First of all, let's separate two terms: legal and illegal. I'm assuming everyone knows what they both mean. If you are an illegal immigrant, you came here without permission. You may have come here on vacation or for education and then simply chose to stay. Either way you would not have a Social Security Number and therefore could not, legally, work in the United States.
So, to the instructor, at the community college, that once uttered these ridiculously insulting assumptions about toilet cleaning... NO! People who are here without permission and trying to work are doing so illegally and their employer knows this. Not to mention that there was a 50-ish year old woman, who seemingly loved her job as a college janitor at that school. I don't think that we should condone the loss of that position to an immigrant getting paid illegally.
Also, this sets up some bad situations because a boss can hold the illegal status of their employees, over their heads and pay them much less then minimum wage making it impossible for the workers to live better lives than what they did in the country they ran from. AND it's ILLEGAL! The Employer and Employee are not paying taxes.... those things that pay for programs to help those not making enough to survive in our country... taxes, those things that help legal immigrants file their paperwork and become citizens... taxes, that stuff that, when paid, gives you the right to make, at least, a miserable minimum wage.
Now, let's say that said instructor was confused (which should disqualify her immediately from teaching her ignorance to others) and she meant that LEGAL immigrants are needed to do the jobs that we don't want. What kind of backwards, arrogant, prejudice, bull-crap is that? So, we are supposed to give them the toilets to clean simply because they are from another country? I met a german guy once. He was definitely born in Germany. He had the thick accent, visited family in Europe regularly... the whole thing... but I'm pretty sure he would have been insulted, beyond belief, if we had handed him a scrub brush and pointed him to the toilets, especially since his schooling qualified him to be a Urologist, not a urinal-ologist. Or perhaps us making such a mistake would have confirmed what he thought about the intelligence of our nation. He may have even laughed it off, before calling in his next patient to talk about the "american" in his pants.
What enrages me more, though, is that the woman who, so ignorantly voiced her despicable opinion, was college educated. She obviously prefers work that doesn't involve cleaning toilets. So, I must beg the question, "Does she expect other countries to feel the same way she does?" Because if she does and our country continues to go down hill, then she better pack her plunger before she ever decides to leave. If I, myself, ever apply for a position in Amsterdam or Canada, I will apply to be a teacher or a professor, not a janitor, though I would feel privileged to clean any toilet that allows my children to eat, legally.
No comments:
Post a Comment