My workers are NOT illegals. I never said that! I said that they were Mexican. I document the legality to work of anyone who applies for a job in my little business. It’s the law.
The problem with Mexican workers being unable to return home for Christmas, New Years, etc. is well documented and I learned about it from Newsweek, Time or one of those magazines. The new stricter border crossing enforcement in effect since 9-11 had an unexpected effect–legal workers did not want to return home because of the extensive document checking they now had to undergo. The workers worried that they wouldn’t be able to get back in time to go back to work. They worried (rightfully), that they could risk their jobs if they were held up on the border.
Our border regions have a 400+ year history of migrations back and forth across the border. It has always been viewed as no big deal to go to Mexico, or to the US. Now it’s a big deal. This much stronger enforcement is having unforeseen sociological impact on border families. There are thousands of border families who speak both languages and have relatives in both countries. Jobs and family obligations have always shifted across this fluid border. Now that has changed, and Mexican citizens are electing to stay in the US rather than risk a holiday visit home.
Border regions, all across the world, share two languages. Alsace, in France, French and German. Schleswig, in Germany, German and Danish. Tessin, in Switzerland, Schweizer Deutsch and Italian, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Texas, English and Spanish. This has to be a world-wide characteristic of border regions.
What is interesting to me is that immigrant pockets–Puerto Ricans in New York, Mexican immigrants in the MidWest, and migrant workers everywhere bring their language, food, and culture with them. We are all enriched by this new infusion of peoples and their energy.
It is easy to criticize someone for not speaking the language of the country in which they are living. I am telling you, it is MUCH MORE difficult to learn a language as an adult. Not impossible, but difficult. And if you are not that well-educated to begin with, like many older, poorer Mexican workers, who maybe only had a couple of years of Spanish education in the village school, almost impossible. The kids learn a new language like breathing. We don’t.
My experience in being almost totally illiterate in Japan (3 alphabets to learn) humbled me big-time. It is much easier to learn Spanish, though, SAME ALPHABET, and very logical. I am having fun and making great strides with this language, now understanding maybe 1/2 if I know the subject. You should try it, it opens doors to many new customers, clients, experiences. Makes you a world citizen, not a provincial.
Intelligent, educated people, all across the world, strive to learn a language other than their mother tongue. In this country, it is a requirement for an advanced University degree.
Nobody is throwing out English! But studying Spanish as a second language, would be really smart. Spanish is a HUGE language, one of the top 5 in the world.
Furnishedowner