The Immigrants

The Immigrants By Elton Camp Mexican man, father of three Feed, clothe them, would he. But a job is not to be found. Not in his own hometown. To the north he will go Jobs to get, he’s heard so. Come here you cannot do We will welcome but few Far beyond the Rio Grande Lies a virtual promised land But he must ignore the rule And give his life unto a mule Pay to him his very last peso Trust in the mule’s say so. Into a van a crowd to pack Enough food & water lack Across the miles of barren dirt Perhaps to be killed, surely hurt. If he is lucky and isn’t caught, He may find the work he sought. If any income tax he dares to pay The INS will soon come his way Their demand on him is very hard Must show us now your green card We find your morals low & weak Because English you cannot speak To hear you jabber in that Spanish We deem to be so much outlandish We hate the darkness of your skin Never can you be an equal friend Explain to us why you ‘re so short And for all your faults, we will deport You may not get a house on our street Likes of you we aren’t willing to greet We fear you might keep a filthy house One running over with lice and mouse But if to hard, manual work you’re able We will agree to pay you under the table Expect that your wages will be quite low Take what’s offered, or out the door you go Hola, Pedro, you will hear our mocking taunt And take the low-level jobs we don’t want And remember your own subservient place Or we will return you to Mexico in disgrace You illegal alien, nasty, ugly and full of sin Though you cooperate, no way you’ll win When menial jobs for you finally run out, We’ll send you packing without a doubt You’re a parasite, so work here no more We have firmly shut and locked the door The country’s border is closed to you tight So that it can’t be crossed without a fight Arizona has shown the rest of us the way To keep such riff-raff as you so far at bay The very same should be true in every state Illegal immigrants real Americans so hate. (Please realize this is a poem of satire and is designed to show the feelings of many in my hometown which has a large, recent influx of immigrants. It doesn’t necessarily represent my own views.)