“Do-It-Yourself-Deportation” in NYT Article: A Critical Look at One Illegal Alien’s Bunk Argument for Amnesty
The following article, entitled Do-It-Yourself-Deportation, appeared in the February 1st, 2012 edition of the New York Times — and was written by NYC high school student Antonio Alarcon (who wrote it in Spanish, which the Times translated into English for him, in much the same way that Spanish-speaking people marching in parades demanding amnesty waive Mexican, and not American, flags in the air). For someone who makes a plea to stay in this country despite not arriving here legally, young Antonio doesn’t seem to be making much effort to learn English or participate in non-Spanish-speaking endeavors in New York. I wanted to analyze what this one illegal alien thinks about amnesty because the bunk the Tolerant Left repeatedly peddles on this issue is glaringly apparent in the talking points he parrots.
This is my translation of the translation that the Times did for Antonio. His words are bolded, with my analysis beneath.
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ONE of my happiest childhood memories is of my parents at my First Communion. But that’s because most of my memories from that time are of their being absent. They weren’t there for my elementary school graduation, or for parent-teacher conferences.
From the time I was just a baby in Mexico, I lived with my grandparents while my parents traveled to other Mexican states to find work. I was 6 in 2000 when they left for the United States. And it took five years before they had steady jobs and were able to send for me. We’ve been together in this country ever since, working to build a life. Now I am 17 and a senior in high school in New York City. But my parents have left again, this time to return to Mexico.
Who’s fault is it that Mexico is so terrible? Maybe people living in Mexico should do something about that. I think it’s sad he had to live with his grandparents while his parents traveled around Mexico looking for work, but I know of people who have to do that here in the US too. I know a lot of people here who move back in with their parents because they can’t find work. So, this is not something unique to Antonio’s family. The part where I start to have a real problem with this guy is where he says his parents decided to come to the United States when he was six — because the part he leaves out is that his parents didn’t bother to follow American law and apply for a visa and other paperwork to immigrate here. Mexicans are especially irksome when it comes to their complete and utter disregard for immigration laws because Mexico has some of the most strictly enforced immigration policies in the world. If someone from Guatemala tried slipping into Mexico without filling out the proper paperwork and obeying their laws, the Mexican police would find that person, arrest him or her, and probably beat the tar of that law-breaker too. There’s a 50/50 chance that a person trying to enter Mexico illegally will have his or her skull cracked open. But, people like Antonio complain about being asked to show proper ID here?
I hate to break it to Antonio, but the reason it took his parents five years to find steady jobs is because they did not follow the rules for coming to America. They never bothered to learn English, they did not apply for the proper documents that would have allowed them to gain legal, steady work, and they did not educate themselves enough to make them desirable to employers as employees — they just took advantage of the lax border controls in this country, raced across the desert, and expected American taxpayers to solve all of their problems. I am not really sure what the proper words for this are in Mexico, but I think they’re muy stupido.
I pity a little boy whose parents were this stupido, but this was as much their choice as it would be for someone in the US to just get on a flight to Paris one day and expect the people of France to take care of him just because he crossed their border, spoke no French, and had no idea how he was going to support himself. In that case, I think it would be tres stupide, or something like that.
It’s a shame his parents dragged him across the border at some point too and made an illegal alien of him, but it’s a bigger shame that people who have been waiting in line for years to come to this country are almost punished for following the law while Antonio’s criminal parents get an audience in the Times to feel sorry for them.
AND they get a Times graphic designer to draw pictures of Antonio crying birds to boot! Wouldn’t YOU love a hand-drawn, portrait of you or your son or daughter crying birds, too? Well, stupid you for following the laws of this country because no bird-crying-for-you!
Last week, when asked in a debate what America should do about the 11 million undocumented immigrants living here, Mitt Romney said he favored “self-deportation.” He presented the strategy as a kinder alternative to just arresting people. Instead, he said, immigrants will “decide they can do better by going home because they can’t find work here.”
Antonio, I know English isn’t even your second language because you never bothered to learn it, but the term you are looking for is not “undocumented immigrants” — it’s “illegal aliens”, or the portmanteau “crimmigrants”. I don’t know if “portmanteau” is translatable into Spanish, but that’s where two words are combined to create one idea that represents both of them. Your parents are criminal immigrants — hence, crimmigrants.
I happen to think Willard “Mittens” Romney is wrong on a lot of things — and I admit I don’t like the man — but he’s right on this. Rounding up crimmigrants like Antonio and his parents will not work because of logistics. Arresting and heavily fining people who hire crimmigrants instead of American citizens who are looking for jobs is a great idea, however. If the entitlement and welfare programs that draw crimmigrants here like magnets are also turned off, then yes, indeed millions of people here illegally will return to Mexico because there will be no incentive for them to stay here.
But really this goes along with a larger movement in states like Arizona and Alabama to pass very tough laws against immigrants in an attempt to make their lives so unbearable that they have no choice but to leave. People have called for denying work, education and even medical treatment to immigrants without documentation; many immigrants have grown afraid of even going to the store or to church.
See what Antonio’s doing here? It’s very common on the Tolerant Left. It’s called lying. Arizona and Alabama did not pass “tough laws against immigrants”, because the federal government passes immigration laws, not the states. Maybe they don’t teach this at Antonio’s school. Arizona and Alabama passed laws requiring the checking of documentation to ensure that people living in those states had a legal right to be there. The states aren’t making the lives of crimmigrants “unbearable”, as Antonio complains; the crimmigrants set that in motion by breaking American law to come here without following the procedures and waiting their turn in line.
Antonio thinks the crimmigrants are afraid of going to the store now — but they sure weren’t afraid of immigration laws being enforced when they flagrantly broke our laws and came here without following our procedures.
The United States is supposed to be a great country that welcomes all kinds of people. Does Mr. Romney really think that this should be America’s solution for immigration reform?
The United States is a great country that welcomes all kinds of people — and it has specific laws in place that establish procedures for all these people to come here. Does Antonio really think America’s immigration laws should not be followed by Spanish-speaking people just because they refuse to learn English and possibly believe American laws don’t apply to them as a result?
You could say that my parents have self-deported, and that it was partly a result of their working conditions. It’s not that they couldn’t find work, but that they couldn’t find decent work. My dad collected scrap metal from all over the city, gathering copper and steel from construction sites, garbage dumps and old houses. He earned $90 a day, but there was only enough work for him to do it once or twice a week. My mom worked at a laundromat six days a week, from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m., for $70 a day.
I have zero sympathy for Antonio’s parents. They chose to come to a country and break its laws and they clearly never bothered to learn English (or their son would be writing to the Times in English, not Spanish). There are plenty of American citizens working for $70 a day or less and that’s just the economy we’re saddled with right now. Coming to a country without following immigration procedures, never bothering to learn the language, and then complaining about how hard it is to survive when you’ve stacked the deck against yourself like that is just stupid. Or, for poor illiterate in English Antonio, once again — muy stupido!
But the main reason they had to leave was personal. I have a brother, 16, a year younger than me, still living in Mexico. He was too little to cross the border with me when I came to the United States, and as the government has cracked down on immigration in the years since, the crossing has become more expensive and much more dangerous. And there was no hope of his getting a green card, as none of us have one either. So he stayed with my grandparents, but last year my grandmother died and two weeks ago my grandfather also died. My parents were confronted with a dilemma: Leave one child alone in New York City, or leave the other alone in Mexico. They decided they had to go back to Mexico.
Antonio should have gone back to Mexico too, where he and his entire family could have proceeded to the American consulate and begun the paperwork for them all to come here illegally. It was a foolish decision to keep Antonio here when they could have repatriated to Mexico as a family and done things the legal way this time. There should be no crying for Antonio or his parents because of the bad decisions they keep making. If Madonna didn’t want Argentina to cry for her in the movies…and Tom Hanks said there’s no crying in baseball…then there’s no crying for Antonio and his fellow crimmigrants either. And if you are reading this and don’t get American pop culture references because you speak mostly Spanish all day and never bother to watch anything other than Univision or Telemundo, then you should address why you moved to this country in the first place when you want to pretend your house is a Mexican embassy and you’re still living in the horrible place you wanted so desperately to leave.
Now once again I am missing my parents. I know it was very difficult for them to leave me here, worrying about how I will survive because I’m studying instead of earning money working. I’m living with my uncles, but it is hard for my mother to know that I’m coming home to a table with no dinner on it, where there had been dinner before. And it’s hard for me not having my parents to talk to, not being able to ask for advice that as a teenager you need. Now that they are in Mexico, I wonder who will be at my graduation, my volleyball games or my birthday? With whom will I share my joy or my sad moments?
This entire paragraph is just the emotional, heart-string tugging tripe that the Tolerant Left injects into this law enforcement issue to cloud the fact that Antonio and his entire family are criminals — and that the people who illegally employ them should be prosecuted for noncompliance with federal employment statutes. Start throwing the people who pay crimmigrants under the table in jail and watch the crimmigrants self-deport at light speed.
I know a girl named Guadalupe, whose parents have also decided to return to Mexico, because they can’t find work here and rent in New York City is very expensive. She is very smart and wants to be the first in her family to attend college, and she wants to study psychology. But even though she has lived here for years and finished high school with a 90 percent average, she, like me, does not have immigration papers, and so does not qualify for financial aid and can’t get a scholarship.
I know a lot of people who are American citizens and can’t find work here. Rent sure as heck is expensive in New York City (Chicago too!). I’m happy that Guadalupe is very smart — so perhaps a smart girl like her can see that if she returns to Mexico and fills out the proper paperwork and follows the rules that she can come back here and live in America and study anything she wants. Until she gets those immigration papers, Guadalupe should not receive any financial aid or scholarships because she does not deserve them — those are for people who follow the rules, not for those who break them. I am sure a very smart girl from Guatemala is not getting financial aid and scholarships in Mexico after breaking Mexican immigration rules.
People like Guadalupe and me are staying in this country because we have faith that America will live up to its promise as a fair and just country. We hope that there will be comprehensive immigration reform, with a path to citizenship for people who have spent years living and working here. When reform happens, our families may be able to come back, and if not, at least we will be able to visit them without the risk of never being able to return to our lives here. We hope that the Dream Act — which would let undocumented immigrants who came here as children go to college and become citizens and which has stalled in Congress — will pass so that we can get an education and show that even though we are immigrants we can succeed in this country.
No, Antonio, people like you and Guadalupe are staying because you have faith that if you wait things out long enough that the Tolerant Left will grant you bloc-amnesty for political reasons because Democrats assume that Hispanic people who never learn English will just keep voting Democrat forever — because they think this is how they will continue to be able to break the law without any consequences. There’s a lot of people in the elite, agenda-driven media who like perpetuating the fantasy that crimmigrants are going to get their way and that the rule of law will end in this country but the big secret no one in the media talks about is that there is a sleeping giant in this country of people who every year get more sick of people like Antonio whining about the consequences of their law-breaking. That sleeping giant is ready to awaken, and when it does, it’s going to be clobbering time.
Legal immigrants have always succeeded in this country because they followed the rules and afforded themselves every opportunity to succeed as a result. Crimmigrants will continue to suffer and never get anywhere in life because they refuse to follow the rules — and refuse to even do basic things like learn English.
Antonio, why did you write this in Spanish instead of the language spoken in the country you are now living in — if supposedly you want to make a successful future here?
If, instead, the political climate gets more and more anti-immigrant, eventually some immigrants will give up hope for America and return to their home countries, like my parents did. But I don’t think this is something that our presidential candidates should encourage or be proud of.
This is another of the Tolerant Left’s big lies. No one is anti-immigrant. People are pro-law-enforcement. Why is Mexico entitled to enforce its immigration laws but the United States is not?
I think our presidential candidates should encourage two big things: (1) securing our southern border (at minimum) and (2) creating an eVerify system that eliminates the ability of crimmigrants from being employed and provides severe punishments to employers who illegally employ illegal aliens. I would be very proud of any candidate who did those two things.
Immigrants have made this country great. We are not looking for a free ride, but instead we are willing to work as hard as we can to show that we deserve to be here and to be treated like first-class citizens. Deportation, and “self-deportation,” will result only in dividing families and driving them into the shadows. In America, teenagers shouldn’t have to go through what I’m going through.
Immigrants have made this country great — that’s the first thing I’ve agreed with you on, Antonio! You’re lying again, though, because you are indeed looking for a free ride. You lie some more when you say you are willing to work hard to show you deserve to be here when you couldn’t be bothered to fill out the proper paperwork and wait your time in line to come here. You should be treated like the crimmigrants that you are and be cut off from all taxpayer-supplied welfare so that you return to Mexico, get to the back of the line, and wait your turn to become American citizens like those who have obeyed our laws from the start.
Antonio is going through what he is going through because his parents believed American laws did not apply to them so they broke them. He has his own foolish and selfish parents to blame for his plight, and no one else.
Antonio Alarcón is a high school student and a member of Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy group. This essay was translated by Natalia Aristizabal-Betancur from the Spanish.
Antonio Alarcon should be ashamed of himself and he should have written this essay in English, not Spanish, because he wants to live in America, not Mexico. Instead of belonging to Make the Road New York, he should start a group called Follow the Rules Everybody and encourage people in Mexico who want to come to America to view our immigration laws as respectfully as Mexicans expect Central and South Americans to view Mexico’s immigration laws.
© 2012, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
Also Recommended:
- VOCABULARY UPGRADE: Criminal entrants vs. illegal aliens
- Question: Do you carry an ID with you at all times? If so, what's the hyperventilation about asking illegal aliens to do the same or go home?
- What if conservatives put up billboards in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada pointing the way to San Francisco for illegal aliens?
- No wonder there’s so much voter fraud in Illinois: illegal aliens running early voting polling places in Chicago
- Well, since the Hope! and Change! stuff turned out to be bunk, at least he's a good speaker, right?
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It sounds to me like it was originally written for him in English and then translated to Spanish for pubication. What does it say for the school system that, as a senior in high school, that the student cannot yet write in English? What a complete rip-off! I’m glad you presented this, Kevin.
It sounds to me as though it was written in English for him to be translated to Spanish for publication. What does it say about the school system if a senior in high school still cannot write in English? I'm glad you did the review, Kevin.
When my Grandparents and great-Grandparents immigrated to this country, they not only had to follow the rules with paperwork, but they had to have proof of a job and a sponsor in America that would be responsible for them until they became citizens. They didn't have the luxury of sneaking across a lax border in the middle of the night, but had to earn the money to pay for a ticket on a ship, be processed through Ellis Island, then have enough money to make their way from New York City to their final destination/job. They were allowed to bring their children, but again had to pay their way as well.
And they were thankful for the opportunity.
They took bottom rung jobs and learned English from their children (who they insisted speak it) – but learn it they did! When they came of age, the young women cleaned houses and became domestic servants, often relocating many miles from their family in order to do so and get ahead. The young men learned a trade, or if they were extremely lucky earned an education. They suffered being "pigeon holed" into an ethnic neighborhood, being taunted and called names because they were "foreigners" and strived with every fiber of their being to prove that their heritage was proud, strong, and could contribute to this Republic. The one thing they never did was whine.
Antonio should be introduced to some elderly Americans that immigrated here from Europe or Asia. Perhaps the experience would make him grow up and realize how lucky he is to be here – and yearn to become a legal citizen the old fashioned way. But alas, Antonio feels we owe him something. Perhaps that's why his home country has fallen to ruin and is over run with drug lords.
Kevin, the whole thing makes me see red – we LIVED in Mexico for 2.5 years; we get all the sob stories, yadda, yadda, yadda, when the REALITY is – 1) IN Mexico, there are "free" hospitals, for the poor/indigent – even physicians trained in the U.S. volunteer their time in those hospitals ; 2) there are world-class universities there, also, so higher education is NOT only available within the confines of the U.S. ; 3) WE are accused of racism at every turn, and yet in Mexico, the darker the pigmentation of one's skin, the lower one is left on the socio-economic ladder – this is Mexican-against-Mexican racism – one of the 'worst' taunts is to call someone an "indio" {Indian, meaning dark-skinned}. We knew blue eyed blonde Mexicanas {too much Euro-trash in the family background} – one of our friends from there immigrated LEGALLY with his brother {Aldo teaches, his brother is in school here} – their mother stays with them for whatever time she's allowed via visas, then returns to Monterrey for a bit.
We had a man working for us, and another the Progeny & I worked with, who BOTH wanted us {the FodGuy & me} to {fraudulently} sponsor them up here ……………………………….. we said thanks, but no thanks.
Like Grail Guardian, my maternal great grandparents came through Ellis Island; if the current crop of crimmigrants wants to know hardship, let them travel steerage and go through the <snark on>joy</snark off> of an Ellis Island-type experience …………………………….
Semper Fi'
DM
DM –
What is that pejorative word used for the Mexicans who are very dark and look like Aztec drawings? Here in Chicago, the really poor Mexican peasants who have features that look just like the Aztec carvings are drawn like a magnet because it’s a sanctuary city — and there’s a war for entitlement money between them and blacks on the Southside.
Blacks call them by a word that sounds like Mestistoes or Mosquitos…something like that. When the crimmigrants hear that, they get really angry because apparently it’s a really bad word or something.
Do you know what this is?
Mestizos are people who are half Indian and half Caucasian. It's a term that has become non-PC (like mulatto.) When I was growing up, mestizo was used to describe most South and Central American residents.
THAT is the word that the crimmigrants here in Chicago get upset over.
Mestizo is probably considered a bad word because a lot of Mexicans want to think they are separate race (La Raza.) An Hispanic friend many years ago told me that most Hispanics hate to admit their Indian bloodlines. Guess they must think the Aztecs weren't Indians, because they certainly flaunt a lot of Aztec-inspired designs on their bodies, cars, clothes, walls.
"Mestizo" meaning 'mixed blood' – as Cate007 notes, it's comparable to "mulatto" or "high yellow", which was another descriptive of light-skinned blacks. Another I learned in southern Virginia was "red man" – black men with very negroid features, but very light {to the point of freckles} skin, which is also considered pejorative, like mestizo, mulatto, high-yellow ……………………………
Semper Fi'
DM
He is a 17-year-old student and is not working? Why the heck not?! I started working two jobs at age 16 while attending high school, and I didn't even have to. I did it because I wanted to be independent and self-sufficient and spend my own money – not ask my parents for it. He claims his uncles used to be able to put food on the table but are now not able to do so. He should be slapped, then, for not doing his part to contribute! My mother went to work at the age of 14 in order to help her family. She had to get a special permit to drive. She did that while attending high school full time, and ended up being able to put herself through two years of college – also while working full time.
You're right, Kevin. This is typical NYT leftist crap. And Antonio is a parasite on society. He pretty much admitted that his family came here for a free ride. Unfortunately, his parents stuck us their legacy.
He is an illegal immigrant. I am glad he can't find a job.
that was vomit inducing on Antonio's part.
your translation was spot on Kevin.
I'm sorry, but the description of what Antonio's father did for money raised red flags for me. Around Phoenix we have a problem with people stealing copper from construction sites, empty houses, etc. One of the local stations did a couple of features about people stealing manhole covers as well. And only one or two days a week? I would have thought a legitimate scrap dealer (even an illegal immigrant one) would have had a route so he was hitting sites five or six days a week.
I picked up on that too — that he is stealing metal.
That’s been happening for years — they also steal metal from cemeteries, all the little bronze statues and small items on monuments. They steal railings from churches too…you know, the railings on stairs. That’s what his father was probably doing all day.
Big problem here in the Houston area is theft of air conditioning units for the copper & other metals; the Progeny's place of work {a Movie Tavern} had their ROOFTOP A/C units stolen {the roof is ~ 15'-20' above the sidewalk/parking lot} – but a lot more are stolen from predominantly black churches that are independents, so don't have the organizational structure behind them to just replace the units – the congregations have to pony up the monies.
When we lived in Bethlehem, PA, there was Section 8 housing being built, but before people could even move in, the plumbing fixtures were stolen ………………………………
Semper Fi'
DM