So I’ve got a few links I misfiled and I thought I’d pass this one around today from the Tuesday after the big pro-illegal immigration protests.
Immigration: A Willful Blindness by Eugene Robinson
Half a million people poured into the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday, chanting slogans in Spanish and waving the Mexican flag, to protest the various Republican-sponsored proposals in Congress that would demonize illegal immigrants. Hundreds marched Monday in Detroit, which, last I checked, is nowhere near the Mexican border. Tens of thousands have demonstrated in Phoenix, Denver and other cities across the country. In every case, the crowds were mostly Latino.
We all know that Latinos are the nation’s largest minority, and that most of the people in those demonstrations either were born in the United States or are here legally. But we also know that at least some of those protesters had gone through the experience of crossing the border illegally under the tutelage of avaricious people-smugglers known as “coyotes.” At least some had been here for months or years, working to send money home to their families, keeping their heads down, somehow managing to carve out lives for themselves and their children.
Umm, with at least 12 Million illegal immigrants in the country, what makes him think that “Most” of the approximately 750,000Â people who took part in those protests were legal?
I mean, other than his liberal guilt?
Yeah, I saw that and wondered myself. The presumption seems to be that truly illegal folks are either too busy working or simply don’t want to take the risk of being nailed by a la migra roundup of protesters.
Although some were probably illegals, I would bet a good percentage were legals — siblings, parents, or children (especially students, ’cause they have the time for street marches during the workday) protesting “on behalf of” an illegal relative.
Sounds like the Stupid Party leaders are coming up with a compromise in the next day or so that (they think) will pass both houses. What makes me believe it will make nobody outside of D.C. happy?
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Incidentally, apropos of the kewl Douglas Adams quote on the sidebar, I finally got around to watching the movie version of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy this past week and was pleasantly surprised. Not perfect by any means, but they did a pretty good job considering. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a rental.