On tonight’s local news I heard someone say something so utterly outrageous that it literally jerked my head up from the computer and caused me to utter an epithet I usually restrain myself from actually saying…something about the person and the horse they rode in on. The comment concerned a demonstration of people concerned with “protecting our borders”, and the commenter said, in essence, that she supported those who love America and not those dirty people crossing our borders who hate America. Her petty, small-minded, close-bordered rant literally makes my blood boil. It makes me want to hang my head and deny any association with her by virtue of our commonly-held citizenship in this country.
I suppose it would do no good to point out to her that 100-150 years ago this country was built on the backs of those “dirty Irish” that came to escape the potato famine. They were the Mexicans of their time, and had the Civil War not brought the need for cannon fodder, they’d have had to fight and scratch for their citizenship, too. My great-grandfather was the child of an Irish emigrant, and he was naturalized as a result of his father’s service, though I’ve not been able to pinpoint who his father was and where he served.
Others are speaking out about illegal immigration, too.
Joel Sax over at Pax Nortona has an excellent point:
The underlying agenda of the anti-immigration movement is having the power to decide who is a citizen…If they get to change the 14th Amendment, then they can decide that you are not a citizen. If your parent crossed the border illegally, you could be denied your rights and turned into a person without a country. They could carry this back to your grandparents or farther if they wished.
Colleen Cason’s column in today’s paper:
I would argue Mexico’s greatest asset is its people. We here in Ventura County see how hard they work, whether it’s picking peppers until their hands swell or hammering roofs under a withering sun.
If only they had the tools in their country to better their lives by their sweat and tenacity.
The U.S. Senate next week will resume debating an immigration-reform bill. Our representatives can point fingers, rattle sabers, threaten, bully, bluster. They can even believe they have power over this situation.
We can declare everyone who enters our borders illegally a criminal. We can arrest anyone who provides them aid. We can build a wall.
Sure we can put our foot down, but until Mexico puts its house in order our toes will be trampled by desperate people pouring across our border.
The world must take a stand and hold the Mexican government’s feet to the fire.
I think this topic will be a recurrent one here, in hopes that perhaps there is a way to have a rational discussion of the topic instead of the hysterical rants of whackos who think passing a law will really close a border.
Technorati Tags: illegal immigration, border closure, Mexico
