Life along the U.S.-Mexico border shows fruitlessness of building walls

I have become very sympathetic to the plight of the illegal immigrants.

My husband and I spent almost four months last winter in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We traveled to Mexico many times, by either walking or bicycle, and we talked to many people on both sides of the border. We learned the path to legal citizenship is difficult, if not impossible, for most Mexicans who want to immigrate here.

The yearly quota is quickly filled, so many come illegally to try to find a life in which they can work and provide a decent home, schooling and health care for their family. Many illegal immigrants have been working in the United States for years, bought property, own homes, and have children that were born here. They are hardworking, family-oriented, decent people.

I was fortunate to get to know some of these wonderful families through a community center in a low-income development, where people from our recreational vehicle park have volunteered for years. I was able to help by doing after school tutoring, bringing used household goods, and teaching English to Hispanic moms.

Many other retirees, mostly “Winter Texans” like my husband and me, provide this kind of help, as well as transportation, individual and family mentoring, construction, food donation, and donation of thousands of books for a children’s library.

One trip across the border was enough to convince me I would immigrate whatever way possible, if I could, if I were living in the grinding poverty in which so many Mexicans live. Several subsequent visits to other Mexican border towns only reinforced this belief. The Mexican government has been unstable in providing public education beyond the sixth grade. Only wealthy families can afford to send their children to school beyond that.

There has been, and remains, much corruption, so the wealthy get wealthier and the poor get poorer. The current government is working hard to improve the situation, but it has a long way to go. There are few, if any, programs to help the unemployed, the sick, the poor, the elderly and the handicapped. We need to provide a path to citizenship for hardworking Mexican families that have risked everything to bring their family out of poverty and are living a law-abiding life in our country.

Remember most illegals do nothing to call attention to themselves. They do not pay taxes because they would need some legal identification or a green card. They are not entitled to most social programs for the same reason. They can’t buy health insurance. If they were to become legal citizens, they would be allowed to pay taxes, buy insurance and contribute as equal members of the society in which they have been living. They would also have recourse to combat abuses of many employers who take advantage of their illegal status.

Much of the population of the Texas side of the Rio Grande Valley is Hispanic because the area was formally part of Mexico. In addition, many have immigrated from Mexico, legally and illegally. Hispanic people are welcomed and accepted in south Texas. Virtually everybody has relatives “on the other side.”

Building a wall, as has been proposed, will not resolve the problem of illegal immigrations. The imagery of a walled nation is not flattering – remember the Berlin Wall.

Like another “Winter Texan,” Howard Payne, wrote on RV-Dreams.com, “Now, I agree something needs to be done about illegal immigration. But from being on the border for even the short time we were there, our eyes were opened to the challenge of preventing crossings, and to the desperation of people that will risk their lives to come to the U.S. just to have a chance.

A fence or wall is not going to stop them, and it will be a colossal waste of taxpayer money. It was easy for us to say, ‘Build a fence,’ before we got to The Valley. But seeing the issues firsthand, we can say we were wrong.”

If we put border patrol and “wall” money into seed money into businesses in Mexico, better job opportunities would arise, enabling more people to make a living in Mexico.

Representatives from 138 nations have embraced the Millenium Development Goals, one of which is to eradicate world poverty and hunger. This is one of the ways that we can help millions of poverty stricken families who have made a great effort to help themselves at great risk to themselves and their families.

We need to urge our congressmen to find ways to make the path to citizenship possible, and reasonable, for so many poor people who have come to our land for refuge.

Let’s have compassion for those less fortunate than us.

Kathleen Whittier lives in Hebron.