Letter: Immigration rhetoric is taking its toll

Sunday, April 23, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.

Every now and then, and especially recently, I get asked: Why do people hate Mexicans ?

Do they feel that way about Mexican-American citizens? Did people just realize today that there are 12 million people in the country illegally? Will the law make it so that I can be taken away because someone thinks I am illegal? Will I get in trouble if I speak Spanish in school? Will we be deported? I get these questions a lot from my sons who, by the way, are fourth-generation Mexican-American citizens who speak English fluently, as do their mother and grandmother.

I, too, wonder where all of the recent immigration rhetoric will take us. I ask, will I be called from work to go to wherever my child may be detained on suspicion of being illegal with his birth certificate, Social Security card, shot records, school records, my tax records since I was 18, my voter registration card and any other documents needed to prove their citizenship?

Will they have to carry all of these documents around when they go to houses in the neighborhood offering to cut lawns to earn extra summer money so they can show fearful citizens that they should not worry about being fined for hiring illegal workers because they are not? Or will it be easier for people to just simply avoid the problem of going through the "hassle" and instead hire the Anglo or African-American kid who comes to their door?

Despite whatever solution comes about from the immigration issue, already the sentiments expressed lead to me to wonder how another generation of Mexican-American citizens will have to deal with the consequences of long, deep-seated emotions.

Juanita Campos, North Las Vegas