Students, faculty match as part of national protest
By: Liesl Goecker
Issue date: 5/2/06 Section: News
The issue has divided politicians across starkly drawn party lines, but for senior Leigh Suarez, the issue is much simpler than Democrats versus Republicans: He blames the United States' government in general.
"I just feel that immigration, especially from Mexico [to the] U.S. is caused by U.S. foreign policy," Suarez said. Suarez, who is from Mexico City, retains U.S. citizenship through his mother who is also a U.S. citizen. Having lived in Mexico until about five years ago when he moved to the States to continue his education, Suarez has witnessed first-hand the poverty that haunts Mexico and sends many Mexicans over the borders in search of jobs.
Because the Mexican government is in so much debt, "people are born into debt in Mexico," he said during the discussion. "It just makes me very angry that [these] policies are being passed [when] it's very obvious that immigration is good for this country and that people who are here from Mexico that became citizens earlier...aren't immigrants-they came here to work."
But what Suarez is most concerned about is that this bill will only take care of the symptoms and not the cause of immigration.
Internationally
Instructor of Modern Languages Alan Redick agreed.
"We should not look into the problem [of immigration], but the cause of the problem," he said during the discussion prior to the march.
Redick, who was born in Uruguay, has lived in Argentina, Brazil and other South American countries and has studied in Europe, provided a more global perspective on the issues surrounding immigration.
"All the first world countries are dealing with this," he said. "Germany, England, France and Spain have the same problem."
Redick thinks the current problem with immigration is beyond government concern.
"Right now I think that the problem is irrelevant in the terms of what the government is doing," he said. "The problem is a social issue in that we will always have this kind of problem if we have poor countries."
"I just feel that immigration, especially from Mexico [to the] U.S. is caused by U.S. foreign policy," Suarez said. Suarez, who is from Mexico City, retains U.S. citizenship through his mother who is also a U.S. citizen. Having lived in Mexico until about five years ago when he moved to the States to continue his education, Suarez has witnessed first-hand the poverty that haunts Mexico and sends many Mexicans over the borders in search of jobs.
Because the Mexican government is in so much debt, "people are born into debt in Mexico," he said during the discussion. "It just makes me very angry that [these] policies are being passed [when] it's very obvious that immigration is good for this country and that people who are here from Mexico that became citizens earlier...aren't immigrants-they came here to work."
But what Suarez is most concerned about is that this bill will only take care of the symptoms and not the cause of immigration.
Internationally
Instructor of Modern Languages Alan Redick agreed.
"We should not look into the problem [of immigration], but the cause of the problem," he said during the discussion prior to the march.
Redick, who was born in Uruguay, has lived in Argentina, Brazil and other South American countries and has studied in Europe, provided a more global perspective on the issues surrounding immigration.
"All the first world countries are dealing with this," he said. "Germany, England, France and Spain have the same problem."
Redick thinks the current problem with immigration is beyond government concern.
"Right now I think that the problem is irrelevant in the terms of what the government is doing," he said. "The problem is a social issue in that we will always have this kind of problem if we have poor countries."
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