Update III (4/14): You know, I’ve been thinking about that “play the race card” statement. I don’t think I will. If I ever criticized someone else for doing it, I’d be a hypocrite. I’ll just do what I’ve always done: blog about why illegal immigration is bad for all Americans.
Update II: Katherine Kersten says, “Start immigration reform with those who follow the law…Obviously, many illegal immigrants are good folks, striving to better their families. But they have broken the law to get here. That’s why many Americans find it unsettling to see them pumping their fists and shouting grievances in the streets — cheered on by their American ‘social justice’ allies.”
I’m often subjected to e-mail sermons from Christians chastising me for speaking out against border-jumpers. I long to hear some of these same people tell me how they’ve also chastised Christ-professing illegal aliens for disregarding another nation’s laws for their own gain. Just one such anecdote will do. You know how to reach me. If you’re a Christ-following illegal alien, I eagerly await your response/defense.
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It is in a strong nation’s best interest to maintain its culture and heritage, and that largely depends on who that nation allows to cross its borders and why.
America is strong and great for good reasons, but many of us act as though it sprung fully formed from the earth, with freedom fully intact. America’s graveyards are filled with people who helped build this nation into what it is today, people who fought and bled and died to make sure we remained free and for the rule of law to prevail.
“Rule of law” is a western ideal, one that has allowed us to be a beacon of justice and a land where the poorest of the earth can fulfill his dreams and live his life in peace.
But the rule of law is eroding. Fast. We can’t even begin to imagine what allowing millions of criminals to go unpunished will mean to something as mundane as our daily lives or as profound as the principles that distinguish us from the rest of the world.
It may seem hard to believe now, but there was a time when America dictated its own immigration policy and limited the number of immigrants from certain countries. You don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to understand why we were selective about immigration. A potential immigrant’s national origin was a consideration, as were his skills. But with the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s came a liberalization of our immigration policy. Important factors like national origin and marketable skills were “dumbed down.” We still had rules, but lawmakers apparently failed to realize that with lax standards, people would take advantage. Why they didn’t anticipate the inevitable influx of illegal immigration caused by permissive and lax policies is beyond me.
Most of today’s immigrants (including illegal aliens) are usually relatives of immigrants and/or from Third World countries. Third World immigrants may not be a problem in themselves; it’s Third World, low-skilled, illegal immigrants who inexplicably want to retain their Third World culture.
This is it, folks. Politicians have set the tone of the debate, from George Bush on down. Our president, for whatever reason, wants illegal aliens to remain in the United States, and he has the power to make it so. Bush knows very well that it is illegal immigration that most Americans oppose, not immigration per se. Whenever he talks about this issue, however, he emphasizes the “nation of immigrants” meme, failing to make the obvious distinction.
Since humans have walked the earth, they’ve packed together in groups based on mutual interest: survival. With each passing millennium, this survival has taken many forms, each more sophisticated than the next. We form political alliances based on whatever is important to us: race, sex, education, etc. Some groups are more powerful than others.
I loathe race and class envy, but because I have a human nature, it takes effort to resist the urge to join in class war games. To make my point, I must “go there” today. There is a class of people in this country who want illegal, low-wage aliens to remain right where they are. Illegal aliens raise their children, cook their food, clean their toilets, and landscape their valuable property. Imagine what it would cost them to employ legal citizens to do these jobs. This class doesn’t compete with the alien class, whose very presence depresses wages, and probably never will.
They have no regard for the damage illegal immigration causes. They can afford to live in gated communities devoid of illegal aliens, shop at exclusive stores, and visit private doctors. They can afford to insulate themselves from non-assimilating, poor English-speaking aliens, while taking advantage of their dirt-cheap labor.
They can afford private schools for their children, including college, while middle-class Americans send their children to government schools with illegal aliens or the children of illegal aliens, who bring down standards and burden the taxpayer. To add insult to injury, these same children are rewarded with in-state tuition while legal citizens have to follow the rules and pay out-of-state tuition.
Whenever I start ranting about illegal “immigration,” I have this picture in my head: the elites are sitting on high, laughing while the peasants fight over scraps. I don’t like that image. I don’t want to be a peasant, fighting over scraps. I want to be insulated from the effects of illegal immigration, just as the elites. I admit it.
I’ve got the right kind of job for it. I’m a writer and a consultant. There aren’t too many illegal aliens competing for space in print publications and online or going after book deals. This intellectual property that pays the bills is less vulnerable to market fluctuations caused by a glut of low wage workers. Unfortunately, too much of my hard-earned income goes toward a system that bears the burden of uninsured, off-the-books, poor English-speaking foreigners, but until someone writes and passes a new law, my options are severely limited. (Obeying the law? What a novel idea!!!)
The illegal immigration “debate” is a race and class issue, no matter how you frame the argument. In a way, this may be good for black Americans used to a fat entitlement system catering to their every whim. People who have no legal right to be in this country are asserting themselves, with the complicity of politicians, and blacks will be disproportionately harmed.
The ancestors of illegal aliens were never enslaved in this country, yet they’re fighting for rights that are not theirs. Black Americans are full and legal citizens of the U.S. with all the privileges and rights this entails, and our ancestors fought and died for those privileges and rights. They are ours by birthright. Yet, illegal aliens and their liberal handlers have the nerve to compare their “revolution” with ours. I have to force myself to stay calm even as I type this.
This is my declaration:
No longer will I view the immigration debacle as a put-upon peasant. I won’t view it as an elitist, either. I will try, as difficult as I know it will be, to see it simply as a concerned citizen, not a ranting, angry blogger. There are millions of criminal aliens here, and thanks to permissive government policies, they aren’t going anywhere. At every opportunity, I will play the race card until black Americans understand what’s going on and how offensive it is that foreign invaders are co-opting our cause for their crimes. Just as homosexuals equate perversion with our fight for freedom, illegal aliens equate their border-jumping and unlawful presence in this great nation with our struggle to be recognized as first-class citizens.
If I sound defeatist or vindictive, I don’t mean to. I’m just trying to be realistic. I’ll continue to oppose the amnesty bill and illegal immigration. I’ll continue to advocate the deportation of illegal aliens and speak out against a government that refuses to enforce its own law for the convenience of the elites. Always.
This post was inspired by America’s greatness, my gratitude for being born in this country, Ann Coulter’s latest column, Brown is the new black, etc.
(Photo credits: top photo by AFP; flag desecration bydoyoulikeit/Buzznet; Nazi sign by Bryan Preston)
See the Federation for American Immigration Reform’s pages on:
Update: Does this mean I’m authentically black now?
A commenter writes:
It’s a slap in the face to everyone who comes here legally, like Erbo said. There are several immigrants in my family — all here legally. My sister-in-law had to wait until almost a year after she married my brother before she could join him here in the same country! What a fun way to start a marriage. But she did it.
