Pete The Elder

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March 29, 2006

Immigration Walkout Roundup

In cities across the country students are walking of class out to protest immigration reform. A year ago I wrote about my experience during the prop 187 protests while I was in high school. The protesters banging on classroom doors while I was trying to learn and their hanging a Mexican flag helped to convince me to oppose their position and support prop 187. The protestors seem to not have learned much in the past ten years and are still causing disruptions on campus, skipping class, and waving Mexican flags.

The Mexican flags are the dumbest part of the protests. If you want to convince Americans you are not a threat to their way of life, you respect their country, etc. I suggest waving U.S. flags. A big part of the hostility towards illegal immigrants comes from the fear that they do not want to assimilate and will bring the pathologies of their countries with them to the U.S.. Waving Mexican flags shows that fear to be at least partly correct. Americans do not like Mexico and do not want their country to become more like Mexico. Sure it may be a fun place to visit, but we have all heard horror stories of Mexican jails, poverty, corruption, drug lords, and its general sense of lawlessness. We know there is good reason why the immigration flow is almost completely one way. We do not want Laredo to become like Nuevo Laredo or San Diego to become like Tiajuana. Walking out of school and waving Mexican flags only reinforces this fear of illegal immigrants.

Jeff at Evil Twin went to high school with me and he is now a public school teacher in the LA area and he had students walk out this week.

He writes:

My view on the walkout: What did this accomplish? The only good thing to come from this was most of my students are now aware of the issue, which clearly effects a good number of their families. Since the end of school I have been switching around the conservative talk stations and the word "truants" has been thrown around and there are plenty of jokes about how many of these kids were just taking the day off. So now the people that are actually trying to do something to stop this ridiculous law have to deal with being connected to a bunch of idiot students. One teacher said that about 1/2 of the kids that were in the quad did not seem to really even know why they were not in class. Many of my students said that they had friends that just went home or to another person's house to "kick back." All in all, this type of protest accomplishes very little.

Things about this protest and all of the others that bothers me:

1. Why do you chant "Viva Mexico" and other pro-Mexico chants if you are trying to get the ear of the U.S. government?

2. I ran into a former student who asked me if she looked sunburned. Let me translate freshmanese for you. What she really said was "Look at me, Mr. Austin, I was part of the walkout today - aren't I cool?" I asked her what she thought that she accomplished today. "Nothing" So I asked "Why did you go?" "I don't know." I continued "so you lost a day of education to not accomplish anything?" Her genius response? "You don't understand because you're not Mexican." I told her that I probably understood the law better than her and had probably done more to try and stop it than she did and suggested that if she really cared that she should write a letter or call her Senator or even President Bush. She wanted no part of that.

3. Why do people who have no clue about what they are protesting always talk on the radio and TV? One radio show played interviews with students that had walked out.
Interviewer: So you think that immigrants should have equal rights?
Student: Hell Yeah!
Interviewer: What rights should they have?
Student: Martin Luther King Jr. gave us free speech.
Interviewer: What do you think this law would do?
Student: its racist against immigrants

Meanwhile Glenn Reynolds also thinks there will be a backlash:

I'm not sure how much of the political resonance comes directly from economics, though. I think there's a political aspect, too, having to do with the effort of people who aren't citizens, and aren't here legally, to wield political power within the United States. I think this has a particularly unfortunate resonance in light of recent events in Europe. It's not The Camp of the Saints, but I think it has overtones of that sort.

Meanwhile, the obvious tendency of this weekend's marches to provoke a backlash makes me wonder why they're happening. One possibility is that the organizers are dumb, and don't think there will be a backlash. The other possibility is that the organizers aren't dumb, and figure that they'll benefit from a backlash if it occurs.

Mickey Kaus thinks the Republicans have found their 2006 issue:

Have the GOPs Found Their 2006 Issue? Republicans are deemed to be in deep trouble in the Congressional midterms--and searching desperately, without obvious success, for a hot-button issue (gay marriage? flag-burning?) that could mobilize conservative "base" voters. But is it possible they've now found one hiding in plain sight--a tough anti-illegal immigration bill?

Immigration has several characteristics that suggest it's a good locomotive for GOP victory in November: 1) Voters say it's an important issue; 2) A majority wants some sort of border-control action; 3) The GOP base feels intensely about it; 4) Many Congressional Democrats are--by ideology or interest group pressure--locked in to a pro-immigrant, non-tough stance (or if they strike a tough pose it seems just that). In all these respects, immigration resembles welfare reform, a key hot-button base-mobilizing issue for Republicans in the 1994 midterms.

He also notes some rather shabby reporting from the LA Times about the number of Mexican flags at these protests. He also notes a banner that read: THIS IS STOLEN LAND. See my above comments about fear of immigrants turning this country into Mexico. Also the fact that several parts of the country used to be part of Mexico and some people want to restore this makes the fear of illegal immigrants not assimilating even more justified.

The corner has some good posts on the Jobs Americans Wont Do issue. Here is one which notes the similar complaints about child labor a hundred years ago and which notes the 11.3% unemployment rate among native born construction workers.

And here is a good NY Times article about unemployment among black males with little education:

The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990's. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.

My own solution to the immigration is two fold: enforcement and then guest worker program. The first is draconian enforcement measures. The border can be sealed off, but I doubt enough people would support the rather violent means that it would take to do it (although I would). I would also start putting people in jail who knowingly employ illegals and do mass deportations. After that is taken care of, I would do a guest worker program for those still here who would be willing to register for it or those wanting to come here. Don't register for it and get caught and you are out permanently, with possibly a harsh prison sentence in the meantime. I would also look into the possibility of making birth in America when your parents are not citizens not enough to become a citizen, by amending the constitution if necessary. Note that I doubt any of my ideas will ever be implemented because they would work too well and be unpleasant for many people.

Posted by Pete at March 29, 2006 09:18 AM

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Comments

Posted by: Jeff at March 29, 2006 11:20 AM

Posted by: Pete at March 29, 2006 01:38 PM