I'm 9 years old. And I'm an illegal alien.
May 27, 2015 4:51 PM   Subscribe

 
“Then they told me we were in Texas. Can I tell you what I was thinking about? I was so nervous because I was thinking about the chain-saw massacre.”

Jesus. Poor little man.

Is this not an old article? There's a table of contents for a 2006 issue. I wonder what Alan is doing now.
posted by Countess Elena at 5:21 PM on May 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah, it's from 2006.

Sadly, what tipped me off was the fact that Rey Mysterio wasn't at WrestleMania this year.
posted by Etrigan at 5:25 PM on May 27, 2015 [6 favorites]


I want to hug him.
posted by chapps at 6:02 PM on May 27, 2015


This article reminded me of a book I'd read called There's No Jose Here, where the author goes to the home-town of an immigrant from Mexico he's befriended in New York. Then I realized that both this article and the book are by Gabriel Thompson.
posted by larrybob at 6:09 PM on May 27, 2015


Here are some arguments for and against open border policies from openborders.info. Or for a more unbiased but less comprehensive source, try Wikipedia.

I don't think one can simultaneously have (a) non-open borders, i.e. a due process for immigration that involves getting documentation, meeting certain qualifications, and paying taxes for the sake of benefiting from public services; and (b) amnesty for sympathetic cases like Alan and other children. (If children could get away with illegal immigration, either their parents would also have to be allowed—in which case one could skip the whole immigration process by getting pregnant—or we would have a lot more foster kids to deal with.) So if we're not going to kick people like Alan out of the U.S., then we need an open border with Mexico. (The traditional way to create one would be to conquer their territory, demand tribute/taxes, and extend the benefits of citizenship to our new province. I presume that most MeFites are against this.)
posted by Rangi at 7:46 PM on May 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


Also, it's pretty ironic to protest a bill saying that "every immigrant has to go back to their country" while wearing a "YO SOY 100% MEXICANO" T-shirt. And later he says, "My house in Mexico is real nice." So, you're a 100% Mexican with a nice Mexican house, but you want to live in the United States... why? And if the benefits of immigrating aren't worth going through the usual process and paying taxes, then is it really "justice" to be allowed to stay?

(I know, I know, he's a just 9-year-old kid who wants to stay where he's always lived. Nothing wrong with that. But it's manipulative of his parents to take him to a protest and use him to advocate for their own political beliefs. Might as well tell a kid "If abortion was legal, you might not have been born," and make them hold a sign outside a Planned Parenthood.)
posted by Rangi at 7:53 PM on May 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


a due process for immigration that involves getting documentation, meeting certain qualifications, and paying taxes for the sake of benefiting from public services

paying taxes for the sake of benefiting from public services

benefiting from public services

benefiting


It always comes down to being mad that someone's getting over. The kid's got a PlayStation, for crying out loud!
posted by Etrigan at 8:17 PM on May 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


in which case one could skip the whole immigration process by getting pregnant

This is the same, tired "anchor babies" fear that's been around for a while: women are coming here and having babies to get a foothold in the US; they're getting one over on us, so we can't be sympathetic - and we should probably get rid of that pesky jus soli!

These kids aren't less American because of who their parents are; they were born here, or came here through no choice of their own, and belong to this country as much as anyone else. If the cost of treating them justly and humanely is that some women "skip the whole immigration process by getting pregnant," who cares? Why's that such a big deal?

Also, it's pretty ironic to protest a bill saying that "every immigrant has to go back to their country" while wearing a "YO SOY 100% MEXICANO" T-shirt.

Yeah, because it's not like identity is complicated and multifaceted or anything.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 10:58 PM on May 27, 2015 [6 favorites]


And if the benefits of immigrating aren't worth going through the usual process and paying taxes, then is it really "justice" to be allowed to stay?

Also, there's a lot packed into this question alone. It's a myth that undocumented immigrants don't pay taxes; why do you think they don't?

Just what "usual process" are they supposed to follow?

And why do you think that undocumented immigrants don't want legal residency, and if they don't want legal residency, why does it matter if some women could "skip the immigration process by getting pregnant"?
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 11:09 PM on May 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


It's a myth that undocumented immigrants don't pay taxes; why do you think they don't?

I think people usually mean "federal income and payroll taxes" when they say that.
posted by Justinian at 11:43 PM on May 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


And plenty of undocumented immigrants pay federal income taxes. Their employers pay the federal payroll tax, too.
posted by Banknote of the year at 12:09 AM on May 28, 2015


Some do. Most don't.
posted by jpe at 4:19 AM on May 28, 2015


I've known a lot of undocumented immigrants who pay more taxes than any of us, simply because they are using someone else's SSN and never get their refund. They overpay by thousands of dollars a year despite being some of the least able to afford it.

There were a lot more under the table jobs before the recession, mostly in construction, occasionally in small restaurants. With those largely gone, they are paying tax, they just don't get credit for it.
posted by wierdo at 5:38 AM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


Some do. Most don't.

And your evidence for this is -- what?

Some immigrants are paid under the table and don't pay federal income tax or payroll tax, it's true -- but if you're being paid under the table, you're probably not making all that much money, and probably not cheating the government out of a lot of income tax. Hell, I'm a United States citizen, and there have been years where I paid little to no income tax because of a combination of tax credits and being poor.

That aside, I have never understood people who complain about immigrants not paying taxes. I have a hard time believing that many undocumented immigrants would turn down legal residency so they could continue to take crappy under-the-table jobs and avoid paying taxes.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:25 AM on May 28, 2015 [1 favorite]


From page 5 of the article:
It is a strange reality that Rafael and Margarita’s feisty 4-year-old daughter, who is barred from crossing the street without holding a guiding hand and cries loudly when faced with a doctor’s needle, will eventually have the power to legalize the status of her entire family, moving them out from the undocumented shadows, where deportation remains a constant possibility. If the emotionally charged debates in Congress fail to lead to an immigration-reform bill that allows a path to citizenship, Alan and his parents will have to wait until America turns 21 before she can petition for their permanent residency. That critical day will come in 2022, and by then, Alan will be in his late twenties.
A more recent book by this same author is Working in the Shadows: A Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won't Do. He spent 2 months cutting lettuce in Arizona, 7 weeks working at a poultry plant in Alabama, 2 days at a flower shop in New York and some weeks doing food delivery by bicycle in New York. It's a really good book and makes the point that a lot of immigrants, whether legal or illegal (and even guest workers who live in Mexico and cross legally into the U.S. daily to commute to their jobs), are doing work critical to our ability to function. These are jobs that can't be adequately filled by employers, even when you increase wages, if you crack down too much on illegals.

Our system has something deeply broken in it. We are all at risk of starving if we crack down too hard on illegal immigrants. The cheap food we count on -- and, by the standards of most countries, Americans do have access to crazy cheap food prices -- would not exist without these low paid, exploited workers who then get vilified and criminalized for taking these low paid, back-breaking jobs.

I found Alan, Alien interesting from the perspective of seeing the national policies and international issues played out in the life of a small boy who has no understanding of all the politics. At one point, he wonders if the police maybe thought he was a murderer that they were looking for him. I also found it interesting because I think this is something people do not think about. When we make laws for humans, we make them for all humans. Do we stop and think about the ramifications for those who are most vulnerable?

Sometimes, we seem to do so. Other times, we seem to fail in that regard. I don't know what the answer is for an issue like this. But I think we only hurt ourselves when we get on our high horse and criticize illegals as somehow bad people rather than wondering what would make the system work better. Reading Working in the Shadows has made me genuinely concerned about the possibility that further crackdowns could really harm food security for America. I have spent a number of years struggling to get enough to eat for about a third of every month. It's been frustrating, but it was due to lack of funds, not because the store shelves were empty. That possibility is a far more frightening scenario.
posted by Michele in California at 9:37 AM on May 28, 2015 [2 favorites]


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