Andrew Grove: 'Keep America, America'

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

'Keep America, America'

By ANDREW S. GROVE
January 26, 2006; Page A10

Recently the House of Representatives passed an immigration bill -- the Sensenbrenner-King bill -- by a vote of 233 to 189. It is now on its way to the Senate. This bill scares me.

(snip)

This could change the nature of our society in a way that I have seen firsthand. As a Jewish child hiding from the Nazis in Hungary, I saw how the persecution of non-Jewish Hungarians who hid their Jewish friends or neighbors cast a wide blanket of fear over everyone. This fear led to mistrust, and mistrust led to hostility, until neighbors turned upon neighbors in order to protect themselves. Is this what we want?

Consider the potential effect of this bill. Victims of the hurricane that devastated New Orleans more often than not did not have proof of their immigration status. Relief workers who helped them -- for example, by providing schooling to their children -- could have been charged under this bill with assisting undocumented aliens. Volunteers who save the lives of individuals who are left to die by smugglers -- by providing water or food, or by taking them to a hospital -- could face arrest and prosecution. An immigration worker who encourages a refugee from political persecution to seek asylum in the United States could be charged with a felony; so could a manager who forgets to check the papers of a job applicant.

Prosecution of these well-intentioned people will lead to a growing schism. We will be forced to become a nation of identity-checkers; anyone who looked "foreign" would likely have to endure a lifetime of proving their status even if they were native-born American citizens. People will be deterred from helping anyone suspected of foreign origin. The events of World War II, the civil wars in Africa, the strife in the Middle East, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, the decades-long civil disturbances in Ireland and the recent riots in France, all provide wrenching examples of fractured societies.

(snip)

Let's keep America, America.

Mr. Grove, former chairman of the Intel Corporation, is a member of the board of overseers of the International Rescue Committee.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113824237808756633.html (subscription)

[kenny blankenship]

1. reminds me of laws punishing those who helped runaway slaves

I am against illegal immigration to this country. I am against employers hiring illegal immigrants and screwing our own citizens out of the hope of a job with "American pay". But punishing people because they've done something to aid an illegal immigrant for unselfish motives is inhuman.