Letter: Immigrants should adopt American culture

Frank Musaraca

Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 | 6:59 a.m.

I applaud the letters from Friday concerning illegals that were submitted by Patricia Keasling and Lou Young, both of whom bring forth some of the core feelings that exist only in the shadows to many Americans. As a former U.S. Customs agent, I would like to reinforce their thoughts and suggest ways to begin solving the problem of illegal immigration.

I am confident most Americans will agree that opposition to illegals as human beings is not really the issue. Instead, the glaring issue is that most honest, hardworking illegals are suffering at the hands of an unsavory minority that is severely and unjustly tarnishing their reputation.

The bad seeds, people who do not come here to work and become Americans, are really the issue. They include vicious gangs that perform criminal acts, destroy property and instill fear in their own communities. We must convince the honest, hardworking illegal aliens, through our police programs and the media, that they can be safe in reporting gang activity as well as known criminals and criminal activity within their ranks.

During the past year, I have not heard one presidential candidate indicate that he is willing to vigorously undertake the difficult challenge of changing our antiquated birthright law (14th Amendment). It is way past time for our legislators to vigorously attack this issue. Newborns must be citizens of the mother's country unless the father is a legal U.S. resident.

Finally, if a person comes here to run away from an unjust culture or to find a better life, he must do so by accepting our culture as his own. His responsibility is to become an American! This means to hold dearly to all the memories of his origin, but leave the flags and the unjust culture home, learn to speak our common language, be here to contribute, and enjoy being counted as an American. But don't be an adversary coming to change the culture and life that we hold so dearly. We, too, are human beings.

Frank Musaraca, Henderson