The Plight of the Migrants

In today's Wall Street Journal, the High Inquisitor of the Untied Nations (that's not a typo), his Royal Highness Kofi Annan has a lovely little opinion piece defending the plight of the migrant worker. His poignant examples using references everyone can relate to, such as "the family in the classic Senegalese film, 'Le Mandat'..." really helped to drive his message home. Who knew Senegal had a film industry, much less classic films? But, I digress... So what was that message, you may wonder? His 10 blabbering paragraphs on why migrant workers are beneficial only served to further prove one point about the man -- and I'm not talking about his knowledge of classic Sengalese films -- and that is the fact that he is an idiot and misses the point completely.

Look, no one in this country is arguing the benefits of "migration" (I like his choice of word -- not immigration, but migration -- gives the connotation of innocent, hardworking people, hunched over with heavy sacks on their backs, moving in borderless lands in search of work, food, better lives.) This country was founded on people "migrating" here to achieve lives not attainable in their places of birth. We accept that, we embrace that; that's who we are and what makes us great.

What most of us have a problem with are the people who do it by breaking the law. There's a big difference between doing something the right way and doing it the wrong way. Most of us oppose people who do it the wrong way. This is our country and we have rules about how you can enter our country. We like you to follow those rules. If you follow those rules and like being here, you might like to stay and become one of us. We don't have a problem with that. We simply don't like it when you sneak in here behind our backs, because that is breaking the rules.

But, then again, seeing as how Mr. Annan "migrated" here with full diplomatic immunity, it would make sense that he would have no understanding and no respect for our rules or our laws. Afterall, they don't apply to him, do they?