Immigration plan: Be more charitable

A letter in the July 19 paper repeats an opinion so devoid of logic that I laughed so hard coffee shot out of my nose.

I refer to the nonsense that Central and South American immigrants have somehow a greater disregard for American laws and the immigration process and that European and Asian immigrants are more industrious and civil.

Now my great-great grandfather immigrated from Germany, so I'm a descendant of those "industrious" folk and not promoting any liberal Latin bandwagon.

The point I wish to make is that, simply, you can't walk to the U.S. from Europe, no matter how hard you try. To posit that Latin immigrants are doing something Europeans wouldn't think of is rubbish. I assure you, if one could have done so, the Holocaust, the Irish potato famine, the horrors of two World Wars, the Spanish Civil War would have had people hoofing it from Dublin to Detroit, Berlin to Boston and Madrid to Mobile.

Maury in Iceland would get up one morning and say, "You know, Dorothy, I've had it with no daylight 11 months of the year and nothing but polar bear stew, seal fritters and moss salads. And if I have to eat another herring, I'll grow scales. Let's walk to Disney World and sneak in under the fence." You'd bet he'd have a lot of takers.

If it means my taxes have to go up a bit to provide basic quality of life to any human, legal, illegal, alien from Mexico or Mars, I'm fine with that. We are our brother's keeper. Your good life is built on the backs of previous generations who did things because it wasn't necessarily just good for them, but for all of us to follow. Be a little more charitable.

Matt Steichmann

Elgin