Information you are probably not aware of concerning illegal immigration

Where to begin? I feel the need to start by declaring that I am half Mexican, and I grew up close to my Grandmother who was a Mexican citizen her whole life, only she legally lived in America because she married my Grandpa who was a US citizen. Legally, as a couple, they could own property in both Mexico and America. But I have grown an opinion that stands against illegals not despite the fact that I am Mexican, but BECAUSE of the fact that I am Mexican and have seen first-hand the attitude and culture carried to America. Of course I am for immigration, but ILLEGAL immigration still persists to be an issue, an issue that I have to bite my tongue when I fail to state that most people are ignorant of. Well, as much as I hate to use the word “ignorant”, I am sick of biting my tongue!
Let me bring up the issue of driving and illegals, an issue so untouched that people may dismiss it as ridiculous, even though it is in fact a serious matter which I really beg people to consider:

In Mexico, the rules of the road are basically identical to America. Lawfully, you stop at a red light, you go at a green light, stop an a “stop” sign (only as I vaguely recall, it is a red “alto” sign) and honk if you want someone to move. The key word here is LAWFULLY: LAWFULLY they are basically the same. If I compare the rules of the road in Mexico with the USA, and replace lawfully with practically, then PRACTICALLY, the rules of the road are VERY different. In Mexico, hardly anyone will stop at a stop sign, and I recall driving through Mexico City with my family, stopping at a red light downtown, and getting honked at by about 20 cabs behind me. It is not unheard of to get ticketed for speeding there (particularly Americans speeding there), but getting even reprehended for blowing red lights and stop signs down there is almost non-existent. I have yet to see or hear of a case that shows otherwise. I remember stopping at a stop sign, and not getting a chance to ever cross the intersection, as everyone kept gunning it, and eventually I had to do the same. I observed this throughout many parts of the entire country, including Reynosa, Monterrey, Guano Juato, and Mexico City. I have extended family there, and would like to note I visited at least seven times, and through entire summers.

There must be some sort of mutual understanding of the rules of driving down there, even though personally, I think it is backwards for the country to spend money on stop signs and red lights, if they aren’t going to be put to use! I would like to note my cousin’s smashed car, as she stated she got hit 3 times in a year….wow. I suppose there are too many people to enforce these laws, as Mexico doesn’t tax much to begin with, so I gather police funds are self-made, many times, in a corrupted or at least inconsistently lawless fashion.

The problem is when illegals come up here and drive the same way. Many people, including myself, carry the attitude of “who cares!” Well, I especially started to care when I got a teaching job that required me to drive through East Chicago, (around 90% Mexican neighborhood). Before I got this job, I never paid much attention to people telling (or asking me) about how nobody seems to stop at stop signs in East Chicago, as if I had the answers. If I had put more thought into it, I would realized that I DID have an answer, and would have stated that it was because nobody seems to stop at stop signs in Mexico either. But I didn’t pay attention, and here I was driving through a green light in East Chicago, when some idiot drives straight into me from the other side, failing to yield for a left turn. Guess who he turns out to be? An illegal Mexican, who has no insurance and a very bad sense of driving. I almost ran straight into the stop light pole, hit the curb of a corner store at around 40 mph, and needless to say, my car was totaled (his was not). Had I hit that pole, which playing slow motion in my head, I managed to turn last minute and left skid marks ½ foot away from it, I may be dead right now. Had I lived and hit it, I would have had to pay for the entire thing, including paying the city for the pole, it would have cost me at least 5k, not including my totaled care, which was 20k (which I did have to pay), and of course, the illegal doesn't even have a license, much less insurance, to help fix the damage he has caused. Of course suing a poor illegal for compensation is unheard of and pointless.
A couple of months later, an acquaintance of mine, a guy who attended a nearby university, only about a week from graduating, was driving with his girlfriend, when suddenly, out of nowhere, another illegal runs a red-light at 80 mph, and kills them both almost instantly, himself included, and another victim, who happened to be a prestigious lawyer in the area. A total of four people were needlessly and recklessly killed. This was all over the Chicago media, and you can read about it here (an important thing to note is that this is NOT uncommon):

http://nwi.com/articles/2008/11/30/news/lake_county/doc52e1c1e3dc17cee28...
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2008/04/30/updates/breaking_news/...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2011336/posts

If you don’t believe me when I say that illegals driving in America is a hazard, please just Google something like “illegals killing Americans in car accidents” and read for yourself how many accidents are caused, noting they tend to involve things like “burning red lights” and drunk driving. Personally, my accident never hit media because nobody died, although the guy that caused my accident was jailed.
http://www.voiac.org

Yeah, you can say we are all people, and Americans kill Americans in drunk driving accidents or reckless driving too, but given the nature of driving culture in Mexico, and my first hand experiences, I have good reason to state that illegals are more likely to do this then Americans. Americans are people too, and if you insist on breaking the rules and illegally coming up here, at least don’t carry this attitude in your driving style. Have some respect for our rules and our way of life. Refusing to change to bad parts of your culture but insist you are entitled to reap the benefits of American culture is hypocritical. At least adapt to our ways of driving!
Of course attempting to make illegals aware of this is fruitless, as I would have to translate all that in Spanish, assuming they actually cared about Americans.
Of course Mexican culture has some good things to offer, but their driving style is not one of them. If you want us to respect you, then at least attempt to follow our laws, at least attempt to learn our language so that you are able to follow out laws. I loved my grandmother, but like many Mexicans, she had to say things like “Mexico is better” and carried this attitude by her refusal to attempt to learn effective, basic English, even after living here for something like 60 years! Instead she only watched Mexican channels, listened to Mexican music, ect.... That is unacceptable. I have visited Mexico and the whole time I was there, I respected the culture by trying to speak Spanish, and learn.

One more thing, concerning my cousins who live in Mexico, by the boarder of Texas: They crossed the border to have their children out of wedlock, so that their children would be American citizens in order to receive welfare. The thing is, they lie and say that their children live in America, as they can use their friends address in Texas, or pull other tricks in order to continue receiving welfare. They don’t attempt to teach their children English, and all the while, keep them in Mexico, with the attitude that “Mexican culture is better”. They raise their children placing emphasis on superstitious practices, a culture that can be traced to the time of the Aztecs and Mayans. I feel that they don’t even try!

I understand many illegals are willing to work hard but there are far too many that are not willing to care:
Generally, the way human nature works is that when something is handed to someone for free, it is not appreciated even a fraction of the value it holds. When people come here illegally, they don’t respect our culture, our rules, and indirectly, this leads to not respecting our people. It is important that people who live here learn the reasons why we do things, and put an effort to obey the basic structure of our society. Even if it isn’t perfect, it is important to understand something that you want to be a part of, so that you can help mold and shape it for the better.

For any Americans who are sympathetic towards illegal aliens (I myself am too) please be reasonable. The next time you defend an illegal, keep a defense for your fellow Americans too. There are many LEGAL aliens who worked VERY hard to come here and respect our laws. To a lot of them, this could be a slap in the face. You can say that we are all from immigrants at some point, and it would be true to make such a statement, but consider that when many older immigrants came here, America was not the world powerful, or rich country that it is today. The immigrants that came here years ago, came to a more harsh and difficult country, of which they worked their whole lives to in order to better the future. Immigrants that came to this country decades ago, when it was a poorer and weaker one, did not have it nearly as easy as the illegals that come here today.

The whole point of a melting pot of culture is to learn the good things from other cultures, while keeping the good parts of your own culture. This also includes adapting to more efficient and “better” ways of life. Immigrants that are too stubborn to attempt to learn the good parts of our culture and change the bad parts of their own do not deserve to reap any benefits, and this attitude runs blatant in illegal immigration. The idea and beauty of mixing cultures is to learn from each other and work together. Sadly, my family, along with many Mexicans, with emphasis on illegals, refuse to carry this attitude, and instead, insist that their own is better. Although I could list the good things about Mexican culture, I see no reason to at the moment, given the lack of honest light concerning the issue of immigration.

http://www.voiac.org

Cuando yo viaje a Mexico, observe que la juente no respectaba las reglas basicas del camino, por ejemplo, cuando ellos miran un rotulo que decia alto, o las luce roja del semaforo, no se paraban. Cuando los Mexicanos vienen a los Estados Unidos, su conducto es equivalente a Mexico, y ellos no respectan las reglas basicas del camino. (I don't know how to use accents here)