The following is a great piece (operative word being "piece") from the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. To the board, the message of this most recent of rallys/marches/absent-yourselves is "inclusion." Perhaps this is the case due to the unions behind these mass demonstrations realizing one should not appear to be against those it is trying to force something upon.
"the marches are occurring against a backdrop of fears that allowing 11 million illegal immigrants to remain here somehow threatens the fabric of this nation. It's why some in Congress, particularly those in the House are rallying around an enforcement-only bill by Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. A Senate bill that contains a path to legal residency and a guest worker program is far preferable."The Journal is making the same mistakes many are. One, that those opposed to "amnesty" are opposed to immigration and two that they are opposed to immigration reform.
I am not opposed to immigration nor am I opposed to reform, I am however opposed to anything that offers the cart before the horse. With an editorial like this and I'm sure there are many more; we have come full circle in the debate.
Any day now, Washington will come up with an immigration reform bill that will reward those that have entered legally setting the precedent for future large scale amnesties. What they will ultimately not do is anything functional about our borders.
Illegal immigration is very close to becoming just "immigration.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Thousands marched Monday in Milwaukee for comprehensive immigration reform to a locale - Veterans Park - more appropriate for the occasion than observers might have imagined.
Their message - this march, no less than those here and elsewhere two months ago - has largely been that of inclusion and the marchers' desire for it in the face of onerous federal legislation that would make undocumented immigrants felons for being here and having the temerity to contribute to the economy at the same time.So why was Veterans Park the perfect locale? A pamphlet by the Immigration Policy Center, citing Defense Department figures, tells the story. The foreign-born make up about 60,000 of those on active military duty. Nearly 5% of all enlisted personnel are immigrants. Factor in military personnel who are children of immigrants, and these numbers likely swell.
Yes, these marches are largely about illegal immigration. But the marches are occurring against a backdrop of fears that allowing 11 million illegal immigrants to remain here somehow threatens the fabric of this nation. It's why some in Congress, particularly those in the House are rallying around an enforcement-only bill by Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. A Senate bill that contains a path to legal residency and a guest worker program is far preferable.
What the Defense Department figures illustrate is that immigrants, no matter how they came here, become Americans.
Women with strollers. Men with their children riding on their shoulders. Older people. Young people carrying posters of the Virgin Mary. Many were likely illegal immigrants, but all were marching with the message that those who work here for dollars doing work others won't and making our economy stronger are due a modicum of respect. Labeling them felons and building fences at the border, as Sensenbrenner's bill would do, careens in the opposite direction.
It is not America, the marchers were saying. We agree. The Editorial Board did not agree, however, with the calls for boycotts of work and shopping that were to accompany Monday's march. Nonetheless, we recognize the motivation: to simply demonstrate that just as you buy and shop, they buy and shop. We. You. Them. Us. We're the same. That's what the marchers were saying.
Sometimes it's easy to be distracted from that message, however. Take the recent controversy over the national anthem - too loosely translated into Spanish and sung by a bevy of Latino recording artists.
On this Editorial Board are two immigrants and the son of immigrants. Their English is better than their command of the languages spoken by their parents. A Spanish "Nuestro Himno" does not mean immigrants don't fully recognize that English is the language of success and commerce in this country. Their eagerness to learn is evidence enough.
A strategic blunder in the great PR war surrounding the immigration debate? Probably. But, ultimately, meaning nothing, no matter how much those who oppose immigration reform fume about it.
**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let me know at what level you would like to participate.**Coalition Against Illegal Immigration
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