"Excerpt from a guest column on colorado biz

Similarly, if we are experiencing labor shortages and a dwindling rural working class, are we ready to move from a so-called immigration crisis to an opportunity for a more inclusive and diverse working community? What can we learn from the struggles and division of environmental movement to inform our decision about immigration?The backlash against undocumented immigrants is coming from all sides. First, parts of the mainstream population claim that in their desperate quest to escape poverty, these undocumented immigrants depress wages for the rest of the population. However, the federal government and a complicit market sector have failed to increase our minimum wage for more than a decade. Second, some claim that an open border policy will lead to the spread of once-controlled diseases.But if the United States has the best medical system in the world, as some would have us believe, it could surely cope with such diseases. Third, an influx of undocumented immigrants could result in overcrowding and more rapid resource depletion. Our society’s relentless consumption of nonrenewable resources, fossil fuels, and the pursuit of larger homes has been responsible for the loss of land to development.Perhaps the most interesting argument against illegal immigration is a cultural one. It is a war over our core values and our vision of the future. However, there is absolutely nothing new about this situation. Many other undocumented immigrant groups from Eastern Europeans to Chinese and Jews, immigrated, endured discrimination by this country, and eventually were shown to provide tremendous benefit to this society.The business community should stop its hypocritical approach of seeking and hiring cheap labor, while vilifying and condemning those who provide it. The well-known reporter Elmer Davis once said: "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."