In response to “Award-winning journalist to kick off Speak Your Mind lecture series,” published on Feb. 13.

First, I’d like to say that I am an alumna and an immigrant, so you cannot say that I am anti-immigrant. I do admire the speech forum presented and sponsored by the Speak Your Mind Planning Commitee and Associated Students. But when it comes to immigration, there is a strange blank between your perspective and reality.

There is indeed a movement against illegal and massive unjust immigration such as amnesty, but there is no discrimination against legal immigrants. You have chosen to ignore the damages to American society and the sufferings of middle class taxpayers caused by illegal immigration. This trend has been supported for many years by large and small businesses that have been profiteering from illegal immigration through high-level political connections.

As an immigrant, I know that most of us are honest, hard working and law abiding, but we keep silent when we know that some of us are doing things highly illegal and unethical. We are afraid to speak out because this would mean the loss of our jobs, work permits or even our lives. Immigrants of criminal intent won’t hesitate to hurt the innocent.

When American people are fighting back within the permission of law, they don’t deserve to be called racists or any other racial slurs. If amnesty is right, we may as well give all the uncaught criminals a medal or parade for getting away with their illegal activities. This is a matter of principle, which I believe differentiates the USA from many other countries.

As an immigrant, I believe we should respect the law and order in the new country, understand its culture and systems, and learn its official language, while preserving our own culture and identity. By doing so, we can become a contributing member of the society we choose to live in, and be able to help people from our homelands the right way.

I suggest that SYMPC/AS invite speakers from Fairus.org or Saveourstate.org. These are decent American civil groups. They are not anti immigrants. As college students, you should be open to the challenge: seeing the whole picture by looking at different perspectives.

-Sandy Hsu