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Sentiment Against Illegals is Powerful and Growing
Townhall.com ^ | May 7 2006 | John Leo

Posted on 05/08/2006 12:20:20 PM PDT by Mount Athos

One of the bloggers suggests that 2006 may be the year of the Lou Dobbs voter. The blogger, the Influence Peddler, is no fan. He considers Dobbs a demagogue, but he wonders whether voters are ready for a Dobbsian program of opposing illegal immigration, "throwing the bums out of Washington" and staying wary of international trade.

On immigration, this suggestion may reflect a shift in public opinion after the May 1 marches, away from the belief that the pro-illegals lobby had decisively altered public opinion, toward the realization that the marches may have created a powerful backlash.

Citing Arizona's new anti-smuggling law, the sheriff of Maricopa County (Phoenix) announced that a posse of a hundred deputies and volunteers would begin patrolling the desert. This appears to be an act of official frustration, not one of those cosmetic attempts to placate the right. The Minutemen, denounced as vigilantes by President Bush but greatly respected in the state, are now building a fence on private land along the Mexican border. They are going national too, with chapters popping up in Virginia and elsewhere.

The frustration level in Arizona is so high that a local prosecutor, Andrew Thomas of Maricopa County, organized a national immigration conference and gave a fiery speech on the chaos, crime and cost of the tide of illegals. Last spring, I managed to get lost in one of the rugged canyons of southeast Arizona, and stumbled on two camping areas for illegals, each with about as much debris as you might expect from an airliner crash.

Mercedes Maharis, who lives near that canyon, has just released a documentary on DVD, "Cochise County, USA: Cries From the Border." The eeriest footage is infrared photography of illegals, maybe a hundred or more, swarming across the border at night. The turning point for one woman came when she set up a tepee in her back yard and noticed one morning that a group of illegals was living in it. The withering remarks in the film are not aimed at the illegals, but at Washington for abandoning its constitutional duty to guard the border.

The national news media, which spent most of its energies covering the marches as a heartwarming civil rights effort, is belatedly recognizing that much of America doesn't see it that way. As the Los Angeles Times reports, "Activists who take the toughest stance against illegal immigration have formed too many groups to count, and more seem to crop up every week."

Around 67 percent of Americans have been telling pollsters for years that they want illegal immigration curtailed. Soon the media will notice the populist appeal of this huge constituency facing off against two sets of entrenched elites, the corporate elites of the right, supported by Republican politicians, and the academic elites of the left, supported by Democratic politicians.

Editorialists seem to discuss the illegals mostly in terms of compassion and the impossibility of deporting the 11 million already here. But the core of the problem is that illegal entry is a never-ending process. An amnesty-light compromise in Washington is unlikely to do much more about this than the allegedly tough amnesty-light program of 1986. In a poll last August, about 40 percent of adults surveyed in Mexico said they would like to move to the United States. If so, there would be another 28 million people. Mexico has a high birthrate, a broken political culture and a government determined to dump its poor on the United States. It even publishes a comic book showing illegals how to avoid the U.S. border patrol.

High and continuous immigration is occurring under conditions of bilingualism and multiculturalism, rather than assimilation. In the name of diversity, the academic elites have encouraged immigrants to maintain their birth-country cultures and to adopt a stance of separatism and pugnacious victimization. Political scientist Samuel Huntington argues that this amounts to a deconstruction of American identity that has been "gradually created over three centuries." In his book "Mexifornia," Victor Davis Hanson says California is not quite Mexico, but not quite the United States either.

The political culture of Washington, focused on cheap labor and Latino votes, is nowhere near recognizing what is happening.


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: aliens; bush; congress; hr4437; illegals; johnleo
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To: in hoc signo vinces
Had any hospitals in your area closed due to illegal aliens? Have your taxes raised due to illegals (actuall you have if you pay Income Tax)? Seen your infrastructure crumble under the weight of illegals?

On The Day Without Illegals, traffic was GREAT. We saw what a day without illegals was like and we LIKED IT.

141 posted on 05/08/2006 3:51:52 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Any guest worker program that does not require application from the home country is Amnesty.)
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To: DumpsterDiver
And they did it without any funding from Soros, the Ford Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, etc. and with nary a dollar from any government grants (aka taxpayers' dollars).

Except Secion 8, WIC, Food Stamps, School Budgets, Road Repair, etc.

A redirection of tax dollars from other purposes to support illegals IS using them.

142 posted on 05/08/2006 3:55:21 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Any guest worker program that does not require application from the home country is Amnesty.)
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To: freedumb2003
And they did it without any funding from Soros, the Ford Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, etc. and with nary a dollar from any government grants (aka taxpayers' dollars).

Except Secion 8, WIC, Food Stamps, School Budgets, Road Repair, etc. A redirection of tax dollars from other purposes to support illegals IS using them.

I'm not sure we're on the same wavelength here. I was saying that the anti-illegal immigration groups (MMP, etc.) have organized without using taxpayer dollars. Is that also what you're referring to?

143 posted on 05/08/2006 4:25:32 PM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: freedumb2003

Traffic was down 50% on the 405 in So. California. Amazing!


144 posted on 05/08/2006 4:26:14 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
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To: DumpsterDiver

He was talking about the minutemen, DD.


145 posted on 05/08/2006 4:27:39 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
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To: stephenjohnbanker
Indiana?? My God, now they have the midwest too.

Dude, come to Ohio. We are swamped with aliens here in Columbus.

146 posted on 05/08/2006 4:43:05 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (Bob Taft has soiled the family name for the next century.)
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To: TheOracleAtLilac
The SSA informs employers if they have a SS#/name mismatch

Last year I got a letter from the IRS telling me that my 9 year old son's SSN was used on another tax return. Identity theft by somebody, possibly by an alien.

147 posted on 05/08/2006 4:46:00 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (Bob Taft has soiled the family name for the next century.)
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To: Mount Athos
When Woodrow Wilson was President, around 1914, he wanted to overthrow the regime of Huerta in Mexico. This so enraged the Mexicans that they tied the American flag to the tail of their donkeys to sweep the streets. Information for ideas...
148 posted on 05/08/2006 4:48:33 PM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: stephenjohnbanker
He was talking about the minutemen, DD.

I still don't get what he's talking about. LOL.

149 posted on 05/08/2006 4:52:03 PM PDT by DumpsterDiver
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To: buccaneer81

We have 5-6 MILLION of them in California. They are taking over 200,000+ population cities here, one after the other.
And yet we have many FReepers that see no problem, and are blindly following Bush. INCREDIBLE!


150 posted on 05/08/2006 4:52:11 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
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To: buccaneer81
Last year I got a letter from the IRS telling me that my 9 year old son's SSN was used on another tax return.

And the pisser is they have that person's return address & employer (W2) & yer screwed.

151 posted on 05/08/2006 4:52:49 PM PDT by TheOracleAtLilac
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To: DumpsterDiver

Well, I plead the 5th.............or has the govt. outlawed that too? : )


152 posted on 05/08/2006 4:53:50 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
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To: TheOracleAtLilac
And the pisser is they have that person's return address & employer (W2) & yer screwed.

Yep. I asked the IRS if they could track the return and they said yes, but the Social Security Administration is the only agency that can help.

The IRS said PRIVACY rules prevent them from going after the bums who used my kid's SSN.

What a country!

153 posted on 05/08/2006 4:56:16 PM PDT by buccaneer81 (Bob Taft has soiled the family name for the next century.)
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To: buccaneer81
& if the bum's working for wages, SS knew of the bad # months before the filing & only informed the employer.

FWIW, I believe U can contact SS & report the problem & they'll minimize down the road damage.

154 posted on 05/08/2006 5:01:30 PM PDT by TheOracleAtLilac
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To: Czar; Borax Queen; janetgreen; joanie-f; JustPiper; Smartass; Americanwolf; Americanwolfsbrother; ..
The national news media, which spent most of its energies covering the marches as a heartwarming civil rights effort, is belatedly recognizing that much of America doesn't see it that way. As the Los Angeles Times reports, "Activists who take the toughest stance against illegal immigration have formed too many groups to count, and more seem to crop up every week."

...Editorialists seem to discuss the illegals mostly in terms of compassion and the impossibility of deporting the 11 million already here. But the core of the problem is that illegal entry is a never-ending process....

The PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN AIN'T WORKIN' ping!

155 posted on 05/08/2006 5:04:13 PM PDT by nicmarlo (Bush is the Best President Ever. Rah. Rah.)
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To: Mount Athos

Three cheers for Lou Dobbs! I'm a Lou Dobbs kind of conservative voter. My only problem with Dobbs is he's too negative on Iraq. That's too easy and gives aid and comfort to our enemies.


156 posted on 05/08/2006 5:05:44 PM PDT by dennisw
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To: buccaneer81

"The IRS said PRIVACY rules prevent them from going after the bums who used my kid's SSN. "

They LIED!! There is no privacy law protecting identity theft.


157 posted on 05/08/2006 5:17:29 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Immigration: Acting like dupes does not earn us their respect, but their CONTEMPT.))
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To: nicmarlo

Thanks for the ping.

BTTT. It think it's true and am glad Lou Dobbs is giving a voice to our "sentiment."


158 posted on 05/08/2006 5:25:15 PM PDT by La Enchiladita (God Bless Our Troops...including U.S. Border Patrol, America's First Line of Defense)
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To: nicmarlo
"The PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN AIN'T WORKIN' ping!"

As the traitors in Washington will soon learn.

159 posted on 05/08/2006 5:31:06 PM PDT by Czar (StillFedUptotheTeeth@Washington)
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To: FrankB
To undermine the only country where they can make a decent living, raise their families in relative safety, and maybe realize their aspirations is total insanity. I cannot fathom the mind that thinks this is a good idea.

The reconquista faction is not interested in the slightest in making a decent living. After Aztlan assumes jurisdiction, they will confiscate all property and the jefe's in charge will greedily fall to the plundering of the spoils of the American Southwest in an orgy that will last for a whole generation. "Jobs? We doan' need no steenkin' jobs. We got zjour country, mon!"

160 posted on 05/08/2006 5:36:49 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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