Immigration Activists: "If I Only Had A Brain"

Tonight's speech by the president will be an attempt to resuce the precious reform that he wants. That deals with normalization of 11-12 million illegal aliens, dropping the criminalization issue, and I believe not moving forward on a border fence. In short, he doesn't like the House plan that has been drawn up, and he's been vocal about it. Tonight, I'm sure, we will hear, again, how we are a "nation of immigrants," and that "these people are only coming here for a better opportunity."

Mr. President, if that's true, then there's no reason they can't follow our laws, especially those dealing with immigration. And I'm sorry, but those who break the laws should be made to for that crime. Make it a fine, owing of back taxes, and even deportation, but you can't let these people slide on this issue. It didn't work when President Reagan did it, and if you push your agenda on this, you will have killed the base.

But, then again, the illegal aliens' advocates are about to shoot themselves in the foot. As Captain Ed pointed out today everytime these people step up to the plate to make a statement--be it through a rally or demonstration--their efforts weaken the sympathy factor for their plight. It backfires. It intensifies the animosity of citizens in America, and makes things much more difficult for the president and the Congress to finish bending over and grabbing the ankles.

As President Bush prepares to address the nation tonight about immigration, a newly formed network of groups that organized demonstrations for illegal immigrants is conference calling, brainstorming and consolidating its forces so that it can respond to the government with a unified voice.

The We Are America Alliance of 41 immigrant resource groups, unions, churches, day laborers and Spanish-language disc jockeys opposes House legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants, but it will lobby Congress and compromise to realize its goal of obtaining legal residency for many of the 11 million people who live in the shadows.

But like the president, whose proposal for a guest-worker program is opposed by many in his own party, the alliance does not speak for all. It is being criticized by a small but influential faction of Latino activists in Los Angeles who say the alliance's compromise strategy could slow the momentum created by the protests.

Whoa. There was momentum there? When? The May Day protest was a disaster. It didn't have the turnout the activists had hoped for. They failed to "shut down" cities like LA, DC, and NY. And a fair majority of Hispanics, El Salvadorans, Guatemalans, etc., went to work, went to school, and went shopping. The only thing that was prevalent during the May Day march were the socialists and communists that came out of the woodwork with their Che signs,t-shirts, and slogans. And since the May Day march, many activists have kept a low profile. Unlike some of the poorer, less educated people who have snuck into this country, America is well aware of the communist heroes south of the border, and choosing the communist holiday of May 1st was simply retarded.

Bush's speech and the immigrant community's planned response on Spanish-language radio will kick off a week of debate and activity over immigration. The Senate is scheduled to take up the immigration issue today, and its leaders hope to emerge with a bill by Memorial Day. Proposed Senate legislation would allow some illegal immigrants to become legal residents. Once a bill passes, senators would begin negotiations with the House, where proposals that would grant citizenship to anyone who entered the country without proper documentation are deeply opposed by Republicans and some Democrats.

GENTLEMEN! LADIES! Can we secure the border before we start work on normalizing these people here? Pass your current laws to deal with this crop. Allow the president to order National Guard troops to the border, and begin building a fence. THEN we can deal with going through the whole normalization process. (Oh, and I'd remind Vincente Fox that if he doesn't keep his military guys on his side of the border, they're going to be shot the next time they make an incursion into the US.)

Bush's plan to dispatch National Guard troops to the Mexican border was not greeted well by the immigrant coalition, which plans a day of civil action Wednesday, with demonstrations at the White House and on Capitol Hill, and the launch of a nationwide voter registration campaign at churches and nonprofit organizations that hopes to sign up a million new voters among legal residents.

"We expect a large turnout of people from all over the country," Juan Carlos Ruiz, general coordinator for the National Capital Immigration Coalition, said over the weekend. He presaged the message of the Spanish-radio address, saying, "Militarizing the border is not a solution to the problem. We believe that militarizing the border is a propaganda tool. We need comprehensive immigration reform."

Mr. Ruiz, this is our natiuon, and it's under siege. Militarizing the border, right now, seems to make a lot of sense. It's been something that I've been mulling over for about a year, and was actually a piece in my original idea for reforming the border, INS (now ICE, and incompetently led by Julie Myers), and curbing the flow of illegal immigration. If Mr. Ruiz and his alliances would care to foot the bill for these illegals, maybe some of us wouldn't be so adamant about dealing with this issue right this very moment. But Mr. Ruiz fails to understand that states like California (and Arnie's a moron for opposing the Guard on the border there), Arizona (where Gov. Napolitano did a nice little show sending 100 Guardsmen to the border a month ago to "observe and report" only), New Mexico (where Gov. Richardson declared a state of emergency earlier this year with his gubnatorial counterpart from Arizona), and Texas (where they have had more incursions by the Mexican military than any state along the border) are all swimming in a sea of red ... as in ink. Arizona along last year paid out close to 1.5 billion dollars in medical costs, incarceration costs, and welfare costs for illegal immigrants. As soon as he'd like to pick up the tab, we'll start dropping our complaints.

Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, which helps fund and organize activities for immigrant groups, said the president has to make hard choices. "It's not going to be possible for Bush to thread the needle and create something that makes the right happy" while also pleasing moderates, he said. "We are absolutely prepared to try to bring this thing down if it heads in the wrong direction."

Bring what down, Mr. Bhargava? Incitement to riot or any other incitement is a crime, and we will not hesitate to put those responsible--the perpetrators and the enbalers--in jail. We are, after all, a nation of laws, and if the activists take this to the next level, blood will be called for if the government turns a blind eye to any sort of major disturbances these people cause. I'm not kidding. In some areas of America, these activists might be unpleasently surprised when they see armed citizens standing in their path. (And no, I'm not being overly dramatic about this. It has reached a boiling point in several states, including Arizona.)

Bhargava's talk is not tough enough for some Latino activists, particularly in Southern California. For them, boycotts and more forceful action are needed to sway the White House and Congress, and they say the alliance is slowing the momentum built by recent marches and betraying people who risked their jobs to participate.

And about those people who "risked their jobs" to participate in an unconstitutional demonstration (unconstitutional mind you because they aren't citizens, and therefore don't technically have the right to protest), if I were their employer I would've fired their ass so fast that there'd be skid marks outside my door where their butt hit the pavement. The May Day marches showed who really wears the pants in the familia, and it's not the activists. Thousands went to work that Monday, and for good reason. Many were told that they'd likely be fired if they didn't show up to work. They have families to provide for. Partisan activists like Mr. Ruiz aren't going to put food on the table for them. To people like Mr. Ruiz, the illegal aliens are nothing more than pawns on the giant political chess board.

"When the dust settles, we will see who the leaders are," said Jesse Diaz, an original leader of the March 25 Coalition that inspired the Los Angeles march, which put the immigrant movement on the map. He said that while mainstream immigrant organizations were "complacently ignoring what was happening in Washington" last December, his coalition diverted its fight with the Minutemen in California and Arizona to organize protests against House legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants and those who help them.

"Where were they then?" Diaz asked of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, the National Council of La Raza, the Central American Resource Center, the Service Employees International Union, Catholic churches and other groups that make up the alliance. "Where were the cardinals? Where were the unions? They were complacent and let that repressive bill pass."

Repressive to you and yours, maybe, but not to the taxpaying, law-abiding CITIZENS of the United States.

Last week, Diaz showed his disdain for people who once were his allies. He walked into a small meeting room in the Rayburn Building and did not acknowledge Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. The two played key roles in organizing the big Los Angeles march but are not on speaking terms now.

Salas said Diaz is acting irresponsibly with his negative public statements. "It's okay to have differences. We are totally behind the idea of the immediate right to legal residency," she said. "But we also understand that a community has to build political power to get their demands. We're just trying to be organized and responsible and get the job done."

@#%&!%$@ ... right to legal residency, my ass. There is no such right. None, and the day I hear any politician in the US Congress utter such a stupid, impractical idea, I want their butt tossed out of office. We have rights that are enumerated in the Constitution. Trust me, I know them and Con Law well after 16 years of private study regarding the Constitution. Nowhere in it is such a right.

Diaz said the alliance is composed of groups "with million-dollar budgets," checking into hotels while his crew of representatives was staying with a friend in suburban Maryland, sleeping on a couch and on the floor.

"The leaders are those who continue to work alongside the people," Diaz said.

Other activists say the immigrant rights movement spans a multitude of languages and defies leadership in a single voice. Eun Sook Lee, director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium, said Latinos would have a hard time reaching Chinese, Haitians, Africans and others who do not speak Spanish.

"I think a voice will emerge," Lee said, "but it will take time. Many of us have never been tested this way. We have never before seen the scale of our work."

Mr. Lee, illegal is still illegal, and I don't care what country they come from. If these people are here illegally, I want them punished for the transgression. NO ONE in america can enter any other nation on earth illegally, and not be punished. So, why should it be any different in ours. And we are a nation that was built on the concept of sovereignty. Other nations around the world have rejected calls to be "unified." French and German citizens last year told their respective leaders to go to hell over the EU constitution votes. Everybody--Marcie and myself included--like our space, our peace and quiet, and will ardently defend what is ours.

Despite Diaz's reservations, the We Are America Alliance is a formidable ensemble of immigrants rights groups. The coalition took shape around nationwide conference calls that started in February and continue today. Salas said national organizations such as the New American Opportunity Campaign and the Center for Community Change in Washington would call, sometimes at 6 a.m., and she would brainstorm with other activists.

"At first it was going to be, 'We Are Your Neighbors,' then, 'We Are Your Family,' and then, 'We Are Immigrants,' " Salas said. Finally, 'We Are America' stuck.

"We can't rest on our laurels, saying we had these marches," Salas said.

Yes, we are America now, when back in February, LA was awash in a sea of Mexican flags. Yes, they've learned their lesson, but the ideology hasn't changed. These people are bound and determined to force the hand of the government. And we, as citizens, need to make sure the monkeys in DC hear us--loud and clear. Call the capitol Switchboard at: (202) 224-3121, and let your voice be heard. Tell them not to give into the demands of the activists. Call the White House, too, and tell the president that there should be no amnesty for these people.

If you believe in the law as much as we do, then you understand why we can't simply let these people slide by without any sort of punishment for their crime. In closing, make sure that your message to the White House and the Congress includes the sheer and simple fact that we need a fence along the borders. We can't be safe until that goes up, and the border patrol starts doing it's job in enforcing our laws. The days of snitching for them should be over, and right now. If it's not, then maybe it's time to scrap the whole thing, fire Myers, and start over from scratch.

Publius II