Silko's Predicament

In The Border Patrol State, Leslie Marmon Silko recounts an experience of when she and her companion Gus were stopped and harassed by Border Patrol Agents. A person of American Indian descent, Silko feels that the United States Government is today continuing to drive the Indians out of America, and finally fulfill "Manifest Destiny" once and for all. Personally, I see this issue much differently. The United States Government is not an all powerful racist machine that wishes to drive people of color in the American southwest back across the border into Mexico. However, illegal immigration (mostly from south of the border) is a very large financial problem for the United States. While America is the land of opportunity and the only realistic chance for a good life for many people, crossing the border to work under the table robs tax paying citizens all over the nation. Now, is the answer gestapo-like Border Patrol Agents? No. Is the answer full out amnesty? Probably not. But perhaps the system of emigrating to the United States needs a complete reform. Maybe instead of searching "people of color" even though they have documents, the system just requires a valid social security number for each piece of identification, removing any doubt of a suspect not being a citizen. There is much room for debate on this issue, but experiences like that of Silko are clearly unjust.