Why can't we make immigration work?

There is much ado about immigrants, illegal or legal. Who is to blame for this mess? We are!

It goes back to the Mexican-American war of 1845 when we "won" a large part of Mexico as the price of victory. A few years later there were still some portions of Mexico that we hadn't stolen yet. The President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, was in favor of purchasing the territory that included the lower southwest corner of New Mexico and the lower one fourth of Arizona. It was called the Gadsden Purchase.

The President was pretty upset when Mexico decided that they didn't want to sell the property and Pierce and his supporters almost went to war over it.

The Mexican population was promised that they could continue to own their property but the area was opened up for anybody. Thousands of acres were given to the railroads as a right-of-way. So, because of our policies 150 years ago, Mexicans automatically became American citizens.

After World War II, the United States and the Mexican governments created the "Brocero Program" to meet the American demand for cheap farm labor.

In 1965, the Mexican government created the program for the industrialization of the border. They designated the border area as a "tax free zone" The U.S. supported this, thinking that it would reduce illegal immigration and that it would create jobs in Mexico. All it provided was increased illegal immigration to the United States and increased immigration from southern and central Mexico to the north.

Then in 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed. This act simultaneously drove Mexican nationals from their land and offered many incentives to move north.

The government has provided little help with this ever growing problem. They have failed to provide a solution of any kind to the illegal problem; failed to provide enough resources for a secure border other than the capture of illegals and a free bus ride back to Mexico. Arizona's solution to this problem does little to ease the tensions but to make things worse.

Like all the other "solutions" back to 1942 to now. This country has accepted millions of immigrants here from 1890 to 1910 in an orderly manner, so why can't we do it now?

Raleigh Sutton

Elgin