The people of France gave Lady Liberty to the people of the United States; a statue that represented the ideal of the American Republic, a land where people could find a second chance. The words written upon her still ring out today. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Immigration is the hot button issue today. The idea of undocumented people flooding across our borders to steal the jobs of hardworking Americans is a popular visual that talk radio, TV and the Internet is abuzz with 24/7. That image is definitely racist and xenophobic and brings out the worst side of our people.

At the same time, there is another message that is almost as bad when examined.

I was watching “Feagler and Friends”, a talk show hosted by the former newscaster and writer, Dick Feagler, on WVIZ PBS-TV. The topic was the welcome center proposed for Cleveland. This center would encourage immigrants to settle on the shores of the Cuyahoga River and make their lives.

The panel had a business person (50ish white male), two newspaper people from the Plain Dealer (one male, 30ish, and one female,40ish, both white) and a local attorney/activist (40ish black male). The attorney expressed support for the construction of the center, saying it should be done instead of just being talked to death as usual. The others were supportive, with the business types being more cautious.

I had to wonder what was on the attorney’s mind as the other panel members spoke of the positives of immigrants (these are the ones with money, mind you) — more likely to start a business, more likely to possess skills and education, more likely to have a better work ethic and so on. I couldn’t help but think of the large displaced population in Cleveland being marginalized by being shoved further off the berm of the road and into the ditch.

There was a recent syndicated column by Cokie and Steve Roberts, two nationally known news people and commentators, encouraging the welcoming of immigrants, pointing out programs by cities like Detroit that are recruiting immigrants to come to their communities to settle, offering many incentives to them at the same time.

The Roberts’ sang the same song about work ethic, education and business savvy of the immigrants. They also encouraged the further liberalization of the guest worker law, on the guise of bringing in people with high tech and science skills to our country.

In truth, these workers are the indentured servants of the 21st century. They are paid low wages by U.S. corporations and can only stay here as long as they are working for that company.

They impact the employment of our students who are learning “skill sets” to be employed in the high tech industry. U.S. high tech workers are paid higher wages and have the freedom to move to another company.

Again, I thought about Detroit with its myriad of problems — schools closing, disappearing tax base, the imminent takeover by rich white foundations. Detroiters are overwhelmingly poor and of color and are being dislocated from the picture entirely. The businesses immigrants start are often in poor neighborhoods of color, where they set up a small store selling food at outrageous prices and alcohol to medicate the misery.

In Detroit especially, these “armored liquor stores” are the only source of food in a city that has no supermarkets. These businesses are often seen by the locals as another example of urban colonialism and exploitation.

While I like the idea of immigration being discussed without the hateful visuals, it also brings up another disturbing vision of huge parts of our population being written off forever. The question is, can we afford to even further stratify our country and create a huge, permanent underclass by tossing the poor on the trash heap for reasons of economy?

If so, we will have to change the words on Lady Liberty to, “Give me your educated, your rich, your upper classes yearning to make it big in the free market.”

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