A Tale of Two Immigrants

One of the canards tossed about about Conservatives is that conservatives somehow oppose immigration and immigrants. Must be because we're bigots or something, according to the brain dead left (but I repeat myself!) So, a couple of things came together this AM. I happened to see the obituary of a man who had immigrated here in the fifties and a man who came more recently, in a story over at Maggie's Notebook. These two gentlemen here:

The man on the left (on the page, anyway) is Morris "Brocky" Brockman. On the right, Sergio Martinez-Perez. There is a disparity in their ages, race and probably religion. Brocky Brockman was Jewish, in case anyone cares. Another major difference, is that Brocky Brockman and his wife came to the States legally. And I shall use the less than politically correct terms to refer to young Sergio, because, he came here illegally.

I have a small confession to make. I Photoshopped Sergio's picture. I lightened it up a little, because it was dark, and therefore a little more sinister (think: George Zimmerman), and I shifted the color just a touch, to try to disguise the fact that he's wearing an orange jumpsuit. I wanted you to have an unbiased first impression. (I tried to get a photo of Sergio as a twelve year old, cherubic choir boy, but the MSM said they were all Trayvon'ed out.)

Morris Brockman was the kind of immigrant almost any country would love to have. (I had to add "almost" because some people have an irrational, knee jerk hatred of Jews). He was born in Britain. He served six years in the RAF during WWII. He joined in 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. Brocky, we salute you for your service. His obituary is here. Brocky, along with a number of other senior citizen veterans, participated in an oral history project about his experiences in WWII. You can read about that here.

Morris moved to California in 1953, with his wife, Rene. They were married for 71 years. Remember 71. That comes up in Sergio's story, too. The sweet love story of Morris and Rene can be found here. Brocky and his family started their own businesses, so that they were gainfully employed, productive members of their community. Brocky was a credit to both his native and adopted countries. He will be sorely missed.

On the other hand, we turn to Sergio. He's nineteen, so, using the Trayvon Martin standard, he is a "teenager". A youth. A young man if you want to be perfectly honest. Old enough to fight for his country, or fight for this country, if he wanted to use that as a "path to citizenship". The story that brought him to my attention:

Louise Sollowin, 93 years old, died after illegal alien Sergio Martinez-Perez broke into her home where she had lived for 71 years, raped her and beat her to death... Martinez-Perez (is) being charged with first degree murder, first degree burglary and first degree assault.

Ninety three year old Louise Sollowin had lived in her home for as many years as Brocky and Rene had been married. There's a solid, quiet comfort in spending that much time in one place or with one person. Perhaps, even a sense of security, ripped away in a single night by a savage predator who had been in our country for only four months. But, because he'd crossed the border in advance of any Gang of Eight amnesty program, he would have been eligible for a "Don't ask, don't tell" jump up the ladder to legal citizenship. Sergio is one of the "Dreamers" that Obama and his friends are touting. Fresh young faces just looking for an education, or for a job, or for a better life. The very idea that a person's moral character might have been impaired by at least one illegal act in illegally crossing our border and not taking the legally proscribed methods, and that that compromised moral character might manifest itself in other ways deleterious to our society is simply not brought up in mixed company.

And there's a long list of crimes that will be or could be overlooked in considering the path to citizenship of any of these Dreamers, as Obama likes to dreamily call them. Did you know that under proposed "immigration bill", you can forge up to three passports and it won't be held against you? My friend, I suspect if you or I were to forge so much as a single passport, we would see the inside of a Graybar Hotel faster than you can say Homeland Security. And yet, why should we let a few felonies get in the way of their "dream"?

I'm tempted to mount a 14th Amendment objection to the proposed immigration act. It provides for separate treatment of two different groups of people based on race and nationality. If dreamers get a pass on all manner of legal trespass and even felony violations, based on their race and nationality, I'm sure it would violate the 14th Amendment. (Well, maybe not in the view of the currently constituted court!)

I'd like Sergio to become the poster boy for "Dreamers". A nation has the right to control its own borders, north, south, east and west. The problem isn't the color of his skin, it's the content of his character. A large number of my co-workers are Hispanic. At least one was born in Columbia. Nothing at all wrong with people who want to come to this country to work, to go to school, to improve their lives, so long as they do it legally. Period. It's not about race. It's about the Dreamers of any race not turning into nightmares.

Cross posted at LCR.