Obfuscating the issues
There is a diverse mix of headlines today but taken together they form a mosaic of opinion. Commenting on it gets lengthy, so I'll break it up into two days.
The liberal media and pro-illegal immigration supporters would be buoyed by the item in The New York Times that declares, "For Latinos in the Midwest, a Time to Be Heard." The gist of the story is that Latino's in small town America are coming out the woodwork to declare their permanence in the landscape.
But the story isn't about illegal aliens, it reports on "legal" immigrants who have been a productive part of the work place for years. It also illustrates the tactics of the pro-illegal lobby to obfuscate to issue by blending legal immigrants and illegal aliens into a single group, assigning the troubling issue of "illegal" activity to those who have come into this country lawfully.
In doing so they stir up fear among our legal immigrant communities by implying that legislation under consideration will negatively affect them too. To be honest, it will if they have family or friends here illegally or if they break the law by employing illegal aliens. But there is no effort or desire create laws that will change the status of legal, law abiding immigrants in this country simply because of who they are.
Another tact of the pro-illegal lobby is to gin up sympathy for the plight of illegal aliens. In an article titled "Student's Prize Is a Trip Into Immigration Limbo," the NYT highlights the plight of an abandoned Senegalese teen, left behind by his mother in 2001 when she returned to her homeland.
This technologically brilliant young man was abandoned a second time when the woman his mother arranged to care for him reneged on the deal, leaving him to return to New York City and fend for himself.
Certainly this story pulls at our compassion and sense of fair play, yet it is a very isolated and unique situation and has little bearing on the illegal immigration issue at our southwestern borders.
Yes, legislation under study can impact him, but more likely the INS will look on this young man, abandoned as a minor and here in this country through no effort of his own, far differently than they will a similar aged young man crossing the US borders under cover of night with the explicit intent of breaking our laws for his personal gain.
On the other side of the issue, the Minuteman Project has seen an increase in stature and membership in recent weeks as citizen concern over border security strengthens.
They are finding, according to Stephen Eichler, the group's executive director, "...these guys actually have teeth, they don't all chew tobacco, they don't all have a gun rack in the back of their truck." Even as the left tries to marginalize the Minutemen, mainstream America is seeing who they really are.
Still, that doesn't stop the opposition's efforts to create a misleading impression of the group. Heidi Beirich, deputy director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project stated her opinion that most of the new recruits will go to a rally or two and realize, according to her, "'My God, I didn't sign on for this' (the groups alleged "extremist attitudes")."
While the membership of The Minuteman Project has increased to 200,000 as concern for border security increases, Phoenix's KNXV-TV is reporting a poll which they said showed Arizonians to be "hawkish on border enforcement." Of the respondents, "nearly half of the 380 registered voters surveyed statewide say the most important priority in addressing illegal immigration is securing the border."
At the same time the poll, according to KNXV-TV, indicated "moderation" among those polled toward immigrants reporting, "43 percent say illegal immigrants should be allowed to earn citizenship if they've lived in the country for a while."
Hmm, that last figure would indicate that 57% of those polled disagreed with that statement. So "nearly" 50% for border enforcement is "hawkish" while 57% who disagree with allowing illegals to earn citizenship is considered "moderate."
more tomorrow...
For Latinos in the Midwest, a Time to Be Heard
Student's Prize Is a Trip Into Immigration Limbo
Minuteman Project gains mainstream appeal amid the immigration debate
Arizonans hawkish on border enforcement, moderate on immigrants
The liberal media and pro-illegal immigration supporters would be buoyed by the item in The New York Times that declares, "For Latinos in the Midwest, a Time to Be Heard." The gist of the story is that Latino's in small town America are coming out the woodwork to declare their permanence in the landscape.
But the story isn't about illegal aliens, it reports on "legal" immigrants who have been a productive part of the work place for years. It also illustrates the tactics of the pro-illegal lobby to obfuscate to issue by blending legal immigrants and illegal aliens into a single group, assigning the troubling issue of "illegal" activity to those who have come into this country lawfully.
In doing so they stir up fear among our legal immigrant communities by implying that legislation under consideration will negatively affect them too. To be honest, it will if they have family or friends here illegally or if they break the law by employing illegal aliens. But there is no effort or desire create laws that will change the status of legal, law abiding immigrants in this country simply because of who they are.
Another tact of the pro-illegal lobby is to gin up sympathy for the plight of illegal aliens. In an article titled "Student's Prize Is a Trip Into Immigration Limbo," the NYT highlights the plight of an abandoned Senegalese teen, left behind by his mother in 2001 when she returned to her homeland.
This technologically brilliant young man was abandoned a second time when the woman his mother arranged to care for him reneged on the deal, leaving him to return to New York City and fend for himself.
Certainly this story pulls at our compassion and sense of fair play, yet it is a very isolated and unique situation and has little bearing on the illegal immigration issue at our southwestern borders.
Yes, legislation under study can impact him, but more likely the INS will look on this young man, abandoned as a minor and here in this country through no effort of his own, far differently than they will a similar aged young man crossing the US borders under cover of night with the explicit intent of breaking our laws for his personal gain.
On the other side of the issue, the Minuteman Project has seen an increase in stature and membership in recent weeks as citizen concern over border security strengthens.
They are finding, according to Stephen Eichler, the group's executive director, "...these guys actually have teeth, they don't all chew tobacco, they don't all have a gun rack in the back of their truck." Even as the left tries to marginalize the Minutemen, mainstream America is seeing who they really are.
Still, that doesn't stop the opposition's efforts to create a misleading impression of the group. Heidi Beirich, deputy director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project stated her opinion that most of the new recruits will go to a rally or two and realize, according to her, "'My God, I didn't sign on for this' (the groups alleged "extremist attitudes")."
While the membership of The Minuteman Project has increased to 200,000 as concern for border security increases, Phoenix's KNXV-TV is reporting a poll which they said showed Arizonians to be "hawkish on border enforcement." Of the respondents, "nearly half of the 380 registered voters surveyed statewide say the most important priority in addressing illegal immigration is securing the border."
At the same time the poll, according to KNXV-TV, indicated "moderation" among those polled toward immigrants reporting, "43 percent say illegal immigrants should be allowed to earn citizenship if they've lived in the country for a while."
Hmm, that last figure would indicate that 57% of those polled disagreed with that statement. So "nearly" 50% for border enforcement is "hawkish" while 57% who disagree with allowing illegals to earn citizenship is considered "moderate."
more tomorrow...
For Latinos in the Midwest, a Time to Be Heard
Student's Prize Is a Trip Into Immigration Limbo
Minuteman Project gains mainstream appeal amid the immigration debate
Arizonans hawkish on border enforcement, moderate on immigrants
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