Does Bill O'Reilly know any illegal immigrants? Does Mark
Levine? Does Sean Hannity? If they do, will they report them to
Immigration and Customs Enforcement? After all, according to
these conservative analysts, illegals have not respected the rule
of law and we must not reward lawbreakers by granting them
amnesty. Although I usually have deep respect for their opinions,
these pundits have become as dogmatic as CNN's Lou Dobbs on this
issue. If all those who disrespected the rule of law were
actually punished, President Clinton would never have landed that
multimillion-dollar book deal.
An Irish friend of mine, who happens to be in law enforcement,
told me that his great-grandfather had jumped ship in New York
Harbor and swam to shore. He and probably thousands of other
immigrants landed here illegally in search of the American dream,
and their progeny are reaping the benefits of their escape from
poverty in their homelands. Yet I know of Europeans who land jobs
here on visiting visas and then secure green cards with no
problem. Some conservatives wonder why Hispanics are pushing
ahead of those waiting on line to get into the country legally.
Maybe that's because there is no line for them.
The immigration crisis is an extremely complex issue involving
human lives. Most illegal immigrants would never take part in the
protests that are being staged in California and Arizona. They're
too busy working hard for their families the way immigrants have
done since this country was founded.
Why hasn't there been any kind of in-depth study about these
political protesters? Who organizes them? Who pays for
transportation? Who makes the signs and buys the flags? Ordinary
people do not participate in angry rallies and protests, so I
can't help but suspect that professional agitators are behind
this. That's why we're hearing political rants about "La
Reconquista," taking back America for the Mexicans. But the
majority of Mexicans and Central Americans here are churchgoers,
not atheistic left-wing Marxists.
Anyone wondering why California is a hotbed of multicultural
anarchists should read David Schippers's book
"Sellout," which charges that Vice President Gore led
the operation to subvert the 1996 election through the Citizen
USA program. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants were hastily
naturalized in time to vote. At least 60,000 had criminal
records, and I wonder how many of them were waving banners in Los
Angeles last week.
Most non-Hispanic Americans have their image of the illegal
immigrant filtered through negative news reports or television.
The ones that actually serve and work around them remain
invisible. When they read of an illegal immigrant getting
arrested for rape, murder, or any crime, negative impressions are
reinforced. A stereotype is born, and a crisis is fueled and
stoked by those offering no viable solution.
Let's pretend this hoopla is about preventing terrorism, not
xenophobia. Our borders should be secured against terrorists, but
let's also remember that the September 11 murderers did not come
here that way. They had visas and plenty of cash to spend at
flying schools and one-way first-class airline tickets. What
efforts have been made to track down students with visas from
countries that sponsor terrorism? What's wrong with racial
profiling if it saves lives?
The proposed legislation is a mixed bag with some long-delayed
reforms. But making undocumented presence here a felony is a
mistake unless an individual is actually committing a felonious
crime. The reality is that any immigration crackdown will
probably be targeting the dark-skinned Hispanics rather than the
blue-eyed Eastern Europeans or wealthy Arabs who also have
circumvented our immigration laws.
Legislation should concentrate on sealing the borders immediately
rather than determining what should be done with the 12 million
illegal immigrants already here. Like it or not, they're here and
we should not forget our own responsibility when states like
California held out the carrot of welfare, education, and health
care to an impoverished people. The underclass has little chance
of sharing in the bounty of a post-Nafta Mexico that it regards
as elitist, racist and corrupt. Mexico's president, Vicente Fox,
has displayed no interest in improving the lives of his
darker-skinned countrymen.
Let's concentrate instead on keeping that number at 12 million.
Build a solid wall for deterrence and in the meantime use
high-tech surveillance and beefed-up border patrols until it's in
place. By all means, offer guest worker status to those already
here so they can be documented and monitored.
And while we're at it, let's also remove that bronze plaque from
the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty that contains the
no-longer-valid invitation to the tired, poor, huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.
Replace it with a neon "no vacancy" sign.