In defense of open immigration

In case some of you had some fears as to what immigration would do to our country, I wanted to share a very personal story.

On November 3rd 2005, three of my relatives came from Cuba. They are husband, wife and child, ages 31, 27 and 3 respectively. The wife in this group is my cousin’s oldest daughter. They were born under communism which, in spite of what some of us think, is probably not the paradise it is portrayed to be.

They (husband and wife) have applied and been admitted to the University of Auburn as Graduate Teaching Assistants in the Graduate Masters in Spanish. They did this from Cuba, using my address, after they had U.S. Visas. In spite of being at my house, under relatively comfortable conditions, they insisted that they needed to get to Auburn, Alabama, to start exploring what other opportunities were there. In case you’re not familiar with the small town in the heart of Dixie, it is pretty far from Little Havana – in every possible way.

We arrived there Saturday night and, before checking into the hotel, he had applied for a job at the local WalMart (excuse me a moment while I wash my hands after typing such a vile name). I drove to work Monday morning and my wife stayed with them, as they don’t have a car.

He got called yesterday by the aforementioned enclave of iniquity and an interview was scheduled for today. He put on one of my old (very old) suits, which was still pretty big on him, and went for the interview. He advised the manager, as best he could, that he was available to do anything, everything and at any time, full or part-time. He was offered what he described as his “dream job,” stocking shelves from 11:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m., with one hour break, 5 days per week. “Fortunately,” he says, “I get to work weekends.” Why fortunately, you might ask? Because work does not interfere with his classes, he says.

I will grant that I have had some influence in his thinking, but even I could not expect what he told me next. He is happy they no longer qualify for Medicaid, and of the fact that he will not have to receive a penny of public assistance. In fact, he will be paying taxes in 2005, as they are looking for income that now stands at $42k. And this is just a start, keep reading.

Their only remaining problem was child care, which apparently could consume as much as $600 per month. But it was only a problem for a little while. They are tackling the problem together and, I proudly add, creatively. Here’s how:

While she takes classes, he will be delivering pizza in a used car I am financing on his behalf. He hasn’t found this job yet, but he feels confident he can get it, as many places are advertising for pizza delivery drivers. And he can have the little girl with him in te car while he does this (or so he thinks). Meanwhile, she has downloaded the state of Alabama’s requirements to become a certified child care provider, and wants to talk to me tonight about financing a child care business, since “this is an unfulfilled market need.” (She takes those words from me). She feels she could quickly become certified, given her background as a clinical psychologist.

Last, but not least, since my wife is driving up tomorrow and leaving them on their own (they have already rented an apartment), I looked for a rental car while they wait for theirs. Enterprise is the only game in town, and an economy car is $210.00 for the week. I made a reservation on his behalf. Not satisfied with that, he asked around the Spanish department where he will be working and was told that there is a place called, are you ready for this up in Horsham?, Rent-A-Wreck, in Montgomery, where he could rent for $150 all inclusive. It is, of course, not a good deal because the insurance cost will make it more expensive than Enterprise – but the important point is he tried to save $60.

All in all, not too bad for their 26th day in the U.S. All of which goes to show you a couple of things:

There probably is a ton of talent out there oppressed by communism, socialism and their European derivatives.
We could all be working for some immigrant some day.
Opportunity is what you make of it. None one of them speak English fluently; all three of them are part of a so-called protected class (a fact of which they are blissfully ignorant) and they have found not one, but a total of three jobs. And they’re looking at a couple of opportunities that will probably bring them above our average annualized wage for a family of their size before their first 90 days in the states.