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"Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery" - Jack Paar
A hot topic in the United States in recent years has been immigration, particularly illegal immigration. Some Americans whine and cry and do everything they can to establish a secure border between the U.S. and Mexico. When these Americans think of immigration they think about "hopping the border". These people might identify with the quote, “a nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation”, said by Ronald Reagan.
What they don't usually think about are people who do not choose to come to America. People who would rather stay in their homelands, but can't because of political turmoil. People classified as refugees.
In life, there are a number of needs we, as human beings, need to satisfy. According to Abraham Maslow, those needs can be assembled in a pyramid that looks like this:
At the base of the pyramid we can find physiological needs. These needs include hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.. In countries with great amounts of political turmoil, people's basic physiological needs are often not being met. This creates an atmosphere of distress, and forces the country's people to seek refuge. If they can't satisfy their physiological needs, at least partially, they can't go on to satisfy safety needs. Safety and physiological needs are especially vital to survival, and without proper access to the resources needed to satisfy those needs, these people will be forced to find them elsewhere.
America welcomes refugees with a different attitude than is given towards illegal immigrants. But is this fair? Illegal immigrants are leaving their home for some reason. Some of their needs aren't being satisfied in their homeland. Chances are those needs don't have to do with self-actualizaion or trancendence. More likely, they have to do with safety or maybe even physiological needs. Illegal immigrants come to America not only to find the "American Dream", but they come to America to satisfy their basic needs. Keeping this in mind, does the connotation of "Illegal Immigrant" become more like that of a "Refugee"?
If life was good where they lived, people wouldn't go to such great lengths to come to America. Instead of viewing these people as "invaders" in our land, maybe people can start viewing them as human beings trying to thrive. Just people trying to meet their biological needs in the land of opportunity.
So like I said earlier through the words of Jack Paar, "Immigration is the sincerest form of flattery".
I think you bring up some interesting points in your post. I definitely think being kinder to refugees than illegal immigrants is fair however. Although both have a reason to come to our nation, one group does it legally while the other does not. As Ryan pointed out above, coming in illegally creates a host of problems for Americans. On the flip side, illegal immigrants are willing to work many jobs that other people are not and they are the backbone of several industries. Although an illegal immigrants basic needs aren't being met in their homeland, once into the nation illegally, that changes everything. There are safety risks and economic concerns that aren't solved even if we can take comfort in knowing that some of their lives are improved by being in America. I think people may characterize illegal immigrants as invaders not because they are trying to survive, but because of their possible detrimental impact. A struggling American without a job may take to blaming illegal immigrants for their struggles before their fellow American citizens.
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