Anyone who’s ever been trying to pick a place to eat
when they’re out knows how irritating it is when you have a person in your
group that says “no” to every place you suggest, yet doesn’t seem to have any
suggestions of their own. In many ways, the debate over immigration in towns
like Farmingville, NY is reminiscent of this frustrating situation. Over the
last several years, this small town outside New York City has been a point of
much controversy around the issue of immigration. A large influx of undocumented
immigrants into the town upset many people and the Sanchum Quality of Life Organization was created to
combat the problem. What really happened was a slew of constant angry and
polarizing protests, a rigid ideological division within the town, and out of
it all an environment was created that got so out of control is resulted in
violent attacks on the immigrants and even the deaths of two young men.
Eventually, local
politicians and other human rights groups pushed to diffuse the problem by
offering up the idea of a hiring cite. Instead of standing around in the
streets of the community (something the SQO said was a major concern for their
children’s safety) they would be required by law to all gather in one assigned
place in town if they wanted to look for work. This made those who opposed the
immigration to Farmingville furious and they went after the proposition in full
force because they believed it did nothing more than encourage immigration to
their area. It was struck down.
The fact is, I can
understand people’s fear and frustration to an extent. A huge group of people
show up in your town, they loiter on your street corners, and no one knows who
they are or where they’ve been. Sure, that could be a little scary, I get that.
But by the same token, it is the hand Farmingville has been dealt, and
obviously someone is hiring these people or else they wouldn’t be here. So this
is the situation they’re in, and when a situation is an unchanging reality, it’s
hardly a good time to become idealistic. In the video, a man arguing on the
side of hiring site said something to the extent of “their proposal is basically
too send in the helicopters and deport everyone right now, but that’s just not
going to happen.”
Basically, they don’t
want them there at all, so anything that could be done for them or the
situation is totally out of the question in their mind. So they will continue
to fight and protest instead of suggest anything that could be done to remedy
the situation. This is a problem that can be seen in many places in our
political system and is something I feel needs to be stopped. Your position
cannot simply be against something, you must be able to offer a realistic
alternative.
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