Where Was the Protest?

An interesting point is made by Robert in Miami about last weekend's illegal immigrant protests and why there were so few in the South Florida area:

Many (not most, but quite a few) of the protesters in the other cities had anti-American signs, chanted anti-American slogans and in an isolated case even burned an American flag. You will be hard-pressed to find an hardcore anti-American immigrant in South Florida.

Good point. From what mainstream media coverage I saw, the protests were carefully scrubbed of their anti-America and reconquista ("re-conquer") elements. Also missing was any talk of the government of Mexico's complicity in the flood of illegals coming into America.

I'm not opposed to immigration. Obviously not, as my mother is a naturalised French-Canadian. My great-grandfather was Irish. I'm proud of both heritages. That's the point, they are heritages, not seeds. I don't want to recreate Quebec or Eire here in America!

I've blogged before that we need two things. First is border control against a flood of people just coming into this country. It's the basic duty of the Federal government, before providing health care and education to illegals. Sure, you're welcome, c'mon in! But if your first act in getting here is to break a law doing so, then I don't want you here. Millions of folks before you did it legally, like my mom; don't dis them.

Second is to briefly throttle back on immigration to allow time for the dominant American culture to assimilate the new folks. Since the Sixties, we've had immigration in numbers -- and percentages -- that far exceed anything from the great 19th / 20th century influx. Look at your history and you'll see the enormous, wrenching problems this country faced then. Then look around you today, and you'll see similar problems today.

We should give America time to do her magic, to make the Mexicans and Central Americans who stream in to become Mexican-Americans. To flavor American culture with their native spices and ways. That's the win-win here.

But what seems clear to me is that a large number, maybe a majority, of illegals have no interest in being or becoming Americans. They are here to transfer some wealth back to family in other countries. There's a dedicated minority who are set on retaking the Southwest and California, setting "right" what went "wrong" in the 19th century's Mexican-American War. Folks like "La Raza" (The Race, or The People), MeCHA and the reconquista flag-wavers.

As to some of the proposals being floated this week in Congress in the wake of those protests, I'm fine with amnesty for illegals provided it's paired with punishment and / or deportation for those who don't take advantage of it. I'd even allow a fairly long period for the amnesty, say two or even three years. It also has to be paired with efforts to roll back bi-lingualism in schools and goverment affairs.

But guest workers? No. It's slapping a happy-face bandage on a deep wound and pretending all is fine. We should send the Living Wage folks into those areas of the economy that are dependent on cheap labor (agriculture and constructions and food service) and turn them loose.

"Guest workers" were brought into Europe during the Sixties and Seventies to help rebuild the countries there by doing the work the "native" population didn't want to do. You can see what happened there. It's what's happening here now, and "guesting" them will only exacerbate those ills. You don't create an underclass and then expect them to acculturate.

I've always been very proud that America is a nation where the only requirement is to stick up your hand and say "I want to join." Native birth or lineage not required. Illegal immigrants from the South aren't sticking up their hands. They aren't joining. They are creating a parallel culture, not commingling with ours. Multiculturalists may bleat about America's many cultures, but they don't want assimilation, they want balkanisation, and we all know where that led.