Posted on 04/16/2006 6:42:30 PM PDT by La Enchiladita
LOS ANGELES - As a Pakistani, Hamid Khan stood out among the Hispanics he marched alongside at a recent immigration law protest. When he told one demonstrator where he was from, the man responded: "'Then what are you doing here?'"
Khan was surprised.
"I said 'Look, there are non-Latino groups who are also suffering under these laws,'" said Khan, 49, a commercial pilot and director of an advocacy group called the South Asian Network.
Hispanics, the nation's largest immigrant group, are leading the movement to demand a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and defeat legislation that would criminalize them.
Khan's experience provides a glimpse into the ambiguous role non-Hispanic immigrants play in a public debate that has yet to fully include them.
While some Asian, European and Middle Eastern immigrants are supporting calls for sweeping immigration reform, many who are here illegally have shied from the public debate either because they feel Congress has overlooked needs specific to their communities or simply because they're afraid to come forward.
Forty-eight percent of the nation's 34 million foreign-born immigrants come from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and countries such as Canada, with the remainder coming from Latin America, according to the Census Bureau.
But of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, fully 78 percent come from Latin America, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. The next largest undocumented population comes from Asia, with 13 percent.
While all illegal immigrants could benefit from proposals in Congress that would give them a chance at citizenship, many non-Hispanic immigrants say lawmakers should take into account their reasons for coming to the country illegally.
"In the Latino community, people come here illegally for jobs," said H. Chang, a 23-year-old Korean college student who asked her full name not be used because her parents are living in Los Angeles illegally. "For us, a whole family comes here for a student, and many stay illegally."
Discussions on increasing visas have focused on guest worker programs for low-skilled laborers, not people like Chang's parents.
For Vietnamese immigrants, a central complaint is the waiting period before relatives are allowed to join them, which can be 10 years, said Duc Nguyen, a 31-year-old Vietnamese health worker who lives in Orange.
He said he doesn't see Congress considering that aspect. "Why are they (lawmakers) only doing a half reform?" asked Nguyen, who said he went to a few demonstrations but only to watch.
A bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, which some Hispanic advocacy groups called a good compromise because it included steps to citizenship for illegal immigrants, also would fortify the borders, expand immigration detention centers and speed up deportation proceedings.
That sent shivers through communities of Middle Eastern immigrants, who already feel scrutinized since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"That's part of the reason why our community hasn't rushed out to protest," said Sabiha Khan, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Southern California. "They are afraid of what will happen to them with immigration reform."
Still, the council and numerous activist groups representing non-Hispanic immigrants have encouraged participation in the marches, both in solidarity with others and to ensure that their own voices are heard.
"If we just look at the Latino community coming out, we are missing the bigger picture," said Eun-Sook Lee, director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium.
Hispanic groups have been contacting other immigrant groups to boost participation in the next national protest planned for May 1, said Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican-American Political Association.
During last Monday's nationwide rallies, dozens of Haitians, Filipinos, Indians and others participated in New York. A Korean drum band lead about 7,000 demonstrators through the streets of Los Angeles.
That hasn't persuaded J. Park, a 17-year-old illegal immigrant from Korea, to join the movement. He fears authorities could learn about his immigration status if he demonstrates.
"I don't want that to be known," said Park, who asked that his full name not be used. "Going back to Korea is not an option."
Associated Press writers Gillian Flaccus in Santa Ana, Erin Texeira in New York and Dan Goodin in San Jose contributed to this report.
Pakistani immigrant Hamid Khan, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, holds a altered photograph showing the Statue of Liberty behind bars during a small demonstration against proposed immigration legislation outside a federal immigration building in Los Angeles April 3, 2006.
All the more reason this country should be able to approve who emigrates here and reject those that do not serve our national interest.
Even immigrants who become naturalized are not assimilating, but are adopting the culture of victimhood and the attitude of entitlement.
However, the article also shows the disparity between the long waits of those who immigrate legally and the non-wait of the illegal invaders.
Last, but not least, if Middle Eastern immigrants are not guilty of anything, what are they worried about?
If any non-Pakistani pulled this crap in Pakistan, they would have been machine gunned to death.
APf
Dems are going to shamelessly use this immigration issue to get back in power. Eventually they will use it to justify creating racial coalitions. The whites are on their way out thanks to white liberals.
Here's a thought
NO amnesty for anyone
NO worker program
NO welfare benefits
NO more America their CASH COW
PASS HR4437
CLOSE the borders
Period! Problem solved
Front page of L.A. Slimes today shows woman in Mexico kissing the "pay" envelope that gets wired from America. It's the new foreign aid, y'know.
yeah, those LAWS designed to Protect the Country from Illegals are Really Really Bad things that should be thrown out the windows y'know!!
The Victim mentality created by the Politically Correct bullshit is really shining very bright in this one.
And apart from America, will you please tell me any country (except France & Canada) that these illegals expect to be handed a red carpet and then Demand the host country to just roll over and be taken over?
They are different groups of people, regardless of their country of origin, and the political issues that concern them are different in their effects and needs. Confusing the two may be lethal to our society, economy and sovereignty.
We already have a guest worker program, which may indeed need to be reformed. But illegal aliens are those who have not applied to be guest workers. There are 11 million of them by some estimates, 20 million by others. The only thing needing reform concerning illegal aliens is to enforce the existing laws respecting their presence and their employment here. Our sovereignty and rule-of-law demand it.
Border security is the number one problem in this debate. The flood of illegal aliens is a major factor in relation to our lack of border security but it is only one factor. There is also a matter of national security in a time of war and in an age when terrorists have set their sights on inflicting mass destruction on our society.
After the issues of border security and millions of illegal foreign nationals on our soil the matter of guest workers is very small in comparison. Until the first two problems are thoroughly and firmly addressed the guest worker issue should not even be discussed.
The President and the Senate need to get that message with unambiguous resolve.
The best methods to control the border have been studied and debated for a long time now. There are many good ideas and proven solutions. What is lacking is only the will to do it. The cost of controlling our borders will be insignificant compared to the price we will pay, both in security and economy, if we do not.
It would be nice to help everyone in the world lift themselves up out of poverty. But we cannot take that responsibility upon ourselves especially if we ignore our own welfare to the point that we are no longer prosperous.
Other nations of the world have an obligation to help their citizens every bit as much as we have to help ours. It is one thing to help other nations prosper it is quite another to relieve them of their own responsibilities. Beyond that it is simply not realistic to think that poverty can be ended around the world. We still have some in this great nation.
We must stop pandering to American employers who criminally employ illegal foreign nationals. Dry up the jobs and illegal foreign nationals will go home. Home where they can do what they must to put their houses in order just as we must put ours in order.
There is no compassion in filling a man's stomach or his pocketbook by relieving him of his responsibilities in life. Illegal aliens have abandoned their own house in order to be comfortable in ours. By so doing neither can be the master of his own house and both will be enemies in the street. This is our house, the U.S. of A., and it is our responsibility to set the rules in it.
The illegal invaders and the legal immigrants are two different groups, as you say, and one would expect those who earnestly strive to comply with requirements for citizenship to also take a stand against the line-jumping invaders.
However, this article points out some groups of immigrants and illegals we haven't considered. How do Koreans get in here illegally, for example? With falsified documents? I mean, they can't sneak across the ocean...
BTW, the neighborhood I grew up in is now called 'Koreatown.' Ouch.
Then there are the naturalized immigrants, such as this Pakistani highlighted in the article, who have not assimilated and are now using the Hispanic uprising as a way of voicing (imagined or otherwise) grievances. So, these legal immigrants (although achieving the privilege and honor of U.S. citizenship) have been stirred to discontent also. I am a little concerned also that this Hamid is a "commercial pilot."
Which brings me to the last group: Middle Eastern muslims. They have not assimilated either.
We have a border problem, an illegal invasion problem and -- I think -- a serious assimilation problem.
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Looks very nice, you did it fast!
Wanna bet?
Sheesh, what arrogance!
And instead of dealing with it, we are fanning the flames, doing everything we can to encourage it to get worse!
Madness, sheer madness.
It's NOT discussed!
After the issues of border security and millions of illegal foreign nationals on our soil the matter of guest workers is very small in comparison. Until the first two problems are thoroughly and firmly addressed the guest worker issue should not even be discussed.
For a year or so, we were beaten over the head with the idea that we just had to create a "Guest Worker" program, so that "these good people who only come here to pick our lettuce" could come here, pick the damn lettuce, and then GO BACK HOME.
It was all a lie. The whole "Guest Worker" BS was used as a cudgel to soften us up to the point that we would tolerate them bringing it to the floor of the legislature. Once there, however, it instantly morphed into a fast-track CITIZENSHIP/Amnesty program for criminal aliens! NO more talk of "Guest Workers"!
WHERE is the "watchdog media" in all this? I have not heard ANY of them even MENTION this "presto-chango" act!
We are "handing over the store" to criminal aliens who are coming here to stripmine OUR economy -- and then insulting Americans who object to this travesty by calling them "bigots" and "racists"!
It would be nice to help everyone in the world lift themselves up out of poverty. But we cannot take that responsibility upon ourselves especially if we ignore our own welfare to the point that we are no longer prosperous.
This is NOT about "immigration"! That's the OTHER "Big Lie" they use to intimidate Americans into silence. The baseline "understanding" is that criminal aliens = "immigrants", and thus, anyone opposed to tolerating the criminal alien influx is therefore "anti-immigrant".
They glibly refer to "anti-immigrant" people, as if we were retrograde slugs who are opposed to legal immigration. This is a VERY crafty tactic for derailing the debate, DISHONESTLY reframing it from what it is, to put decent Americans on the defensive. It is beyond despicable.
The polite term for this tactic is "logical fallacy". A more appropriate term would get me kicked offline.
See how many politicians, pundits, "activists", and even posters that you recognize here: Introduction to Logic: Informal Fallacies
The Big Lie troweled over this subject is the idea that it would be "unamerican" to "restrict the employer's freedom to hire who he wants and pay what he wants".
We must stop pandering to American employers who criminally employ illegal foreign nationals. Dry up the jobs and illegal foreign nationals will go home. Home where they can do what they must to put their houses in order just as we must put ours in order.
The reality is that we are well on our way to establishing a "coolie economy". If it's good to go importing uneducated impoverished Mexicans illegally, because they will work for peanuts, why not import Chinese "peasants", who will work even harder, for even less? I guarantee you, give the chance, "American" employers could build shantytowns and fill them with willing Chinese, shipped here by the boatload, who would work long hours for under a dollar a day and a bowl or two of rice.
I also guarantee you that China would be more than glad to "export" their unwanted underclass. They would not only get rid of "surplus mouths to feed", but, in the process, they would also help further erode our economy.
Is this the America that the founders fought and died to give us? That generation after generation of heroes shed their blood to protect?
No.
It's nothing more than a return to the "Robber Barron" days, but worse!
America is not about "protecting the rights" of a small handful of "elites", while the vast majority of Americans are left out in the cold. No, scratch that -- they are pushed out into the cold.
There is madness in the land, and it is draping itself in the flag. This is evil, pure and simple.
I think I've said this to you before; I agree with every word. Beyond what I have already said about this issue it is impossible to say more.
Thanks. We live in very frustrating times. It's not hard to see the problems -- OR the solutions -- yet, it's like we're strapped into the rollercoaster, and it's going over the cliff, and the idiot running the ride just smiles and says, "It'll be OK, trust me."
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