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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Building a new Berlin Wall?

This letter concerns John Infranca's column of Jan. 23 regarding immigration. I sympathize with his concerns and regret that the haphazard approach taken by the United States to immigration has cost many lives.Immigration has positive and negative effects. I know from personal observation in Chicago that many employers will hire Mexican immigrants before they will hire blacks. I don't think that is fair. Nor is it fair to assume that no one else will perform the jobs that Hispanic immigrants take.Ironically, the real answer to the problem is to mimic the Soviet reaction to the exodus of Germans through East Berlin to the west in the early '60s. Spend $40 billion or whatever it takes to build a wall - a big one - from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. This will make it clear to Mexicans that the only way they can enter the United States is through legal channels. It will also save lives. Finally, it is worth pointing out that real source of the problem is the corrupt and abusive Mexican government. It exploits its populace while operating what is in effect a socialist one-party system and demands the United States provide a safety valve. The more we appease that government, the more harm we do to Mexicans.

Peter ZavodnyikChicagoclass of 1992Jan. 23