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Civil rights? How about lawlessness?
The protesters seem intent on ending border restraints, not improving immigrants' lives.
By Joe R. Hicks, JOE R. HICKS is vice president of the L.A.-based human relations organization Community Advocates, Inc.
April 1, 2006
THE DEBATE over illegal immigration has reached a vigorous boil, with contrasting bills in the House and Senate and hundreds of thousands of protesters demonstrating nationwide. The complexities of this debate seem lost on many of the protesters. Many claim that what lies beneath reform efforts is raw racism, leading to the view that the recent protests signal a new civil rights movement.
It's simply not true. This nation's civil rights movement of the 1960s broke the back of white supremacy that prevented black Americans (who were citizens) from enjoying the rights guaranteed to them under the Constitution. Undeniably, the freedoms codified by civil rights-era legislation have made life better for all Americans regardless of skin color, gender or national origin.
Now, many Latino immigrant-rights organizers and their sympathizers seem to be saying that there is some inherent right being expressed when people sneak into the country, thumb their noses at the law and make fools out of those who wait patiently in foreign lands for visas to come to the United States.
It is quite clear that many of those participating in the demonstrations have adopted the stance of the beleaguered victim, perceiving frustration about illegal immigration as racism. Some comments have been painfully ignorant. One protester said: "I'm here to make sure that Mexicans get their freedom, their rights."
During the student protests, the American flag was only occasionally on display, while the Mexican flag was omnipresent. A student said he was waving the latter in support of La Raza (the race), while another asked why illegal immigrants were "treated like criminals." Perhaps he wasn't aware that crossing the U.S. border without the required visa is now, and always has been, against the law. :shocked:
The participation of students, some as young as 13 and 14, is especially troubling given that all too many seemed clueless about the issues. Perhaps more puzzling is that some of the student walkouts took place on a day honoring the memory of Cesar Chavez. The great Chicano labor organizer held a march in 1969 from the Coachella and Imperial valleys to the Mexican border. Chavez and the United Farm Workers were protesting the use of illegal immigrants as strikebreakers. Further, Chavez believed that illegal immigration was antithetical to the wage interests of the migrant workers he represented.
What immigrant-rights groups refuse to acknowledge is that an unchecked flow of unskilled labor drives down wages for entry-level jobs, rendering all poor Americans, including millions of teenage workers, less than competitive.
Are illegal workers doing jobs that Americans won't do? This often-heard argument is specious. The reality is that most Americans won't do entry-level labor for the meager wages often offered to undocumented workers.
Activists seem focused on a political agenda that is fiercely anti-capitalist and intent on removing all border constraints. Nevertheless, protesters in Los Angeles were welcomed uncritically by the city's leaders. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told the crowd of 500,000 last Saturday, "There are no illegal people here today." He added: "America was built on the backs of immigrants."
This is an obvious truism, but it obliterates the distinction between legal and illegal and mocks the rule of law. The immigration process continues to bring people from all parts of the world to these shores, but it has to be an orderly and lawful one.
Lawful or not, the United States cannot absorb all of the people who aspire to come here. A 2005 Pew Hispanic Center survey on attitudes toward immigration, conducted in part in Mexico, found that an estimated 70 million adults in Mexico would come to the U.S. if they had the means and the opportunity. About half of those said they would be willing to move to and work in this country illegally. The study also found that 35% of Mexican college graduates want to come to the U.S., even if that means they would have to work at a job below their qualifications and many also said they'd be willing to come illegally.
What we are witnessing is not the birth of a new civil rights movement but the attempt to render meaningless the concept of border controls. Any march that can mobilize 500,000 people will get the attention of Washington's politicians, but this nation must not be deterred from securing its borders, enforcing the law and finding a way to humanely deal with the more than 11 million illegal residents already here.
I'm with Emmett on writing, calling, emailing your representatives, daily paper letters to ed or op-ed writing. Look around at some of the threads, several of us were discussing this today.ravx25 said:Emmett, that all sounds well enough about contacting your congessman/woman but it wont' make a lick of difference. At this point it's all about politics and who gets the votes. It's sad but true.
Kathianne, that was a very eloquently stated post. I find it almost humorous how most of these protesters think its okay to demand rights for an illegal immigrant and say it's not rigt to call them criminals. Last I noticed, illegal generally means unlwful = criminal. I tend to be bit harsher in how I think it should be handled, but that's me. Something actively needs to be done and I think the minutemen down on the border are a start in the right direction. It's our country and we need to stand for what we believe in because our governement who is supposed to be our voice no longer is.
ravx25 said:Why would you think that would make a difference anymore though? The House, Congress and president have their own agenda. The GOP and liberals would both handle this in a way they (and not the American people) see fit.
In the end, I just want to see them gone. If they truly want to be Americans, these people will make attempts to become American citizens the legal way.
yeah and the moons made of cheese too. how stupid do you have to be?During the student protests, the American flag was only occasionally on display, while the Mexican flag was omnipresent. A student said he was waving the latter in support of La Raza (the race), while another asked why illegal immigrants were "treated like criminals." Perhaps he wasn't aware that crossing the U.S. border without the required visa is now, and always has been, against the law.
Immigration and anger
April 3, 2006 | 11:26 AM ET
Judging by my copious e-mail, lots of people are upset about immigration issues.
Name: Alan Myers
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Oh, this is a hot button issue. I've been through the whole battle to get a legal green card from U.S. Immigration authorities. It's an absolute nightmare of insolent clerks and impossible hoops to jump through. The latest outrage is that I paid $200 for a green card to the Vermont immigration office. They cashed the check immediately but said don't expect a response sooner than ONE YEAR! It has now been six months and no reply. What I'm saying here is only the tip of the iceberg. I was wondering when someone was going to report our plight. I am a veteran who has never gotten more than a traffic ticket, paid my taxes on time, and my government treats me like a criminal when I try to get a green card for my wife legally. Meanwhile illegal immigrants are given the green-carpet treatment.
Name: Joy Cassell
Hometown: Apopka FL
Amen, as a legal immigrant who refused to accept any work "under the table" until my status was finalized. Who had to stand in line in pitch darknedss at 4 AM to be seen by what was then the INS. I feal like a DAMN sucker. I should have flown to Mexico and hiked accross. And all because the GOP wants to lock up the hispanic vote. I am a citizen now and can vote! So they need to be more worried about people like me.
Name: Manny B
Hometown: San Jose, California
The illegal immigrants want to come here because we have a nation of laws. But the first thing they say is that they are above the law. I am a naturalized citizen and served in the U.S. Army as required of young men at the time. I applied for a visa to come here waiting for two years. Later I applied for citizenship and suffered the long lines and had to have perfectly filled up and documented applications. We did the same thing for my wife. We followed the law and provided every thing required by INS. Bending to political pressure now will encourage the next group to say they are exempt from the law. We should have ensured our borders are respected and should have done a good job of articulating why it is important to us as a nation. We should ask the countries who have citizens who violate our borders for their cooperation. Then we should enforce the law without exception. Those who come to the U.S. should be required to assimilate, i.e., learn English or any other language we chose as the common language, learn our Constitution and way of government, and require them to show tney want to be part of our country and our way of life. If they chose not to comply, then they should be deported.
Glenn writes: I keep hearing stuff like this from legal immigrants, as I mentioned. And it is unfair. We should treat legal immigrants better, while tightening up on illegals.
Name: Jeff
Hometown: Phoenix
My family passed through Ellis Island, they did the right thing. My question is what moral values are we showing are children? That it is OK to break an immigration law, but not any other law? What other laws will be broken by the people that crossed illegally? I am not talking just Mexico, what about India, Philipines or other Central American countries? I would be a hypocrite in the face of my child if I supported amnesty for immigrants, yet told my daughter to respect the laws of our society!
Name: Joe
Comments:
If 10 million Americans illegally went into Mexico it would be called an invasion and there would be protests around the world. The illegal immigrants may be taking the lower wage jobs now, but when their children take your children's jobs, how will all the bleeding hearts feel then? If we don't enforce the law equally for all, then there is no democracy. Those individuals who try to come here legally should be given preference over the 10 million who came here illegally. Which one would you want as a citizen and neighbor? Someone who broke the law to enter the country or someone who came in abiding by the laws?
Glenn writes: Bush should ask the Mexicans to make it legal for Americans to live, work, and own property and businesses in Mexico on the same basis as Mexican citizens. That seems fair. Or at least fun to watch.
Some people don't think the problem is very hard:
Name: Tom Folk
Hometown: Lock Haven, Pennsylvania
Glenn, It's not really rocket surgery or brain science. Most people are not against immigrants, they are against illegal immigrants. Their part will be to walk back across the border fill out the applications and you're back in. Our part will be to screen out criminals and increase quotas and make it easier to be legal. Just don't sneak in on the sly. Breaking the law isn't a good way to start your new life in the USA.
Glenn writes: Easy to say, hard to do, apparently. Stay tuned.
