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April 05, 2006

Immigration Roundup

I have time today so here a massive immigration issue roundup.

First off is International ANSWER, the Stalinist front group, which has supported tyrannical regimes from Slobodan Milosevic to Kim Il Jung. What does International ANSWER have to do with immigration you ask? Guess who organized the LA rally. And the next rally is planned for May Day. The Washington Times reports:

The Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (ANSWER) coalition, which organized the Los Angeles march to win "full rights for undocumented workers," is confident its new "national action" will prove successful.

ANSWER's steering committee includes the Free Palestine Alliance, the Partnership for Civil Justice, the Nicaragua Network, the Korea Truth Commission, the Muslim Student Association, the Mexico Solidarity Network and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. It denounces as racism attempts to criminalize illegal aliens.

Next is the lovely new trend spreading across our country's schools to ban the U.S. flag. Is it ok to question the patriotism of the school administrators who ban the US flag? CBS4 reports:

Students at Shaw Heights Middle School are no longer allowed to wear anything that is patriotic, including camouflage pants, because they have become a political symbol for a version of patriotism, CBS4 reports.

"It upsets me that we cannot support our troops -- the military," said Kirsten Golgart, an eighth grader who was told she'd be suspended if she didn't change her clothes. "We can't support our country. If we're American, I think we should be proud to be an American."

A letter went home to parents last week that explained for student safety, no clothes were allowed with political messages or flags of any sort.

In Houston a principal was disciplined after flying a Mexican flag over the school. The Houston Chronicle reports:

Reagan High School Principal Robert Pambello was ordered to remove a Mexican flag Wednesday morning that he had hoisted below the U.S. and Texas flags that typically fly in front of his school, a symbol he agreed to fly to show support for his predominantly Hispanic student body.

Here is San Antonio the principal of Lanier High School, Richard Solis, walked out with his students, but he says it was to make sure they did not cause any trouble. WOAI reports:

Many of the students said they were unclear about the political issues involved, and were going with their friends or simply taking an opportunity to get out of class and take a walk on a nice day. "Some of them may have just been copy cats and nothing else," explained Solis.

The students who protested will not face suspension for missing class. However, they will receive unexcused absences and be required to write a paper about what they learned from the experience. The SAISD has already said a handful of students who participated in a similar march on Friday will not be punished.

My kids will have to go to SAISD, but thankfully not to Lanier. Note to SAISD: If my kids ever walk out class like this, you have my permission to punish them and please let me know so I can punish them some more when they get home.

Rod Dreher has similar thoughts about schools allowing kids to walk out of class with no consequences:

Will DISD, or anybody else, impose consequences on these kids for what they've done? Or are we not in the business in this country anymore of imposing consequences for breaking the rules -- or the laws -- when it comes to the illegal immigration issue?

We said in our editorial today that we hope the demonstrations don't harden attitudes. Consider mine hardened. The nature of these school walkout demonstrations, which have (thank goodness) been peaceful, is still lawless. It reinforces for me the ugly fact that the country is being asked to look upon lawbreaking (coming into the US illegally) and bless it.

Michelle Malkin has a large flag/school walk out round up with lots of pictures here. This picture sums it up pretty well:

Related to this were vandals who stole a community's American flag and replaced it with a Mexican flag. It will cost around $500 to fix the flag pole and put the US flag back up. TCPalm reports:

"I woke up Sunday morning and looked up from my patio and then realized that the American flag wasn't on the flagpole," said Sue Miller a Chasewood North board member. "What captured my attention were the colors at first I thought it was an Italian flag, but one of our residents said it was the Mexican flag.

"I went to the flagpole, to see if the American flag was maybe on the ground, but they took it, and they cut the rope to get the American flag down and the Mexican flag up as well."

Gateway Pundit has a roundup of flag stories including this one from Victorville, CA:

'I don't know who did it or why. But I've had them on my car since 9/11 and it wasn't until now that anyone messed with them. I'm Mexican. All of this is embarrassing to me and my family,' Guzman said of the nationwide protests. 'I don't want people looking at me or my sister like we're one of those idiots protesting for a getout-of-jail-free card.'

Then there was this anti-assimilation email sent out by La Raza a while ago saying American values were dangerous for Hispanics. Kathryn Lopez reports:

Now to La Raza's concerns. Among them, in the e-mail I'm looking at, the La Raza staffer warns: 'while it doesn't overtly mention assimilation, it is very strong on the patriotism and traditional american values language in a way which is potentially dangerous to our communities.'

Also on the Corner Jonah Goldberg relates to what is one of my main frustrations with our current immigration policy that was supposed to be fixed 20 years ago by Reagan:

That's why my first choice for an immigration policy is to have one. Then, whatever it is, we have to enforce it ruthlessly and see what happens. Then we can make adjustments. The current policy is chaos, which means you can't make any meaningful fixes or adjustments. I'm certain I disagree with Derb and Mark's preferred policies on the details. But I would much, much, much rather have their dream scenario imposed and enforced with the caveat that it can be revisited as necessary than to stick with the status quo. Pick a policy and enforce it, from there progress can be made.

Goldberg also had a good column the other day about immigration and how Mexico's location and history make it different then other immigrant countries:

Our border with Mexico allows for levels of illegal immigration that have no historical precedent. In 1970, there were fewer than 800,000 Mexicans in America, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. In 1980, there were 2.2 million. In 1990, the number reached 4.3 million, and by 2000 it had climbed to 7.9 million. In 2005, there were 10.8 million a spike of 37 percent in half a decade. Today, roughly a third of all undocumented immigrants in America are Mexican, and they make up a disproportionate share of low-wage immigrants.

The Mexican government aids and abets illegal immigration in myriad ways, including giving prospective entrants to the U.S. a how-to guide for how to slip across the border, telling them not to wear heavy clothes, to drink plenty of water, and to keep your professional smuggler-guide in sight at all times. There's much less in the booklet about how to fill out the right forms and pass the naturalization exam.

The Mexican government is being perfectly rational. Mexico depends on the billions of dollars its fellow countrymen send back home, and it benefits (or hopes to) from the political clout Mexican-Americans have in our political system.

And here are some good columns from real clear politics. About the nature of protests, about the need to respect the law, about how illegal immigrants depress the wages of poor Americans, about the value and duties of citizenship, and about the racism of some of the protesters.

As much as we complain about our illegal immigrants, at least our immigrants are better than France's. (see photo below) So we have that going for us.

Posted by Pete at April 5, 2006 10:08 AM

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