Posted on 05/25/2007 4:43:02 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Some people just don't like Mexicans -- or anyone else from south of the border. They think Latinos are freeloaders and welfare cheats who are too lazy to learn English. They think Latinos have too many babies, and that Latino kids will dumb down our schools. They think Latinos are dirty, diseased, indolent and more prone to criminal behavior. They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.
No amount of hard, empirical evidence to the contrary, and no amount of reasoned argument or appeals to decency and fairness, will convince this small group of Americans -- fewer than 10 percent of the general population, at most -- otherwise. Unfortunately, among this group is a fair number of Republican members of Congress, almost all influential conservative talk radio hosts, some cable news anchors -- most prominently, Lou Dobbs -- and a handful of public policy "experts" at organizations such as the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, in addition to fringe groups like the Minuteman Project.
Stripped bare, this is what the current debate on immigration reform is all about. Fear of "the other" -- of those who look or sound different, who come from poor countries with unfamiliar customs -- has been at the heart of every immigration debate this country has ever had, from the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 to the floor of the U.S. Senate this week.
What is said today of the Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans and others was once said of Germans, Swedes, the Irish, Italians, Poles, Jews and others. The only difference is that in the past, the xenophobes could speak freely, unconstrained by a veneer of political correctness. Today, they speak more cautiously, so they talk about the rule of law, national security, amnesty, whatever else they think might make their arguments less racially charged.
Where once the xenophobes could advocate forced sterilization and eugenics coupled with virtually shutting off legal immigration from "undesirable" countries, now they must be content with building walls, putting troops on the border, rounding up illegal aliens on the job and deporting them, passing local ordinances to signal their distaste for immigrants' multi-family living arrangements, and doing whatever else they can to drive these people back where they came from.
There is no chance this small group of xenophobes will succeed -- ultimately. The victories of their predecessors have been short-lived and so obviously wrong-headed we've always finally abandoned them, from modifying and then repealing the Asian exclusion acts to scrapping the nationalities quotas. But we need to quit pretending that the "No Amnesty" crowd is anything other than what it is: a tiny group of angry, frightened and prejudiced loudmouths backed by political opportunists who exploit them.
The status quo -- largely turning a blind eye toward the 12 million illegal aliens who work, pay taxes and keep their noses clean, while stepping up border enforcement and selective internal enforcement -- may not be the worst possible outcome in the current debate on immigration reform. It is the coward's way out of our current dilemma. But there are other problems with allowing the xenophobes to derail comprehensive immigration reform.
We've struggled long and hard as a nation to overcome our prejudices, enduring a Civil War and countless dead for the right to be judged by the content of our character not the color of our skin or where we came from. Our country is the greatest, freest, most powerful and optimistic nation in the history of the world -- and our people are good, decent, fair and the hardest working anywhere. That is why immigrants -- even those who look and sound different, from nearby and far away -- come here, often with only the clothes on their backs but a fire in their bellies to succeed. They make all of us richer, and by embracing and welcoming them, we make ourselves better.
Please add “TURBO HURL ALERT” to title.
Oh, is BARF ALERT not GOOD ENOUGH for YOU??? :-)
“They think Latinos are just too different from us ever to become real Americans.”
Based on this oped I question Linda Chavez’s bona fides.
What a bunch of crapola - anyone who disagrees is a racist.
Just like anyone who disagreed with that dope Harriet Miers appointment was a woman-hater.
What a bunch of crapola. From our side no less.
Linda... Shut your piehole.
“The status quo — largely turning a blind eye toward the 12 million illegal aliens who work, pay taxes and keep their noses clean,”
Kleenex! That’s the answer!
I’m not buying. The US admits a million legal immigrants each and every year, year in and year out.
Mexico has the largest quota, ahead of every other country in the world. Two hundred thousand Mexicans immigrate legally into the US each and every year.
Is it her case that a million per year isn’t enough? On what basis? Should it be some other figure? On what basis would she arrive at this optimum number?
She doesn’t say, and neither does anyone else. The only argument she has and the only argument any of them have is that if you want the law enforced you are a racist. Never mind that the US admits more immigrants than any country on earth, no matter that the US admits more Mexicans that any country on earth, if we want them to come legally, we are racists.
Sorry, not buying it.
Ms. Chavez: since Mexico’s penalties for illegal immigrants are quite severe—including imprisonment—are they racists, too?
Her lips are moving, but Bush’s talking points are coming out.....
We don’t like illegal invaders and line jumpers, Linda, and we especially don’t like subsidizing them in any way, shape or form. So sue us.
I was thinking a double barf alert.
Some people just can’t get their pea brains around the “illegal” side.
Not all of them, but way too many. I don't think they are too different to become real Americans, a sizable portion of them right now are showing they don't want to become Americans. And some groups are wanting to take this land back as part of Mexico.
When you don’t have a decent argument, just shout racist and end the debate.
The "were here, get used to it" attitude combined with our governments willful neglect of the problem makes people including myself feel bitter towards them. There's nothing xenophobic about the people in this country who feel we have a right to control immigration into this country, and it's unfair for her race bait. She would do well to poke around in the La Voz de Aztlan website a bit before she starts that crap.
Yeah she’s out of line - major.
Welcome to Free Republic.
“Welcome to Free Republic.”
Muchas Gracias.
Someone should ask Linda what race Hispanics are.
And what about Michelle Malkin, as an American of Filipina extraction, she certainly has some Latino blood in her. Is Linda going to argue that she’s a racist who hates Latinos?
In fact, we need to forward this column to Michelle. I would love to hear her response to this drivel.
Obvious Ms. Chavez has yet to assimilate.
I am ashamed of Linda Chavez. She is supposed to be an intelligent woman and just because she has a Hispanic last name (I don’t know her heritage) does not excuse the stupidity of her arguments. I do not want illegal immigrants here who have more rights than I do and can get away with murder becuase they are Hispanic. That does not mean I am prejudiced or afraid of the “other”. My mother is 100% Hispanic, but she was born in Colorado as was her mother and her grandparents at least, going back before the Treaty of Guadalupe. Her paternal ancestors were all from New Mexico. I love these people and their culture, since it is a big part of me.
But the current and proposed system of amnesty is anarchy and our country cannot survive under anarchy. I wonder why I should follow or respect any laws our government passes, since those laws are for me but not for others living next door. When will most Americans realize this simple fact? Illegal immigrants are more free than we are and have more rights than the average American citizen does. This is unacceptable
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