Nation of anti-immigrants
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
By Matthew Irwin
It’s been a while, Jackson, since I’ve written this column, so I’ll create as much surface area as possible for derisive blows: I’d like to invite immigrants to come to Jackson Hole to work the jobs that we won’t because we’re entitled, proud and educated (though surprisingly anti-intellectual). I’d like undocumented immigrants to bring their forged Social Security cards so that they can contribute taxes to a system that they’ll never benefit from while they watch our kids, build our homes, cook our food and wash our dishes, among many other jobs that pay so little that only a person planning on retiring in a third-world community could make them sustainable.
But alas, the listing of Jackson Hole as a “sanctuary city” by Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC appears to be unfounded. OJJPAC’s website says that “formal sanctuary cities are the easiest to identify because their sanctuary policies are in writing, often get the attention of the media, and subject to public records requests by citizens and the press.”
Town clerk Roxanne DeVries Robinson told Ohio Jobs that the Town follows state and federal rules regarding the reporting of undocumented immigrants.
The site references lax driver’s license regulations as a sign of sanctuary cities, when just today I received notice from WYDOT that license security updates will include “training to recognize counterfeit birth certificates, passports or other identification documents.”
Finally, the website said that unwritten sanctuary policies include police departments that do not “contact ICE after determining that a driver involved in a misdemeanor traffic stop is likely an illegal alien.”
We all remember the Mexican national deported after getting a ticket for riding without a seatbelt, and Latino Resource Center executive director Estela Torres told JH Weekly that in her experience undocumented workers in Jackson Hole are rounded up and deported.
Still, area residents have sent letters to Town officials implying that immigrants are taking jobs that “natives” should have.
Joseph Byers in the News&Guide wrote that they are “sending money back to Mexico and supporting their economy.” To which, Joel Wenger seems to be directly responding in a letter to the News&Guide: “Let us also remember, that had our U.S. businesses and industries not relocated to other countries for higher profit margins in the last 30-40 years there would be many more jobs now.”
More to the point, a 2007 University of Wyoming study determined that local immigrant households spent 80 percent of their incomes, or $91 million dollars, in Teton County. They held 14 percent of local jobs, yet accounted for only 13 percent of local earnings.
Torres blamed the “sanctuary city” accusations on the economy. “It’s the mood of the country because the economy is bad,” she said. “They want to take it out on somebody else. I look at it as they are entitled to their opinion, but overall immigrants contribute to the economy.”
And, immigrants have also been affected by the economy, with many leaving Jackson Hole since 2008 because even they couldn’t find work here.
But I’ve done exactly what I intended to object to, namely the proffering of a metered and evidence-based response to inaccurate and anecdotal accusations.
What I started to say is that Jackson Hole is a sanctuary, if you will, for tourists, the wealthy, independent thinkers and social misfits with big egos, all whom I’d expect would want to extend their freedoms to people of all races and nationalities.
Look how comfortable we’ve become with homosexuality. JHW
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Nation of anti-immigrants | Planet JH News Article: Editorial
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