With Good Comes Bad

Multiculturalism is truly a beautiful thing.  It diversifies countries and introduces new arts, values, language initiatives, and much much more.  Welcoming myriads of people from various countries with open arms seems like the right thing to do.  However, this can also be a huge potential detriment to the security of a nation.  A country taking immigrants under its wing is very humanitarian and can be quite beneficial, but when does it all realistically go too far?  Would Illegal immigration make the cut?  What about demonstrated acts of terror?

The influx of immigrants entering or having previously entered the country can pose a threat to those citizens who are already residing here.  Immigration is extremely important, but illegal immigration is unacceptable.  It is simply not fair to allow someone to enter the country illegally without having gone through the long and grueling process that their legal counterpart has successfully completed.  People work very hard to come here, so to come to a country illegally yet still reap the benefits of a citizen should not be tolerated. 

An illegal immigrant is permitted to attend public school until being deported, but the issue is that they are not being deported and some (of course, not all) of these illegals are dangerous.  Some towns, like Rockville, Maryland have gone as far as to try and become sanctuary cities.  Only a day ago in Rockville, Maryland, a 14-year old girl was brutally raped in her own high school by two older students.  These older students were 18 and 17 years old and happened to be undocumented (illegal) immigrants.  They also happened to be placed in the 14-year old girl’s grade despite the age gap.  School is supposed to be a place where students feel safe.  This is where the real concern emerges.  Creating a safe environment for immigrants is great, but when they are illegal and when they interfere with the safety of citizens, it can no longer be acceptable.  Essentially, an innocent citizen was raped by two illegal immigrants that should not have been present in the first place.

According to a Fox News report, this tragic event was overlooked and not reported by other popular news sources (at the time of my research, this was indeed the case).  Perhaps the incident was not reported by many news sources because they felt the story would taint the idea of multiculturalism.  However, most of us already understand the benefits of and appreciate multiculturalism.  One incident does not define a group of people, but it should still make an impact and be shared with the populace.  Unfortunately, sometimes the values and ideals of people entering the country do not mesh with those we hold firm and dearly here.  America is the land of the free, indeed.  However, when anyone (citizen or not) acts in a culturally offensive or illegal manner, they need to endure the proper ramifications.    

As noted by the Daily Signal, “White House press secretary Sean Spicer said, ‘Part of the reason that the president has made illegal immigration and crackdown such a big deal is because of tragedies like this.’”     

Despite the potential dangers of illegal immigration, the sad truth is that many acts of terror are perpetrated by nationals inspired by the ideologies of extremist groups.  When values do not coincide with the overarching values of the country as a whole, major conflict can occur.  Extreme acts of violence can seriously put any population at risk, including multiculturally flourishing ones.  For example, very recently in London, England a 52-year old British man named Khalid Masood ran over and severely injured several people.  He killed three people – a British woman of Spanish descent, an American, and a British police officer (whom he stabbed).  Prime MinisterTheresa May said that “[Masood] was thought to have been inspired by Islamist ideology.”  According to CNN, “A number of tourists were among 40 people hurt in the assault, including five South Koreans and three French high school students. One Australian was hospitalized. A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said one Chinese tourist was slightly injured.”  Other victims included citizens of Romania, Germany, Poland, Ireland, Italy and Greece.

Can multiculturalism actually be a threat to multiculturalism?  Or is it only in isolated rare cases?  Should illegal immigration be overlooked for multiculturalism’s sake, or should it be properly dealt with to help reduce tragic incidents such as the recent Rockville rape?  What is more important, multiculturalism or the safety of American citizens?  All thoughts are welcome in the comments below!