Immigration and American Greed

Arizona has passed a very controversial Immigration law. Trite as it may be, I do some sociological research by reading angry statements on Facebook. Its a bit more juvenile than talk radio, but unfortunately I also get to find out which of my 'friends' espouse said beliefs/mantras/bigotry.
My thoughts on this matter are mixed; If Arizona is doing this to force action by the federal government, it is a great move. The immigration system as in currently stands is broken. the tough at the border policy allows an underclass of illegal immigrants to live and work in our country, yet not live with the same rights and protections of citizens.

I think the anger directed at 'illegal immigrants' is misdirected. These are honest people who want to work and earn money. When I stand next to a citizen of Mexico, I can not see any difference, any real reason why I should earn $10/hr while my Mexican Neighbor earns $2/hr for the same work. Am I a better person, morally superior or of a better class to deserve such benefits as social security, good schools, and the government safety net if my earnings were to fail? On the contrary, I am a stay at home Mom, I don't even work. Lots of people work harder than me, are smarter, and better people.

Furthermore the Laws as they now stand are broken. In the early 1900's they were outright bigoted. They favored light skinned western European immigrants over the darker, poorer Eastern Europeans. I say that our laws today are inefficient and convoluted. Perhaps a historian of the future will look back and call them bigoted.

How will this situation look to historians of the future? We live in this rich country, yet we get incredibly angry when people come in and work, because we are afraid they might dilute our wealth, furthermore we punish them with deportation and anti-immigration militias but the business owners who profit from their work are not a part of the national outrage. The blame lies conveniently upon those least able to defend themselves.

A well-managed guest worker program is the best solution. As proposed by Lant Pritchett in
Let Their People Come, available in its entirety here;

http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/10174

Another question is this; The Western World is rich, the developing world is poor, as economies change, or as in the case of Iceland explode, is this divide sustainable? It is not fair for us to have such excess while so much if the world has so little. I know it is more complicated than just sending food and money, that economies and cultures have to develop. How can we justify 8 cars for every 10 people, while half the world lives on less than $2.50/day.

Is there an end to our greed? When we have 20% of the world's population with 75% of the money, That 20% is unlikely to share but rather will make up all sorts of reasons why sharing would actually be bad for the lower 80%. The most common lie is that the rich have some how earned their money through work and sacrifice and that the poor by default have not worked hard and do not deserve to have money. I have observed that this lie in various forms, grows stronger as the wealth increases.

I do not have a happy solution for this situation. I am frustrated and saddened by reports from Unicef like this;
According to UNICEF, 24,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.

I think that being aware of this problem and its possible causes is one of the steps towards formulating a solution.