Immigrants in America: Defining Illegality

Immigration: What classifies as a native and what classifies as illegal immigrant?

I got into an interesting.. discussion (maybe you could even call it an argument today). It was on a discussion board, about illegal immigration.  Angelina’s family on her father’s side came from Mexico. On my mother’s side (just by what I know has been traced out) English and French. Native too I believe. On my father’s side, I have been told that my great-grandmother or great-great grandmother was Cherokee. That being said…  I wanted to share with you this conversation. It’s long, but I feel that it’s important to share somehow.  I have changed the other person’s name for privacy.

Bartleby:  As a Native American, what gives you Europeans the right to call others illegal aliens when in fact you are illegal aliens also? What is the difference that your forefathers did to us as to what the “illegal aliens” are doing now?You are treating us like second class citizens and you are also treating the “illegal aliens” likes criminals. There is not that much difference in the way that you are treating the two groups except you are not trying to deport us, you are trying to just take away more land and taking away our way of life. I say that if you wish to deport “illegal aliens” than start with the ones that immigrated here firs and let the real Native Americans have their land back. You talk about the “illegal aliens” taking away from the citizens, well why not look at how the Europeans took away from the Native Americans.

Zoey7879 (Me): na·tive
/’ne?t?v/
–adjective
1. being the place or environment in which a person was born or a thing came into being: one’s native land.
2. belonging to a person by birth or to a thing by nature; inherent: native ability; native grace.
3. belonging by birth to a people regarded as indigenous to a certain place, esp. a preliterate people: Native guides accompanied the expedition through the rain forest.
4. of indigenous origin, growth, or production: native pottery.
5. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the indigenous inhabitants of a place or country: native customs; native dress.
6. born in a particular place or country: a native New Yorker.

Being of both European and Native American descent.. I have to say that while I*am* understanding your point, I am slightly offended by this. I would have to agree with the gentleman who posted before me. You*are* reaching. I was born here, as my ancestors have been since the late 1700’s and prior. Being born here would make me native, by all definition. My mother’s family fled England, and they fled France to avoid mass religious persecution. There’s nothing illegal about me being here, nor is there anything illegal about you being here either oscarbartoni. There was no known legal system regarding such when my mother’s family arrived here. Now, however, there are laws in place regarding these things. Do I think that what’s been done in the past is right? HELL NO.. But I cannot, nor can anyone else for that matter, change what has been done. While we cannot change the things that have been done, we CAN educate ourselves and learn from those trials and mistakes.

Currently, there are laws in place to stop people from arriving here or from working here without proper documentation. This is done for numerous reasons, including to help insure the overall physical health of the people who live here now. I lived for a long time in a neighborhood where I was the minority. I was the only person living in my apartment complex that spoke English. I worked a 40 hour work week at minimum wage, and so did the lady living downstairs from me. We each paid the same amount of rent. My credit was shot to hell, while she was driving around a brand new SUV. The difference? She had 11 (no joke.. 11!!!) different identities; one new mail order life shipped to her UPS from Chicago each month of the year. I also know others who when they go to medical or legal appointments actually whip out several ID cards, because they don’t even know which one they should be using. I’ve lived here my entire life and have literally worked myself into an early grave and I can’t get all of the help and services from the United States government that she does, why? Because I was born here and choose to be honest, while she was born elsewhere and chooses to lie so that the ends suit the means. Am I going to hold her parents responsible? No. Am I going to hold her children responsible? No.. Because they were born here and they cannot possibly be responsible for the actions of their parent. When those choosing to break immigration laws are caught, they’re often imprisoned for a length of time and then sent back on their merry way to wherever they came from, free to try it all over again if they like. It’s a form of theft, it’s a form of deception, and it’s against the law, and I will not condone it any way.

Do I agree that what my mother’s ancestors have done? No, I don’t. Can I change the past? Can you change the past? No, neither of us can. In the middle of your post you went from saying “You european” to “the europeans”. My father’s grandmother is Cherokee. She was born here, as was his mother, as was my father.

I am me.I am European (French and English). I am Cherokee. I was born here.
I am a native to the United States.