This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Much has been said regarding immigrants, immigration, raids and culpability. The past week has required "a case of tissues."

In my job as a teacher of many immigrant students at South Cache 8-9 Center, I have met with hundreds of parents, many who work at the Millers Swift plant in Hyrum. Over the years, I have laughed, wept, hoped and worried with them regarding their children. I have loved them and their goodness and caring.

I have never met a parent who came to the United States because his lifelong dream was to work at a meatpacking plant in Hyrum, Utah, and I have never met a parent who didn't have dreams for the futures of her children. I, also, have never met a parent who wasn't willing to make enormous sacrifices for those dreams.

The families I know have not come from privileged lives in their home countries. Some have come because their children had substandard medical care and poor educational opportunities, because employment was non-existent, because their houses had no floors, because their food supply consisted of rats they killed under the bridge near their home at night.

What were they willing to pay for the opportunity to work here, to send their children to school here, to take their children to doctors here, to feed their children enough to sustain life and perhaps even to promote health?

They were willing to leave their families and their culture. They were willing to risk their lives crossing the border. They were willing to work hard day after day for low wages at undesirable jobs. They were willing to accept the possibility that they may have to live with prejudice, discrimination and lack of acceptance. Yes, and they were willing to live in fear of being terrorized and deported.

So who is responsible for the dilemma in which we find ourselves? Does the fault lie with the immigrant who acquired a false identity to get employment? Does the fault lie with Swift and other like-minded organizations that hire those without the proper credentials?

Does the fault lie with the Mexican government that has not provided opportunities for "the good life" for all of its citizens? Does the fault lie with the American government that has not crafted a workable immigration policy?

Does the fault lie with the American worker unwilling to do manual work for low wages? Does the fault lie with the American consumer who lives in abundance because immigrant labor provides otherwise unaffordable goods?

We all have a piece of the fault. It is time to make decisions, both individually and as a nation, based on principles of civility, fairness and justice. These are principles that we have touted to the world as intrinsic to the American identity. Then, on more occasions than not, we appear to have sold our very souls for the "bottom line."

Intolerant and mean-spirited remarks and actions, as well as indifference, display a lack of understanding and compassion and are an affront to decency. We can, and we must, do better than this.

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* CONNIE MECHAM is a teacher living in North Logan.