5/10/2006

 The operative word is ‘illegal’ 
Commentary By Don Klein   

    The much ballyhooed “day without immigrants” is history. It came and went with much fanfare and little positive results. The aliens are no closer to acceptance by the government and, if anything, the backlash from most Americans has stiffened.

Hopefully the demonstrators may have learned a lesson. You don’t make demands that you are not entitled to. It is like barging uninvited into someone’s home and claiming you have the right to a seat reserved for a welcomed guest at the dinner table.

Illegal aliens are now calling themselves “immigrants.” This is like a stowaway calling himself a passenger. Further, the people who are advising the movement have given the rank and file aliens bad advice and addled direction.

Let us set the record straight. This issue is not about immigration. It is about granting undeserved rights to illegal foreigners. The operative word being “illegal.”

Does anyone still remember what it meant to be a legal immigrant?  They were those courageous refugees who fled distant lands to start new and better lives in America for themselves and their progeny. Immigrants helped build this nation. They are the solid spine of America.

But immigrants did it legally. They followed the law. They eventually became citizens in accordance with law. They didn’t climb fences in the dead of night to enter the country, nor did they violate our borders. They did not come on visitors’ visas and disappear into society to hide from authorities.
They were up-front, stand-up people who assimilated into American society. They learned English, they adopted American ways (even if they maintained their cultural roots in private), they asked for no privileges other than the right to work hard, earn decent wages, and bring up their children in freedom.

Not so for most of the people massed all over the nation recently in widespread demonstrations. They flaunt the country’s laws. They have no rights, and frankly their rallies attest to their poor judgment. The more they speak, the weaker their arguments for legalization.

Their early marches in the Southwest were dominated by a flood of foreign flags, not American emblems. What wonky planner concluded that the sight of Mexican, Uruguayan or Costa Rican flags would evoke sympathy for their cause in the hearts of the native population?
Then we hear some of their kooky leaders emulating the zany 1959 Peter Sellers’s movie, “The Mouse That Roared,” with talk about Mexico taking back California, claiming it already is Latino. Then they want to absorb Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona as well.

Later they insultingly insinuated that fighting for their status in America is equivalent to the civil rights movement which won for American-born blacks the right of long-denied full citizenship.  What they failed to understand is that African-Americans are American citizens, illegal aliens are foreigners who violate our laws every day they live and work here and sponge off our public services.

Next they disseminate a Spanish language version of the “Star Spangled Banner.” They call it Nuestro Himno and changed the words to suit their culture, not ours.  Even though the melody is generally preserved, they have given it a distinctive Latin beat. Tantamount to singing “La Marseillaise” in any language but French.

This is as disrespectful as you can get to a nation which is providing aliens with a bounty they could not receive at home. It is as much of an affront as when Latino students flew the U.S. flag upside down beneath a Mexican flag from a California flagpole recently.

Then on May 1, observed around the world (but not in the U.S.) as May Day, illegal aliens went on a general strike. They walked off their jobs in the tradition of foreign activists. What a bad strategy. Using a day set aside for almost a century by Communists around the world to demonstrate in a peculiarly non-American fashion.

That, by the way, was a splendid occasion for citizenship and naturalization forces to have swept down and seized as many aliens as they could and send them packing.

Most Americans are compassionate and embrace needy aliens who truly wish to make this country their home. We have done that for centuries. On the other hand, citizens should not tolerate foreigners entering this country illicitly, demanding that we provide services to them in their language, then watch as demonstrators trash our national emblems and anthem, and finally, wrongly identify themselves as immigrants when they are nothing more than outlandish intruders whose allegiance remains to their foreign homelands.

The demonstrators embrace the word “immigrant” because the U.S. is a nation of immigrants and they hope to garner widespread support that way. The problem is they are uninvited, unlawful visitors to this country, not immigrants.

We don’t have to talk about the “important” work they do. We don’t have to discuss their dire family situations. Neither do we want to talk about amnesty, for all that does is invite a new wave of illegals. What we do want is aliens to respect our laws while in our country and we want employers who provide them with jobs to be prosecuted. We also demand that our government and our southern neighbor secure our common border.

Illegal aliens are not here for political asylum nor any other legal reason. When you crunch down the essentials, they broke the law when they came here, they break the law every day they stay here, and most are not willing to work for citizenship like traditional immigrants of the past and present.
 They are aliens, they are illegal, and they shouldn’t remain here. We shouldn’t forget that.

The following letter to Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee (the Senate Majority Leader) concerning illegal aliens was written by David J. Stoddard of Arizona, who served as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent for 27 years. It has been widely circulated on the Internet.

Dear Senator Frist:

There is a huge amount of propaganda and myths circulating about illegal aliens, particularly illegal Mexican, Salvadorian, Guatemalan and Honduran aliens.

1. Illegal aliens generally do NOT want U.S. citizenship. Americans are very vain thinking that everybody in the world wants to be a U.S. citizen. Mexicans, and other nationalities want to remain citizens of their home countries while obtaining the benefits offered by the United States such as employment, medical care, in-state tuition, government subsidized housing and free education for their offspring. Their main attraction is employment and their loyalty usually remains at home. They want benefits earned and subsidized by middle class Americans. What illegal aliens want are benefits of American residence without paying the price.

2. There are no jobs that Americans won't do. Illegal aliens are doing jobs that Americans can't take and still support their families. Illegal aliens take low wage jobs, live dozens in a single residence home, share expenses and send money to their home country. There are no jobs that Americans won't do for a decent wage.

3. Every person who illegally entered this nation left a home. They are NOT homeless and they are NOT Americans. Some left jobs in their home countries. They come to send money to their real home as evidenced by the more than 20 billion dollars sent out of the country each year by illegal aliens. These illegal aliens knowingly and willfully entered this nation in violation of the law and therefore assumed the risk of detection and deportation. Those who brought their alien children assumed the responsibility and risk on behalf of their children.

4. Illegal aliens are NOT critical to the economy. Illegal aliens constitute less than 5% of the workforce. However, they reduce wages and benefits for lawful U.S. residents.

5. This is NOT an immigrant nation. There are 280 million native born Americans. While it is true that this nation was settled and founded by immigrants (legal immigrants), it is also true that there is not a nation on this planet that was not settled by immigrants at one time or another.

6. The United States is welcoming to legal immigrants. Illegal aliens are not immigrants by definition. The U.S. accepts more lawful immigrants every year than the rest of the world combined.

7. There is no such thing as the "Hispanic vote". Hispanics are white, brown, black and every shade in between. Hispanics are Republicans, Democrats, Anarchists, Communists, Marxists and Independents. The so-called "Hispanic vote" is a myth. Pandering to illegal aliens to get the Hispanic vote is a dead end.

8. Mexico is NOT a friend of the United States. Since 1848 Mexicans have resented the United States. During World War I Mexico allowed German Spies to operate freely in Mexico to spy on the U.S. During World War II Mexico allowed the Axis powers to spy on the U.S. from Mexico. During the Cold War Mexico allowed spies hostile to the U.S. to operate freely. The attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 was cheered and applauded all across Mexico. Today Mexican school children are taught that the U.S. stole California, Arizona, new Mexico and Texas. If you don't believe it, check out some Mexican textbooks written for their schoolchildren.

9. Although some illegal aliens enter this country for a better life, there are 6 billion people on this planet. At least 1 billion of those live on less than one dollar a day. If wanting a better life is a valid excuse to break the law and sneak into America, then let's allow those one billion to come to America and we'll turn the USA into a Third World nation overnight. Besides, there are 280 million native born Americans who want a better life. I'll bet Bill Gates and Donald Trump want a better life. When will the USA lifeboat be full? Since when is wanting a better life a good reason to trash another nation?

10. There is a labor shortage in this country. This is a lie. There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American housewives, senior citizens, students, unemployed and underemployed who would gladly take jobs at a decent wage.

11. It is racist to want secure borders. What is racist about wanting secure borders and a secure America? What is racist about not wanting people to sneak into America and steal benefits we have set aside for legal aliens, senior citizens, children and other legal residents? What is it about race that entitles people to violate our laws, steal identities, and take the American Dream without paying the price?

For about four decades American politicians have refused to secure our borders and look after the welfare of middle class Americans. These politicians have been of both parties. A huge debt to American society has resulted. This debt will be satisfied and the interest will be high. There has already been riots in the streets by illegal aliens and their supporters. There will be more. You, as a politician, have a choice to offend the illegal aliens who have stolen into this country and demanded the rights afforded to U.S. citizens or to offend those of us who are stakeholders in this country. The interest will be steep either way. There will be civil unrest. There will be a reckoning. Do you have the courage to do what is right for America? Or, will you bow to the wants and needs of those who don't even have the right to remain here?

There will be a reckoning. It will come in November of this year, again in 2008 and yet again in 2010.

We will not allow America to be stolen by third world agitators and thieves.

David J. Stoddard
U.S. Border Patrol (RET)
Hereford, Arizona


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