The Children

*This blog is a supplement to my story "Teacher Helps Immigrant Students Succeed" in the education section of Borderbeat.net.

After interviewing Diane Lopez, a teacher of mostly illegal immigrant children at Apollo Middle School, I had a different outlook on the way I view illegal immigrants, and the way the press is dealing with the entire immigrant situation. Hearing stories of individual children and what they go through everyday really got the wheels turning in my head.

When I turn on talk radio, or watch a cable news station all I hear is banter back and forth between liberals and conservatives and how they intend to solve this illegal immigrant problem. Most of the issues they discuss are about health care and the economy.

I understand both sides of the argument, and the frustrations people are feeling regarding this issue. My frustration is that we keep dealing with illegal immigration as if every person that comes over the border illegally has the exact same background, the exact same intentions and the exact same problems.

Just like we are discovering in Iraq right now, it is extremely difficult to deal with a large group of people and bring about change, because not all people are going to respond the same way. Some Iraqi's are welcoming to change, and some are not. We see the two different responses covered in the media; the conservative media covering the former angle, and the liberal media covering the ladder.

I don't like to group myself with liberals or conservatives because I don't fully agree with either side on any issue. But, what I would like to see the mainstream media do regarding the issue of illegal immigration is to STOP the banter, and start looking at individuals.

There are reasons why thousands of illegal immigrants are "sucking our health care system dry," as I heard a caller say on a local radio program today. Now, I myself am in the middle of a health insurance bind, so I understand completely why some Americans are tired of seeing illegal immigrants use up government health care money from programs such as ACCHHS. But I hate that so many Americans are looking at these people like they're leeches.

Particularly in the case of children. Mainstream media personalities argue back and forth about this issue, treating the entire immigrant populous like chattel. If only they would realize that not everyone in the world is an American, or thinks like an American. If only they would realize that journalists are not bestowed with superior knowledge that allows them to solve the world's problems, and chide anyone who would dare to disagree. Maybe they could think about their children, and the love and care they are offering them by making a living, and then think about these immigrant children who are completely innocent of what their parents are having them do.

Illegal immigration is still illegal, and I'm not arguing that it's OK, but can someone please just get over themselves long enough to shut their bantering mouths up, and see some people instead of numbers? Let me introduce you to the children...