I blog from Portland, Oregon, where I caught some of this afternoon's protest of America's immigration laws. A few hundred people, mostly young Hispanics, showed up in downtown Portland. (Let's face it, Portland is not San Diego or Phoenix.) The atmosphere seemed more festive than militant, which sugggests that most of the attendees came to a party rather than a protest. A truant officer might have had a busier day at the rally than an INS agent. But amidst the partygoers, there were a few protestors, and they seemed confused. Signs, in English and Spanish, lambasted President Bush. But apart from sharing political affiliation with most of those making a fuss about illegal immigration, what, precisely, has George W. Bush done to make life harder for illegal immigrants? President Bush, to the chagrin of much of his party, has attempted to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. He has been the most open-borders president in probably a century.
Bush has become a symbol for activists to rail against. It makes no difference that he actually supports the activists' demands. He will become the object of hate anyhow. At a stop at KXL to promote my Oregon lectures, Lars Larson's callers lit up the phone lines in outrage over the lax enforcement of immigration laws. Today's rallies were the hot topic. Curiously, outraged talk-radio callers, who detest amnesty, are apt to support the president, despite the president supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants; the illegal-immigrant rights protestors, who support amnesty, are apt to detest the president, despite the president supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants. Something has been lost in translation.
Yeah, it's because the illegal immigrant protesters and their handlers are low grade, under educated ignoramuses who hate the U.S. and all that it stands for. What they do like though are the benefits and the standard of living those benefits offer. I’ll pay more for my produce and my restaurant bill, thank you. Send them back to the Third World pit they came from. And why are people confused about this? This isn’t an Immigration issue, it’s an ILLEGAL immigration issue.
Immigrants come to this country for the same reason John Dellinger robbed banks -- that's where the money is. Immigrants do not come here because our economy needs their labor, but because of the significant wage differential between Mexico and the United States. While we often hear the refrain the immigrants keep prices down, the only price they really keep down is wages. Other industries could easily move to automation to increase productivity. On the immigration issue there is just as much dishonesty as there was over Iraq. It seems as if every issue these days is just a farce and the guy with most popular cliche wins.
.
