THE NATION WITHIN
Phyllis Spivey
April 4, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
Are you listening, America? Did you hear the wake up call generated by Latino protests against pending immigration legislation?
It should be clear by now that what’s growing within U.S. borders is a nation within a nation. And the new nation is comprised of lawbreakers, many of whom claim the Southwest as their own. They disrespect our Constitution, our institutions, our flag and our legal processes, and from all indications owe their loyalty to another country. Yet they demand the rights and benefits meant solely for law abiding American citizens.
In pursuit of those rights, Latinos launched a series of demonstrations across the U.S., culminating in a 500,000 person march in Los Angeles, Saturday, March 25. Two days later, anarchy reigned at many Southern California schools where an estimated 22,,000 protesting students boycotted classes, blocked freeways and city streets. The same day thousands of demonstrators marched in Detroit, Grand Rapids and Washington, D.C.
Mel Johnson, writing for Human Events Online, ominously calls it "the new normal ... the predictable and unimpeded flow of the political culture of Latin America into the United States." Holding signs in Spanish, waving Mexican flags, chanting "Mexico! Mexico!", waves of marching humanity convey a message: We’re here; we’re powerful; ignore us at your peril.
Johnson warns that what "the protests truly represent is the colonization of America by the Latin style of politics." Let’s put it another way: The Third World is moving on the First World. Today it’s peaceful demonstrations that merely imply threat, but what of tomorrow? Rioting, burning, and pillaging? Think France and the Muslims. Think Bosnia and Kosovo.
Who knows what members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were thinking when they bypassed tough immigration legislation approved by the House to produce an amnesty measure promoted by Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy. It puts 11 million to 20 million illegal workers on a path to U.S. citizenship and creates a guest worker program.
The committee’s action was breaking news on CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs’ March 27 program. Unable to conceal his outrage, Dobbs quoted President Theodore Roosevelt about the importance of being an immigrant in this country.
"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith, becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American.
"There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room but for one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Moving on, Dobbs declared: "The government doesn’t know how many illegal aliens live in the United States. But we know what they cost. And that’s plenty." CNN Correspondent Christine Romans presented the alarming figures:
Today, anywhere from 3,000 to 8,000 illegal aliens will cross the border.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, more people are now coming here illegally than through legal channels. More than half enter without a high school education, and American public schools educate their children.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform says taxpayers spend $12 billion a year on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally. Another $17 billion for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
It is federal law to provide free emergency health care to those here illegally. Congress has set aside a billion taxpayer dollars each year to reimburse all hospitals – a total, administrators complain, is a fraction of their costs.
Meanwhile, employers hire cheap labor with virtually no risk. The Government Accountability Office found only three employers fined in 2004 for illegal hiring, down from 417 in 1999.
At the same time, America’s criminal justice system is bulging with these citizens of other countries. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 30 percent of federal prisoners are not U.S. citizens. Most are thought to be illegal aliens.
But if the McCain-Kennedy legislation disturbs Dobbs, it surely pleases President Bush, Mexican President Vicente Fox, and everyone illegally in the U.S. or planning to come. And, what a coincidence! It was approved just in time for Presidents Bush and Fox to celebrate with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at their summit in Cancun, Mexico, March 30-31 – a display of unity fitting to their discussions of union.
According to Dobbs on March 28, Presidente Fox, who has taken credit for the committee legislation, says it resulted from five years of work that began with his inauguration as Mexico’s president. He says it’s one step closer to Mexico’s goal of "legalization for everyone" who works in the United States.
Fox has already indicated that, in addition to immigration reform, he wants numerical numbers on visas lifted, and he wants portable social security benefits for Mexicans working in the U.S. He’s likely to get both concessions – the first from NAFTA, which provides for it – the second from the Bush Administration, which has already signed a social security agreement with Mexico. Congress could block it, but when mobs take to the streets, how many lawmakers will stand against "the new normal?"
American citizens must send their own wake up call. Telephone toll free: Senators 888-355-3588; Congressmen 877-762-8762. Demand that your representatives support the legislation passed by the House of Representatives: HR 4437. It includes strong border enforcement, no amnesty, and no guest worker program.
© 2006 Phyllis Spivey - All Rights Reserved
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