
When Estonia broke up with the Union, they turn ugly against Russians. I can understand their feelings. So, if she would have to go back, there would be no place to stay, she does not have relatives. She would have very little chance to get a job as:
It is difficult to find a job,
It there is a job, it is difficult to get it being ethnic Russian.
Take me. If for whatever reason I would have to go back, it does not mean that I would be even able to do it. I was born to a military MD mom, who was with the Hospital in Tajikistan. By birth I am a Tajik. Since I was 10 months, I lived in Russia until immigrating to US. Russia would not take me as I was not born there. So, where do I go? To Tajikistan, with their clans fighting, no relatives, friends, no social system to help, but plenty of Muslim fundamentalists?
Even worse when you deal with Russian women married to Chechen men. The Chechen were assimilating more than any other nation in the Black Sea region. There were plenty of marriages between Russian women and Chechen men. After the war in Chechnya their lives turned a nightmare. They could not go to Chechnya with their Russian wives, as Chechnya hates Russians and they have the reason for that. But Russians hate the Chechen and they have their reason for that. There is no safe place in the former Soviet Union for them. Send them back, and you are sending them to die.
By indiscriminately shipping out 12 millions people this great nation can turn to be a law abiding killer.
Let me say that I have high regards for the Congress and the Senate. I know that this is not going to happen by a popular demand. I know that as a nation we are smarter than even the most radical group.
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