Those Scary Brown People

We had it coming to us. We've had it coming to us for a long time. You know all of those immigrants that "take our jobs"? Well, besides the obvious benefit of having a hungry work force willing to do anything to drive our economy forward, well, we also were instrumental in bringing them here. Now we want them to go home? We brought them here in the first place.
Why? How? Well, first of all there's the good neighbor policy and manifest destiny that the United States has been practicing since its inception. We have always felt as if we were in control of anything south of the Rio Grande, stepping over and ignoring the aggressive ways we have acted during the 19th century. Let's deal with the 20th century alone.
Well, during the beginning of the 20th century we let our companies like the United Fruit Company dictate the policies of various countries in Central and South America. We continued a policy of power being concentrated in the hands of the few in most of South America. If people are poor and being kept down -and they see an opportunity a little ways north-- what else will they do?
I'm not even including what has happened since NAFTA began. The subsidies and tax breaks that we have given our industrial farmers has created a situation where farmers in Mexico no longer can make money by growing their produce, simply because our farmers are able to do it cheaper. When a segment of an economy, which is as prominent even in this day and age as farming, of course it will create a segment of the populous that will need to look for jobs. Coupled with the dire economic situation, the division between economic classes, and low employment- people will inevitably look for another way in which to feed their families, especially if they are available to the north.
We have even encouraged Mexican workers to come to our country- we ENCOURAGED it. There was the "Bracero Program" which began in 1942 and ended in 1964. We brought Mexican workers to the United States to work.
The laws in this country, the mindset, the archaic way in which we treat our immigrants is simply embarrassing. We have done this to the Irish, the Italians, the Jews, and the Germans. But now, we are doing it with a group that has been in this country for as long as it has existed. We have alienated a group willing to work harder than any other in this country. As far as I'm concerned the people of this country, those that support the draconian laws of Arizona and those laws that remove immigrants and children of immigrants from this country should be ashamed of themselves.