Thanks!
Posted on 09/10/2003 12:50:43 AM PDT by kattracks
The fight over what to do with the 8 to 10 million illegal aliens in our country has begun to come to a head, and the advocates for open borders, blanket amnesty and legal rights for those already here appear to be winning. In recent weeks increasing numbers of cities are implementing unlawful sanctuary policies. State officials are pushing for drivers licenses to be issued to illegals. Congress is debating amnesty for the children of aliens and the acceptance of Mexican consular identification cards seems inevitable. The White House is in discussions with Mexico to grant an amnesty for up to 2 million migrant workers. Flying in the face of recent polls that show Americans want tougher enforcement of immigration law, politicians are buckling to the demands of the radical immigrant lobby. And now one of their believers, Cruz Bustamante, is the current front-runner in the California governor's race.
Who are these groups that are able to exert this type of political pressure? What are their motivations and what kind of company do they keep?
Some of the most vocal and active advocacy groups come from the Mexican-American community. They include La Raza (The Race), LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens) and MALDEF (The Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund), all of whom fight for civil rights of residents (legal or otherwise) of Latin American decent. In an effort to increase their political base they fight for the acceptance of policies that would all but eliminate the southern border and allow a mass exodus to American shores by illegal aliens.
They all offer the usual mix of “solutions” to the problems they claim face their special interests; from acceptance of the foreign ID cards to the granting of in-state tuition breaks for illegal students to the allowance of government entitlement benefits. Their demands read as a laundry list of budget busting causes and national security nightmares.
Funded largely by leftist organizations, such as the Ford Foundation, these advocacy groups have found common cause with those who call for liberal policies such as Affirmative Action, voting by non-citizens, labor union organization, increased funding for federal programs such as Head Start, Women Infants and Children, increased after-school programs, expansion of Social Security benefits and other welfare initiatives.
Naturally, the Democratic Party is home to those who think this way, but the Green Party, Workers World Party and other neo-Communist political organizations have embraced the concerns of those who wish to destroy our national sovereignty.
"California is going to be a Mexican state; we are going to control all the institutions. If people don't like it they should leave." That chilling warning was given by 1998 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and founder of MALDEF, Mario Obeldo. Praised as a great American and a “hero” by then First Lady Hillary Clinton and California Gov. Gray Davis, Obeldo has refused to back down from his racist forecast. Between 1996 and 1998 MALDEF raised over 9 million dollars from the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation to advance this goal.
MALDEF was key in the gutting of Californian Prop 187, which would have placed restrictions on illegals receiving state social aid. Putting legal and political pressure on Davis, they forced the state into dropping the appeals to overturn the district court decision striking down the referendum. On their website they trumpet their role in the usurpation of the people's power by the courts, “MALDEF is pleased in this victory of basic human and civil rights.”
One of the many goals of MALDEF is to prevent the spread of English-only laws, fighting to keep ineffectual bilingual education programs and multi-lingual election ballots. They have provided legal assistance and amicus briefs in a variety of cases that have resulted in the implementation of “reforms” legislated from the bench.
In a recent policy paper, MALDEF has presented what they call a constitutional argument against the use of local and state police enforcement of federal immigration law. Citing concerns of racial profiling and the disparity of enforcement against Mexican illegals they claim that local law enforcement agencies are not trained to deal with the sensitive nature of protecting the civil rights of naturalized citizens.
“The reason that we don’t want state and local police involved in immigration enforcement…it’s very, very bad for public safety,” MALDEF Immigration Rights Attorney Katherine Culliton told Frontpagemag.com. “If immigrants are afraid that they may get deported, they don’t report crimes. We know of cases of domestic violence where people don’t call. The overwhelming problem is that when immigrants don’t report crimes because they are afraid, then we’re all a lot less safe.”
But Houston Police Officer John Nickell, whose city has a sanctuary policy, disagreed when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee in February:
Here we have a many contradictions within law enforcement itself. First, we know that "undocumented alien" is someone who has either entered this country illegally or has overstayed his or her visa. If an individual is considered an "illegal alien," in any aspect, then we must allow all law enforcement officers to pursue every lawful action when this individual is taken into custody. Second, the Houston Police Department General Order states "we must rely upon the cooperation of all persons." Is it reasonable to even think we can expect cooperation from an individual whose first act in this country was to violate its entry laws? Should we expect cooperation from someone that refuses to adhere to the agreements of their visa and overstays their legal visitation? The third and possibly largest contradiction in this matter is the "pick and choose" type of association with other agencies. Police agencies, nationwide, enthusiastically join with the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency for drug busts and other high profile cases. However, we refuse to even consider working with the INS for politically expedient and correct reasons.
LULAC, one of the oldest Mexican-American associations began as a pro-American, pro-citizenship patriotic group. Up until the late 1950's they called for assimilation to the “Anglo” culture and acceptance of English as the primary language of the United States. But the radical politics of the 1960's and the need to compete with more liberal groups like La Raza for funding from the major foundations led to a 180 degree turn in their mission. Supporting the deportation of illegal Mexicans during President Eisenhower's “Operation: Wetback” in the 50's, LULAC displayed the understanding that the flood of illegals to our nation lowered the opportunities for those who came here legally. In contrast José Velez, the head of LULAC 1990-1994 used his “special status with the INS” to submit false papers for over 6,000 illegals seeking amnesty. He reportedly made millions of dollars from this action, fleecing those he claimed to represent and earning himself a conviction for 10 counts of immigration fraud.
Today, LULAC embraces the race-based initiatives popular in the liberal community, allied with groups such as Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH coalition and the American Civil Liberties Union, they seek to expand and protect affirmative action programs and the expansion of legal rights and “economic justice” for the millions of Latin illegals living here.
La Raza, perhaps the most influential Latino rights group, formed by the Ford Foundation in 1968, uses a combination of foundation grants and government subsidies to conduct its Policy Analysis Center, a clearing house for radical ideas to be promoted within the Hispanic community. They have made it clear in the past that they will not hesitate to seek reprisals against elected officials that fail to support their positions, which include the right to vote by illegal residents. While demanding the blanket amnesty for illegals from Central America they warned “elected officials should not be surprised if their failure to act on reforms of these terribly unjust laws is met with a firm response at the ballot box.''
Since 9/11 they have cooperated with Arab and Muslim groups such as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the Arab American Institute to protest the deportation of those Arabs found to be here illegally, as well as socialist/Marxist groups such as Refuse&Resist!, a protest organization that equates the detention and deportation of those in our country illegally with concentration camps in Nazi Germany. They compare those lawfully arrested and deported with the “disappeared” political prisoners of banana republics. The level of rhetoric would be amusing, were they not so deadly serious in undermining Homeland Security.
Their motto reveals much about the cause they represent; “Por La Raza Todo, Fuera de La Raza Nada." ("For the Race, Everything; Outside the Race, Nothing.")
All three of these groups have fought the will of the majority and spoken out against protective measures such as the Patriot Act.
“One of our major concerns is that immigration will be seen through the eyes of terrorism,” MALDEF’s Culliton said. “We know that not all terrorists are immigrants and that terrorists could be citizens or immigrants, so it doesn’t make sense to make immigration the issue. Since September 11, more than 60 measures have been taken against immigrants, including Latino immigrants…such as firing people from their jobs in the airports if they weren’t citizens, although it’s fine if they serve in the war, and not one has resulted in finding any terrorists. That’s proof of our point.” It is?
Less interested in bringing about change through simple social action, a fourth Mexican identity group has far grander designs. MEChA, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (or Chicano Student Movement of Aztlán) is a Latino neo-Marxist organization with chapters supported by tax dollars and student funds and operating out of local high schools, as well as some of the most prestigious state and private colleges in the nation. Most Cal State colleges have chapters. Stanford University, Mills College, Yale, MIT and Georgetown host chapters as well. In all, MEChA has chapters in more than 15 states and the District of Columbia. And Cruz Bustamante, California's Lt. Governor and the lone Democrat in the recall race, has long been associated with the organization as a member and sympathetic politician.
They have been active in fighting the California referendum Prop 187, as well as seeking the abolition of Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly INS), and the eliminating the border with Mexico entirely. They honor Mexican revolutionary war hero Ernesto Zapata and Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.
Their most chilling demand is the call for “La Reconquista” or the retaking of the Southwestern states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah) to form an independent nation called “Aztlan”.
Equating the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the two-year Mexican War and granted the United States control over Texas and other parts of the Southwest with the outright theft of their land, the MEChA members believe they are justified in demanding the territories be returned to them.
On Fox News Channel’s “O'Reilly Factor,” MEChA chair Ron Gochez detailed their scheme regarding what they call the “stolen land.”
“This is indigenous land. This is native land, you know, Mexicano land,” Gochez asserted. Asked by O'Reilly “If I gave you Arizona would you be happy with that?” Gotchez replied “They took a lot more than Arizona.”
Miguel Perez, representative of he Cal State Northridge MEChA chapter has stated that the form of government preferred would be “closest to communist”, and the expulsion of non-Chicanos would be a priority. “Opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep the power.” Perez has stated.
Their manifesto, EL PLAN DE AZTLÁN, paints a disturbing picture. Using revolutionary rhetoric lifted straight from Marx and Stalin, they make clear who they consider their enemies. The plan begins, “In the spirit of a new people that is conscious not only of its proud historical heritage but also of the brutal 'gringo' invasion of our territories...Aztlán belongs to those who plant the seeds, water the fields, and gather the crops and not to the foreign Europeans.”
Calling for unity of all the “brothers” of the “bronze continent,” they seek a nationalist movement: “Nationalism as the key to organization transcends all religious, political, class, and economic factions or boundaries. Nationalism is the common denominator that all members of La Raza can agree upon.” Neglecting the differences in Hispanic nations of origin or the difference in various Indian populations within Mexico and the American Southwest, they cling to a false nationality comprised of “bronze” skinned peoples.
Their economic model is a mix of nationalistic Marxism, stating that their “cultural background” will “contribute to the act of cooperative buying and the distribution of resources and production. Land and realty ownership will be acquired by the community for the people's welfare. Economic ties of responsibility must be secured by nationalism and the Chicano defense units.”
Their goal is clearly spelled out: to “drive the exploiter out of our community and a welding together of our people’s combined resources to control their own production through cooperative effort.”
MEChA also calls for reparations, asking for “Restitution for past economic slavery, political exploitation, ethnic and cultural psychological destruction and denial of civil and human rights.” The manifesto seeks to repaint “acts of juvenile delinquency” as political “revolutionary” acts.
Recognizing the fact that under current immigration and population trends Latinos will soon occupy the majority in the targeted states they warn “Where we are a majority, we will control.”
The former speaker of the California Assembly, Antonio Villaraigoza was a member of MEChA during his studies at UCLA in the 70's. While head of one of the most powerful state bodies in the country, he pushed for and advocated policies that grant rights to illegals. His dual loyalty is clear, and he is not alone.
Other former members of this radical student group hold positions of power in California. Lt Governor, and new candidate for governor in the recall election of Gray Davis, Cruz Bustamante was a member of MEChA during his years at Fresno State University. Often described as a moderate Democrat, Bustamante has enjoyed a rather non-controversial reputation. “I wasn't the most radical Mechista.” he has claimed. How reassuring.
At a press conference to discuss immigration reform for California, then a state assemblyman representing the Fresno area Bustamante caused a stir when he stated "We could not conduct business without the immigrant." Reporters, looking for clarification asked if he was referring to illegal immigration. Many were shocked at his answer. "My district requires it [illegal immigration]." Fresno, a large farming community in southern California draws a majority of its workers from south of the boarder. Following that uproar he limited press conferences regarding the issue to Spanish language media.
MEChA has led demonstrations calling for state legislatures to enact laws and proclamations decrying the federal government’s current immigration policy, and this anti-American seditionist organization has spoken out against what they claim are unfair deportations resulting from the 9/11 attacks. Often they are joined by other “progressive” student groups who do not seem phased by the racist call to rid these states of Anglos. Chapters have enjoyed the support of groups such as the Filipino American Student Organization, the Black Student Union, Free Mumia, the Coalition/Anti-Racist Action, and Commission of the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA), the National Lawyers Guild, the Caribbean People's Association and the International Socialist Organization. Dozens more student ethnic-identity and left-wing groups have demonstrated with MEChA for common causes such as Affirmative Action.
As has been clearly shown, these "dissident" organizations, backed by large donations from groups such as the Ford Foundation, or worse by our own tax dollars constitute a united front to destroy the very freedoms that define our nation and sets United States citizenship as the unique, special status it has earned throughout the globe. Wishing it away will not stave off the mounting storm, nor will reliance of politicians whose career ambitions preclude them from any serious preventive initiative. Unless some widespread groundswell of public opinion or grassroots activism rises to thwart this juggernaut dedicated to tearing down our borders, we could wake up one day to 14 percent of our nation gone, usurped by a racist state called Aztlan.
And if I disagree, I'm "bashing Latinos?"
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Republicans never pass up an opportunity to bash illegal alien Latino lawbreakers, as we all should.
La Raza, LULAC, and MALDEF are racist groups.
Thanks!
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