Sharing a border with Canada, we rarely have to deal with immigration issues in the public eye, as there is no line of Canadians eager to get into Maine. Some businesses, however, bring the issue to Maine ”“ along with the problems that accompany it.
The illegal immigration debate hit home last week as the owners of the Cancun Mexican restaurants and the Fajita Grill were arrested on charges of conspiring to harbor illegal aliens and employing illegal aliens.
The soft, slow response of the federal authorities to the violations allegedly perpetrated by these Mexican restaurants is a perfect example of why we have an illegal immigrant problem in this country. The investigation into the Fajita Grill began in 2008, before the Cancun restaurant ever opened in Biddeford. Does it really take three years to check a few people’s citizenship status?
Guillermo Fuentes, owner of the Fajita Grill in Westbrook, and Hector Fuentes, his brother who operated the Cancun restaurants in Biddeford and Waterville, are facing significant fines and prison sentences if convicted, but are currently free on bail. Meanwhile, the illegal aliens they employed are still being allowed to live and work in the U.S. so long as they cooperate with the investigation, and one has even been granted permanent status as a lawful resident.
Is it just us, or does this seem more like reward than punishment?
The proper response to illegal immigrant status in the U.S. should be immediate deportation, not amnesty. It’s what any of us would expect if we got a job in another country without getting the proper status to work there, and it’s certainly what should be done here when illegals are found employed here.
It’s not just a matter of them “stealing our jobs” as some would say, but also that undocumented workers are often little more than slaves in those jobs and have no recourse because they are in a foreign country illegally. The Fajita Grill employees who brought customers their meals during the day were sleeping on cardboard in the basement of the restaurant at night, according to police reports. How were they supposed to get out of that situation as illegals here? Illegal immigration benefits no one except for the business owners who get cheap, trapped labor.
No one should be more upset about illegal immigration than those who have immigrated to this country and undergone the tedious, expensive process to become a citizen here. Should they have simply tried the illegal route and waited it out until someone took pity on them for wanting to keep the life they built here? It seems so. In fact, they might have been rewarded just like these folks have been.
We realize that illegal immigrants are people, too, first and foremost, but they are people who are breaking the law. We must not lose sight of that, and we must stop this lenient enforcement that rewards criminal behavior. Living and working here illegally is either a crime or it’s not. For now, it is still a crime because the government was created to serve its own citizens, not those who have snuck in, unaccounted for.
In Rhode Island, the higher education board voted Monday to approve a measure that would allow students who are illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at universities. How can this board believe they are doing the right thing? Nobody wants to make it harder for youth to attain a higher education, but they’re looking at it from the wrong perspective. It makes more sense for a legal Massachusetts resident, a citizen of the United States of America, to pay in-state tuition in Rhode Island than it does for an illegal immigrant or their children who were brought here at a young age. Why are we rewarding an illegal act?
It’s easy to get caught up in the intricacies of the illegal immigrant experience and it’s human to feel sympathy for people who are simply looking for a better life and to make money to support their families. But the focus must remain on the fact that they’ve gone about their efforts in the wrong way ”“ an illegal way ”“ and should be sent back to their home countries. It’s a respect issue, a fairness issue and a legal issue for all those who were born American citizens or have worked hard to become American citizens.
Ӣ Ӣ Ӣ
Today’s editorial was written by Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Kristen by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via e-mail at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
