Xenophobia, like all bigotries, requires either an inability
or refusal to recognize the humanity of the targeted cohort. Otherwise, our
inherent altruism would get in the way, making it impossible to feel prejudice
toward an entire group of people. A diatribe against the scourge of illegal
immigration would probably have to be written by one of a certain race and
class, and to advocate deportation would need many layers of human callousness.

Such a diatribe ? so unsympathetic toward the plight of a
poor, oppressed group ? would look something like Sam Clegg?s in last week?s
Herald (?Keep on turning in illegal immigrants,? Feb. 21).

In the piece, Mr. Clegg admits it is ?unrealistic to assume
we can magically whisk away the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants
currently residing in this country.? Since we can?t just get rid of them all
(if only we could!), we should instead focus on those who find their way to the
Dane County prison system. Deporting those who commit a crime of some sort,
according to Mr. Clegg, is economical, constitutional and, most importantly, a
fulfillment of the law.

Perhaps. But he forgets to reflect on the humanitarian
implications ? a consideration that Mr. Clegg?s worldview apparently doesn?t
hold in much esteem. Deporting people who receive a DUI citation, try to
organize a union illegally or steal an extra can of beans to feed the kids can
only be described as quite monstrous. Most people commit crimes not because
they?re innately bad, but because they?re poor ? this is especially true of a
group of people who are notoriously forced into the kind of employment the rest
of America would just as soon forget about.

Knowing that crime is the unwanted child of poverty and
oppression is obvious to anyone who cares to look beneath the surface of
things, and most people who are aware of that fact tend to view perpetrators of
petty theft or drug offenses in a more sympathetic light. But punishing the
most disenfranchised because they can?t play by all the rules is precisely what
Mr. Clegg can?t wait to do.

People like Mr. Clegg have this idea that undocumented
workers have less of a right to be here than the rest of us. The Puritans,
after all, went through all the right paperwork before acquiring citizenship.

And who does Mr. Clegg think he is? An accident of birth is
a pathetic justification for arguing that he or I have more of a right to be in
the United States than anyone else, and I find it despicable that anyone would
lecture to the most vulnerable in our society that there are certain
stipulations attached to staying here. It?s as if Mr. Clegg is telling a poor
Mexican worker, ?You can continue to clean the shit off our toilets, but only
if you keep quiet and don?t make trouble.?

Perhaps Mr. Clegg would think twice about advocating a lower
status for undocumented immigrants if he would have given a thought to why so
many of them are forced to come here in the first place. The effects of the
North American Free Trade Agreement are estimated to have bankrupted 1.5
million Mexican corn farmers and lowered wages down to 1937 levels.
American-owned ?maquiladora? sweatshops have created unbearable living
conditions by our standards, with people living in polluted shantytowns on
wages that rarely pay for anything more than basic subsistence. Under such an
economic situation, is it any wonder that so many impoverished Mexicans are
willing to risk everything to come to the United States? I, for one, applaud
their courage.

The so-called problem of immigrant crime is a farce anyway,
one with a long history in this country. Today?s Mexican criminal is
yesterday?s Italian Mafioso, Jewish gangster or Irish pickpocket ? all are
stereotypes that apply to only a small minority within the group. While Mr.
Clegg never explicitly states that such a problem exists, the very topic of his
article gives credence to the Bill O?Reilly notion that immigrants are a
crime-ridden bunch ? an insinuation about as untrue as it is offensive.

But beyond that, basic human decency should be reason enough
to treat the undocumented as equals. The proposed witch hunt in our county
jails will tear apart families and hurl people back into the unlivable
periphery of impoverished Mexico. Deportation is ostentatiously cruel, and it
is for this reason apolitical human rights groups and religious organizations ?
including Mr. Clegg?s own Catholic Church ? from across the country are
actively protecting those who are targeted.

Active struggle is the only way to overcome the current wave
of xenophobia; more marches, protests and strikes are needed to force open the
gate of equality that is currently closed to those who don?t have the necessary
papers. But for now, I commend all those who aid and abet resistance to immoral
deportation orders.

?

Kyle Szarzynski ([email protected]) is
a junior majoring in Spanish and history.