Menu Close

Tag: Undocumented Workers

Are Undocumented Immigrants Lawbreakers?

23 Comments
farm workers

Are undocumented immigrants lawbreakers? Sure, in the strictest sense of the word. When I drive our car 65 mph in a 55 mph zone, I am breaking the law. Back in my Limewire days, I downloaded thousands of songs. Doing so was illegal. I have broken the law numerous times over the years, actions which could have landed me in the county jail or with a fine. I suspect most Americans could say the same. When convenient, we play loose with the law. If we get caught, we pay the price.

I view most undocumented workers the same way. Being here illegally is a “crime” in the same way speeding is. Should they have their lives uprooted and lose their jobs and homes, all because they came to the United States years ago? No, and we need to find a way to legalize the immigrants who are here illegally. This is especially true for immigrants who have lived in the U.S. their entire lives. My God, we are deporting children. Sorry, but this sickens me.

Undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes should be arrested, prosecuted in a court of law, and, if warranted, deported. However, immigrants who haven’t committed a crime or who have minor dings on their records should be given an opportunity to be here legally. We NEED them, and we are about to find out what happens if the Toddler King gets his way and deports millions of immigrants.

Think about your own life. Have you ever broken the law? Imagine being removed from your home and sent to a prison in a foreign country. Imagine no due process. Imagine being separated from your spouse, children, grandchildren, and extended family. You are at the mercy of a man who hates your guts; a racist who only wants “good” immigrants; you know — white people.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Letter to the Editor: Mexican Immigrants

11 Comments
letter to the editor

Letter submitted to the Defiance Crescent-News

Dear Editor,

I spent most of my sixty-seven years on Earth living in rural Ohio. Outside of a few years in California and Arizona, I lived my formative years in Northwest Ohio, attending schools in Bryan, Harrod, Farmer, Ney, Deshler, Mt. Blanchard, and Findlay. My travels put me in close contact with Mexican migrant workers. While most of these workers would come and go depending on what crops needed picking, some of them stayed in Ohio after their work was done. Migrants, many of whom spoke little English, assimilated into our culture, taking jobs, marrying, and raising their families. Over time, multiple generations of Mexican families made rural Northwest Ohio their home. They have, in every way, added to the richness of our communities, even though racist epitaphs are still hurled their way.

Many of those migrants who originally stayed in our communities are undocumented; people Donald Trump and the Republican Party call “illegals.” Trump would love for us to believe that all of these undocumented workers are “undesirables” who must be immediately rounded up and deported to Mexico. Suppose Trump and his MAGA cronies have their way. In that case, more than eleven million undocumented people — most of whom hold gainful employment and pay taxes — will be violently ripped from their communities and families and returned to countries many of them have never visited.

Republicans and Democrats agree that the United States has an immigration problem; that conditions at our southern border are unsustainable. How to fix this problem is where disagreements arise. Trump wants to ship undocumented workers back to where they came from, wholesale, and in doing so will tank the U.S. economy. Democrats want to see meaningful paths to citizenship for everyone here illegally. If they are gainfully employed and don’t have serious criminal backgrounds, we must provide a way for them to become legal. Trump’s policies, and those of Project 2025, hail to the days when we rounded up indigenous people and Japanese-Americans and locked them up against their will in internment camps or reservations.

Just remember, that dear Mexican family who lives next to you may have parents or grandparents who are here illegally. Do you want to destroy their families so that you can defend the mythical Great Replacement theory? We can and must fix our southern border, but not at the expense of people who have played an essential part in our communities and workforce.

Bruce Gerencser
Ney, Ohio

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.