Illegal Immigration: Looking the Other Way
Barbara Anderson
February 13, 2006
Sometimes when people hear statistics about illegal immigration their attention wanders. Numbers, while somewhat compelling, do not catch the imagination of the average reader. However, typical stories are out there, just waiting to be told. Here are two of them:
Lorna teaches school in a large Northwest city. Her public school of six grades is average in its size. About fifty people serve the children who go to the school. Of the fifty, only seventeen are what could be called “regular” teachers. These include a music teacher, gym teacher and a librarian. Some grades have so many kids that they are broken up into two classes. There is office staff. The rest are administrators, counselors, translators, ESL teachers, aides and psychologists.
Some of her students do not speak English. They are sent to classes every day for about twenty to thirty minutes to learn English. Their teachers may or may not even know the language of the students they are teaching. It is not required.
Lorna says it doesn’t matter, anyway. It is next to impossible to teach anyone a foreign language in the time allotted for these classes. She says the kids learn a lot more from just being in class and being immersed in English. Usually, one of the classmates will become a “mentor” to the non-English speaker to help learn the language. Because the kids do not know English, they cannot grasp the concepts she is trying to teach. They take up more time than those who speak English, thereby slowing down the whole class by giving disproportionate time to them. Although Lorna suspects some are illegal aliens, she is not allowed to ask. Nobody is allowed to ask.
Recently, Lorna wanted to take her class on a field trip, something the kids always enjoy. School rules dictate that each student must have a Social Security number for identification purposes. Three of her non-English speaking students did not. She asked her principal what to do. He said it was a “sticky” problem. When she pressed him, he said “We’ll just have to look the other way”. Lorna decided she would not take her class on a field trip under those circumstances. It is a safe bet that if one of the students with no I.D. got hurt, there would be a lawsuit. The ones who don’t speak English are assured of an attorney provided by taxpayers if they think their “rights” are being somehow abridged.
Betty had an eye-opening experience when she went to traffic court. Her daughter had just been given a driver’s license and had been ticketed for speeding. Betty thought it would be a good lesson for her daughter to go and face a judge in court. Betty and her daughter got an education they never expected.
They got to court early, hoping to be finished early, because Betty had to take time off from work to go to court. However, they kept being pushed to the back of the line, while people who could not speak English were taken first. The reason became clear. These people required translators, so it was more expensive to handle their cases than Betty’s daughter’s case. The translators were paid for by taxpayers. Here is what Betty heard, through the translators:
I didn’t know I couldn’t make a left turn.” “I couldn’t read the sign.” “I didn’t know I had to have a driver’s license.” “I didn’t know I had to have a license on my car.” “I didn’t know I had to have insurance.” “I didn’t know I was going that fast.”
And so it went. The judge was familiar with some of these people. Some had appeared before him three or four times. Their punishment seemed light or not at all. After all, what is a judge to do? They don’t have much money and our jails are already full of lawbreakers.
However, when it finally came Betty’s daughter’s turn to tell it to the judge, he fined her more than her ticket and told her she had to attend a class on Saturday. Betty did not think the penalty was wrong. She wanted her daughter to know how serious speeding is. But, the disparity of punishment was glaring to her daughter and taught her a lesson she shouldn’t have had to learn……that not everyone is treated equally. Some are given preferential treatment. It was hard to come to any other conclusion but that, because she was an English speaking person, she was given more of a penalty than those who don’t speak English.
Betty was more apprehensive about meeting one of these people on the road after her day in court. Coincidentally, shortly after, her car was rear-ended on a dark, rainy night. She had two young children with her. The driver took off, leaving the scene of the accident. Incensed at this breaking of the law, Betty chased the other driver and caught him. He could not speak English. His companion translated for him. He had no insurance. Betty paid for the damage done to her car. Betty said that people asked her why she didn’t call the police. After having gone to court, Betty knew that this driver would be treated just as the ones she had observed had been treated. It would have been an exercise in futility.
These are only two stories of two ordinary citizens of two facets of our society. Every facet of society is affected by illegal immigration. The taxpayer is paying for those who break our laws with impunity. Sometimes the price being paid is money, but sometimes it is bodily harm.
It seems that, going to traffic court or to our schools, the order of the day is:
We’ll just have to look the other way”.
Lorna teaches school in a large Northwest city. Her public school of six grades is average in its size. About fifty people serve the children who go to the school. Of the fifty, only seventeen are what could be called “regular” teachers. These include a music teacher, gym teacher and a librarian. Some grades have so many kids that they are broken up into two classes. There is office staff. The rest are administrators, counselors, translators, ESL teachers, aides and psychologists.
Some of her students do not speak English. They are sent to classes every day for about twenty to thirty minutes to learn English. Their teachers may or may not even know the language of the students they are teaching. It is not required.
Lorna says it doesn’t matter, anyway. It is next to impossible to teach anyone a foreign language in the time allotted for these classes. She says the kids learn a lot more from just being in class and being immersed in English. Usually, one of the classmates will become a “mentor” to the non-English speaker to help learn the language. Because the kids do not know English, they cannot grasp the concepts she is trying to teach. They take up more time than those who speak English, thereby slowing down the whole class by giving disproportionate time to them. Although Lorna suspects some are illegal aliens, she is not allowed to ask. Nobody is allowed to ask.
Recently, Lorna wanted to take her class on a field trip, something the kids always enjoy. School rules dictate that each student must have a Social Security number for identification purposes. Three of her non-English speaking students did not. She asked her principal what to do. He said it was a “sticky” problem. When she pressed him, he said “We’ll just have to look the other way”. Lorna decided she would not take her class on a field trip under those circumstances. It is a safe bet that if one of the students with no I.D. got hurt, there would be a lawsuit. The ones who don’t speak English are assured of an attorney provided by taxpayers if they think their “rights” are being somehow abridged.
Betty had an eye-opening experience when she went to traffic court. Her daughter had just been given a driver’s license and had been ticketed for speeding. Betty thought it would be a good lesson for her daughter to go and face a judge in court. Betty and her daughter got an education they never expected.
They got to court early, hoping to be finished early, because Betty had to take time off from work to go to court. However, they kept being pushed to the back of the line, while people who could not speak English were taken first. The reason became clear. These people required translators, so it was more expensive to handle their cases than Betty’s daughter’s case. The translators were paid for by taxpayers. Here is what Betty heard, through the translators:
I didn’t know I couldn’t make a left turn.” “I couldn’t read the sign.” “I didn’t know I had to have a driver’s license.” “I didn’t know I had to have a license on my car.” “I didn’t know I had to have insurance.” “I didn’t know I was going that fast.”
And so it went. The judge was familiar with some of these people. Some had appeared before him three or four times. Their punishment seemed light or not at all. After all, what is a judge to do? They don’t have much money and our jails are already full of lawbreakers.
However, when it finally came Betty’s daughter’s turn to tell it to the judge, he fined her more than her ticket and told her she had to attend a class on Saturday. Betty did not think the penalty was wrong. She wanted her daughter to know how serious speeding is. But, the disparity of punishment was glaring to her daughter and taught her a lesson she shouldn’t have had to learn……that not everyone is treated equally. Some are given preferential treatment. It was hard to come to any other conclusion but that, because she was an English speaking person, she was given more of a penalty than those who don’t speak English.
Betty was more apprehensive about meeting one of these people on the road after her day in court. Coincidentally, shortly after, her car was rear-ended on a dark, rainy night. She had two young children with her. The driver took off, leaving the scene of the accident. Incensed at this breaking of the law, Betty chased the other driver and caught him. He could not speak English. His companion translated for him. He had no insurance. Betty paid for the damage done to her car. Betty said that people asked her why she didn’t call the police. After having gone to court, Betty knew that this driver would be treated just as the ones she had observed had been treated. It would have been an exercise in futility.
These are only two stories of two ordinary citizens of two facets of our society. Every facet of society is affected by illegal immigration. The taxpayer is paying for those who break our laws with impunity. Sometimes the price being paid is money, but sometimes it is bodily harm.
It seems that, going to traffic court or to our schools, the order of the day is:
We’ll just have to look the other way”.
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