Animal Farm: The Harsh Rhetoric of Anti-Immigration Republicans
I get asked all the time by Republicans how they can talk about the immigration issue without turning themselves inside out, or turning Latinos against them.
Not all Republicans care enough to even ask the question, of course. Some don’t see a problem, and they’re happy to keep pandering to nativism and racism to win the votes of white Americans who cringe at changing demographics and tremble at the thought that the country is becoming more Latino.
But for those Republicans who realize the suicide mission their party is on by angering and alienating a population that adds an estimated 500,000 new voters to the rolls every year, there is a thirst for answers. They want to know how they can remain faithful to their principles and preserve U.S. sovereignty without sending Latinos fleeing to their Democratic opponents.
Let’s start with the basics. For those who want to repair the breach between the GOP and America’s largest minority, it would really help if Republicans stayed away from incendiary rhetoric that likens Latino immigrants – especially those from Mexico – to the cast of Animal Farm.
- In the most recent example, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce — the author of Arizona’s racial profiling law — said during a panel discussion in Washington that he didn’t understand how hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants could come to the United States each year without being detected and tracked by authorities. “We can track a cow with mad — mad cow disease, where it came from, um, but somehow we can’t find these folks that are within our country?”
- Tennessee state Rep. Curry Todd was asked during a committee hearing in Nashville if a state-funded health care program checked the citizenship of pregnant women before offering them services. Upset at the fact that health care providers do not try to determine citizenship once a baby is born in the United States, Curry complained that illegal immigrants “can go out there like rats and multiply.”
- A Republican running for Congress from Iowa said that the government must do a better job of tracking illegal immigrants once they’re deported to prevent reentry. Dr. Pat Bertroche said during a GOP candidates’ forum that the U.S. government should implant microchips into immigrants as if they were household pets. “I think we should catch ’em, we should document ’em, make sure we know where they are and where they are going,” Bertroche said. “I actually support micro-chipping them. I can microchip my dog so I can find it. Why can’t I microchip an illegal?”
- Rep. Ted Poe, R-TX, recently said that the Department of Homeland Security should be able to capture more illegal immigrants because, after all, the government has managed to apprehend much smaller intruders. “Now it seems to me that if we are so advanced with technology and manpower and competence that we can capture illegal grasshoppers from Brazil, in the holds of ships,” Poe said. “If we’re able to do that as a country, how come we can’t capture the thousands of people that cross the border everyday on the southern border of the United States? You know they’re a little bigger than grasshoppers and they should be able to be captured easier.”
- Rep. Steve King, R-IA, said during a Tea Party rally in Colorado that he wanted to build a concrete border fence that no one or nothing could get across, “not even a cockroach.” A few years ago, King said on the House floor that he thought we should install an electrified fence on the border “with the kind of current that would not kill somebody” but would give them a jolt. After all, he said, “we do this with livestock all the time.”
Jesus, what a drama queen.
Everytime I get on an airplane, I’m packed in like a sardine. Is it some mortal insult to make that comparison? No.
Hey, dude, all most people want is to catch illegal aliens, put ‘em on a bus, buy ‘em lunch for the ride home, and then send ‘em back to Mexico (assuming that’s where they’re from, of course). That’s pretty much the exent of our evil inhuman designs.
Not just a drama queen, but someone who doesn’t want to let people talk about how illegal it is. My guess is Mr. Navarrette is more than happy to drop the “illegal” portion of the phrase “illegal immigration” and have the issue muddied.
Mr. Navarrette: I know you don’t like responding to your critics, but here’s a simple question: what is it about illegal immigration that gets you so worked up that you prefer to have people ignore the law instead of actually changing the law?
Just shut up about illegal immigration you twit. I am sick and tired of hearing about how all hispanics are pissed at us bad republicans for being insensitive to the criminal behavior of the illegal immigrant. We would expect right thinking and ethical people to be on our side.Yes those people of hispanic heritage who understand law and order and want to live in this great country. Our laws and traditions is what sets us apart from that crap in a sack country called Mexico. So just shut up! If we end up losing this fight so be it. I fail to see the rationale that hispanics who come here legally would want their rights protected to not be overun by millions of illegals who such the system dry.
The basic fact you better get into your head is that Mexico is a fairly wealthy country, with oil, precious metals, and other natural resources. The reason it’s a sack of crap is because it is populated by Mexicans. They have taken the natural wealth available, processed it through a corrupt and incompetent government, and ended up with a pathetic mess. If they come to the US, they will take our resources, turn our government into a corrupt, even more incompetent joke, and we will be Mexico del Norte, because, as their last presidente correctly informed us, Mexico is where Mexicans live.
So,Ruben, tell us, please: are you for or against illegal immigration? Is illegal immigration a crime or a human right? What is your position? Do illegals, merely because they have managed to enter the U.S., have all the rights, privileges, and legal protections as a citizen or lawfully admitted legal resident? If a woman, who is herself an illegal immigrant, delivers a baby within the jurisdiction of the U.S. should the fact of that child’s U.S. citizenship allow her the right to stay forever? Do you think that most legal Hispanic citizens and legal residents are in favor of unfettered illegal immigration? Can we agree, as we get into this discussion, to ban the use of the word “racist?” Several South American nations have substantial populations which came from Japan and/or China in the 19th and 20th centuries, so it is fair to say that “Hispanics” come from all races. Are, in fact, Spaniards and Portuguese considered “Hispanics”, or not? They are the original inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula from which the settlers who mingled with the local inhabitants and created today’s “Hispanic” population came.
I am not evil or hateful. I simply see no reason why I should be in favor of UNCHECKED AND UNCONTROLLED economic migration to the U.S.
Actually, Ruben’s only for illegal Hispanic “immigration.” If China & India dumped 1% of their populations on west coast beaches at the rate of 25 million a year, Ruben’s Congressional puppet hypocrites would schedule an immediate hearing on the Coast Guard’s failure to stop the Asian Invasion. There’s absolutely no possibility Ruben & his law-breaking pals would be waving Chinese & Indian flags while marching for the “rights” of poor Asian “workers” who, after all, only want to come to America to take jobs Hispanics won’t do. Like I said….illegal Hispanic “immigration”, right Ruben?
Thee author is crying alligator tears that animal metaphors are used…then uses one at the closing in a feeble-minded attempt at sarcasm.
Great way to prove the point (HYPOCRISY, IRRELEVANCE) of your critics, Mr. Navarrette!
If this author desired ANY credibility whatsoever, he would look to the Democrats verbiage as well.
Until then, PJM loses a drop of respect in my mind with each revolting screed of this author it publishes.
Ruben, you’re a jackass.
El Emparedado is being niggardly with his facts.
The lawlessness of Hispanics does not make them friends with law abiding Americans.
Ruben do you know what a law is? Do you understand what the purpose of laws are?
Hispanics egotistic abuse of the law will not stand forever. Hispanics greedy selfish abuse of American society will create a huge backlash for themselves that they are 100% responsible for. No amount of self pitying whining and demagogic rhetoric will save them.
JL- Just so I’m clear…you are talking about illegals right? Because there are plenty of Americans that just so happen to be Hispanic that do not favor open borders, the Socialism growing in Latin American countries, and the leftists that import that crap here.
Just be sure you don’t lump in those LIBERTY LOVING LATINOS…with the LOUDMOUTHED LEFTIST LATINOS.
…just saying.
The entire point of all Rubens articles is that Hispanics act as a unified voting block against any politician who wants to enforce the law. Therefore Hispanics must be a unified group of law dodging individuals.
So the freedom loving people you talk about cannot be Hispanics.
Me thinks the author doth complain too much! He sees a mountain when in fact it is not even a molehill. In other words, “Much ado about nothing”!
Make it impossible for an illegal to get a job and they will all self deport to Canada, the UK, Russia and Poland. Is that PC enough? I never mentioned any countries to the south which account for 90% plus of our illegals. Also, those politcians were talking to citizens who vote. Illegals cannot legally vote in this country. Any complaints they have may be sent to the country of their birth.
No animals were harmed in the making of this comment!
I agree w/your comment, but just because illegals can’t LEGALLY vote in this country, doesn’t mean they don’t vote anyway. If we’ve learned anything from ACORN, it’s this: it’s getting easier & easier to become a voter in this country…legal or illegal.
I do wonder if Ruben would be quite so sympathetic if 500,000 of us anglo centre-right Australians started making our way over your borders each year, every year.
Me thinks not.
…..please come over here, up here, whatever.
We need you Ozzies! Now.
Please do so.
The question would you ? Apparently, you would
If you do it legally, and don’t try to reconquista our states, you’re welcome.
Why does this writer continue to have a forum here? He should be on HuffPo.
Yep, since Ruben is so good at giving advice, why doesn’t he fix Mexico? Seems they could use a bit of his genius right now.
Notice folks, Ruben keeps writing about the responsibility of the VICTIMS towards the aggressors. In Ruben’s world, those who are being used, abused, raped of their wealth and property, watching their culture being shredded and their laws broken have to WATCH THEMSELVES and MAKE NICE. I think Ruben is shocked shocked SHOCKED! that political correctness has ceased to matter when it comes to illegal invaders marauding the country and then demanding they have a “dream” handed to them. Ruben thinks that if he continues to play the “race” card (what race are Hispanics, Ruben?) and continues to warn of impending doom to the right if they don’t lick alien boots, that somehow we will all kowtow and back off. It ain’t workin’ Rube. I think that if you really want to turn the world right side up again Ruben, you would get all your uneducated unwashed greedy parasites from La Raza together and tell them to put down their dirty little Mexican flags, take a deep breath, and tell them how all the prior waves of immigrants became Americans. Tell them Rube, how they made a Herculean attempt to drop their “foreigness” and become Americans and did not stand in the streets like the filth from La Raza and bellow and threaten the people they are stealing from and raping. Tell them Rube that if they want to endear their cause to the average American, DON’T ARRIVE HERE A READY MADE CRIMINAL, tell them that the first act of public relations is not to break the laws of the host country and then collectively grab your crotches and scream in a foreign language about the evil gringo. When did the Irish, the Italians, the Jews, the Chinese, or any other group do that Rube? Or do you think your fellow Latinos have a ready made suit of armor because they are members of a very special minority? Tell them Rube that most Americans don’t want to host a huge population that will demand the gringo get to the back of the line because affirmative action which was invented decades ago as an ostensible reparation for black Americans has now morphed into whitey get lost. And with all those Mexicans crawling and creeping under fences and under cover of darkness, many Americans see themselves and their children morphing into second class citizens, the serf of the Latino, if you will. You continue to blast away at the wrong people and all your hysterics and wailing only make us stronger. And lastly Rube, there has to be some pretty mighty inherent stupidity and obtuseness about a population that continues to smite those whom they wish to GRAB THINGS FROM. By their very stupidity and outright hostility they are demonstrating every day why those you champion will NOT BE AN ASSET TO THIS COUNTRY. Americans are fed up with the dregs of the world. They do nothing for us and they are destroying this country. We do not want to live in ….Mexico.
“do not want to live in Mexico.”
Apparently, neither does Mr. Navarrette.
The author has a reputation for being thoughtful and reasonable. It may well be that, in our frustration over illegal immigration, many of us have gone over the line to gratuitous insult. In my opinion, it is outrageous that our laws are being ignored by both illegal aliens and the government, and that we have a right and a duty to enforce them. On the other hand, most of the illegal aliens I have met seem to be perfectly nice people.
Ruben’s reputation as “thoughtful & reasonable” carries weight only among illegals, liberals & the Hispanic caucus…..the rest of us know better. BTW, do illegals who are nice people just come up to you & tell you they’re illegals or how does that work?
If Ruben had to stop repeating himself in every column and telling everyone else what they should do, he’d probably starve to death. From reading the above posts, Ruben, everyone (with one exception) seems to have your number.
Hey, Reuben – what drugs are you taking? They make you paraniod and distrusting.
Tell you what. ANY PERSON who breaks the law in this country should be punished. If that person is not a citizen, why can’t we deport them? They don’t belong here, no matter what you say – not if we say otherwise. It’s our country.
Tha means mine, too. That means my opinion counts, too. One vote, same as you.
Oh wait – I’m armed. That’s two votes. Smith AND Wesson. You gotta problem with that? Just move on, mister. Off my land.
Is it me, or is every single one of your columns the same? I hope PJM isn’t paying you for this, because they are getting ripped off.
Sorry, amigo, but you are talking to the wrong people! Those who ask you such things do not represent the views of the majority of US citizens! They only represent the Republican establishment, which is willing to sell out our God-given (forged by the founding fathers) rights as US citizens, just to get a vote (they sound a lot like Democrats, don’t they?).
This writer’s mother must have fainted when she realized she had produced the mexican (or whatever the PC term is today) version of race-pimping Jesse Jackson.
” ” “With demographics shifting as they are, and a string of defeats headed their way for decades to come, Republicans might eventually go the way of another creature that couldn’t adapt to changing surroundings: the dinosaur.” ” ”
You wrote this two years ago, right? Do you read the papers? Blogs? Watch TV? The shift to the right in this country is so big even your fellow travelers in the rat media can’t hide it. Take your head out of your butt and watch your fellow latinos waking up to the reality that they’ve been duped by the rat party all these years and that reality ( self responsibility, freedom, capitalism ) is way way right of the rat party.
Unfortunately the use of analogies to help make a point appears to be offensive. I am sure that those referenced comments are being used over and over to inflame the passions of illegals and their supporters (who follow their leaders like “sheep”).
Yes, those who are a making those comments need to better understand how their words can be twisted and turned to be used against them. But it seems that certain people are just too sensitive.
For example, will any blacks be offended by the term niggardly used above (comment 7)? I remember a politician being ostracized by over-sensitive, politically correct people about his use of this word. Though anyone who looks it up in the dictionary will know it has nothing to do with anyone’s race.
It is a shame that Hispanics and others cannot remember that simple phrase – sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me.
Yes, politicians need to be careful, because as Ruben demonstrated, any analogy can be quickly twisted around, especially by people who have been hyper sensitized (either by personal experience with real slurs and insults, or by brainwashing from multi-culturists and other social activists) to see any reference to animals as a reference to themselves. But isn’t it interesting that most of the analogies Ruben sees as potential insults were primarily analogies to other attempts to track moving items, or illegal contraband? The reason we tag cows, dogs, packages, cars, trucks, airplanes, prisoners, etc with tracking devices is not because they are worthless, but simply because we have a vested interest in knowing their whereabouts. Likewise, if a person shows a history of breaking the law, and showing up in places where he/she should not be, we have a vested interest in tracking their future whereabouts. So the analogies to other tried and true solutions to such tracking problems are quite straightforward and logical. So, if you want to get offended, don’t get offended that you are supposedly being compared to animals, instead be offended that you are being compared to law enforcement efforts against criminals – Oh, wait, never mind, that analogy hits a little too close to home for comfort, doesn’t it?.
What is PJ’s reason for publishing this one-note irritant? His pretense that he only wants to make the Republican Party better liked in the Latino community wore thin a long time ago. If I wanted to read this sort of rubbish, I’d drop by Huffington Post or DailyKos and watch MSNBC at night. Nobody takes “racism” and “nativism” seriously anymore except on the left where it’s all they’ve got left in their bag of tricks.
Let me get this right. Ruben’s offering advice to “help” Republicans do better in the Hispanic “community”? Why would a humanity-lovin’ liberal like Ruben want to “help” those he considers racist, bigoted & elitist get more votes? I’m not suspicious at all, are you?
The Germans, Chinese, Irish, Italians, Jews, and other immigrants were all seen as inferior to current inhabitants.
Hey, ever had a converstaion with a Mexican living in America (after a few beers) about Blacks, Jews, or Chinese?
Ethnic tribalism is instinctive and must be unlearned
There is NOTHING in Mexican culture or in Mexico’s political or educational system to facilitate this ‘unlearning’, so they bring their ethnic tribalism with them over the border, completely intact. Additionally, individuals such as Ruben either ignore or facilitate Hispanic tribalism, which is to say there is no longer anything on the North side of the border to mitigate the racial prejudices of Mexicans and other Latinos, particularly if they settle into majority-Hispanic neighborhoods and start consuming Spanish-only media, as they are wont to do.
The problem isn’t really ethnicity, however, it’s culture, and by that I don’t mean what food one likes to eat and whether or not one likes bright colors when decorating the house. The reason Mexico is a a bit of a sh*thole isn’t because of Big Bad America (contrary to what racialists like Ruben believe), and neither is it because America is almost two-thirds White, it’s because of what’s floating around in the heads of Mexicans and other Latinos, and the political and social dynamics that eventually result from these cultural attitudes.
Put another way, Ruben does no one any favors by seeking replication of Mexican culture in America. Demographic trends do indeed mean that all the border states will eventually become not just Hispanic-majority, but Hispanic super-majority, which begs a question, the only relevant question:
“And then what?”
BRAVO!!!!!
¡Olé!
If the San Diego Union Herald, CNN, etc., had any brains (or survival instincts), they would fire Ruben and hire Aureliano.
The USA is so prosperous and productive, built with the sweat and blood of millions of Americans. Your parents and gradparents built this country for Americans. The hundreds of billions of people all over the world that would like to have what we have could have it if their parents and grandparents had built their country. Instead the people would rather just sneak in and stake their claim to what doesn’t belong to them. That is going to end NOW! You can claim discrimination, rasicm, racial profiling, scream to the UN, but this country is not going to be divided up among the billions of unfortunate, penniless, starving refugees just because they want what we have. Secure the borders against the onslaught.
Mr. Navarrete,
I’m Hispanic, from Puerto Rico. The most racist politicians on earth are the Democrats. These rats don’t want Puerto Rico to be a state, even when a Puerto Rico state could be a Democrat state. The GOP has the statehood of Puerto Rico as a party platform for over 50 years.
If you want Hispanics from other countries to come here and get more political power than Puerto Ricans that have given blood and life for this country for over a century, you need to go back to where you belong. Stop calling Republicans racists. Yes, there are many White Republicans who hate Hispanics and Blacks but most Republicans are decent inclussive people.
Blacks are the most racist people in the US. They make jokes of Puerto Ricans and their accent and always ask : “what is your nationality?”
These Democrats don’t know that Puerto Rico is a US Commonwealth.
“Yes, there are many White Republicans who hate Hispanics and Blacks but most Republicans are decent inclussive people.” Many? I am sure there are FAR FAR FAR more Hispanics and Blacks (both in terms of percentages and raw numbers) who hate White Republicans than vice versa.
There is a little family market in my neighborhood owned by a very nice Chinese immigrant family. Their daughter is like so many 1st generation Americans before her – REALLY WESTERNIZED! The parents English is fairly good, though heavily accented. They also know several languages and try to speak to their patrons in their own language. I love the store.
The black people in the neighborhood treat these people like cr@p! They speak down to them – sloooooowly – like they can’t understand English. They are rude and cruel to them. One woman, when receiving her change, made a point of speaking sloooooowly and rudely told the woman to put the change “IN-HER-HAND! THAT’S-WHAT-WE-DO-IN-A-MER-I-CA!!!” Very racist!
Isn’t that what La Raza – “The Race” – and the Reconquista de Aztlan
movement that is all the rage with Chicano activists all about?
I’d REEEAAALLLY like to meet these ‘plethora-like’ numbers of legal Americans with Hispanic ancestry who are ALL-IN for amnesty to the illiterate, non-assimilating castoffs from down South this author speaks of.
I’ve many legal friends of Hispanic ancestry and NONE,ZERO, NADA are for the plans this fictitious (‘..defeats headed their way for decades to come..’ hahahaha) dolt posts EVERY SINGLE TIME..
This one-trick Navarrette is a knee-jerk, common sense and facts be-damned useful idiot to a cut-your-own-throat cause.. the guy’s frighteningly naive and stupid. And these are his good points!
Merry Christmas everyone.
BTW, my ‘one-trick Navarrette’ quip was in no way an insult to ‘ponies’.. or the thin-skinned, tunnel visioned author for that matter.
Ruben Junior’s thesis is dishonest to the core. The issue is “illegal immigration” not “legal immigration” (a.k.a. “immigration” for short). He knows this perfectly well, but he dare not acknowledge it. Just as he dare not address ANY of the perfectly sane reasons why the current (essentially) open border with Mexico must be closed. Mexico is a failed socialist state hopelessly mired in its own lawlessness & corruption. We cannot save Mexico, short of invading it and taking over its government. Obviously we cannot afford that. And besides, we have enough on our hands unseating the socialists (now known as “progressives”) in our own country who would happily turn *us* into another Mexico.
No. We must ignore the race-card hysterics of Junior & Co., and return security and lawful order to our southern border as soon as we are able.
I stopped reading at nativism and racist. All your pieces are the same – pieces of sh!t! We have recently had two articles relating to the decay and decline of one of our most successful states – California. Huge portions of this country are decaying in the same way and it’s greatly been inhanced by invaders from the southern border. I’ve seen it first hand. Once beautiful and historic neighborhoods turned into shoddy crapholes almost overnight by a people who have absolutely NO RESPECT for the property (not earned and not theirs) nor their neighbors. Thankfully Virginia cried HALT and in the name of a “War Against Crime,” (read: gangs) we’ve driven most of them over the border into Maryland who welcomed them and called us racists.
Past Script: Maryland now wants an Arizona styled immigration law on their books because crimes has tripled there.
Will someone please check the needle on the record player? It’s skipping again.
Apparently Señor Navarrette’s grand plan to make the Republican Party sufficiently accommodating to his ethnic nationalist sentiment is to have the GOP become — wait for it — the Democratic Party!
God almighty I thought that by now you would have been sent back across the border!.
I went to the trouble to read the pertinent statute, and I could detect no sign of racial profiling, but I have poor vision; please explain to me wherein I might find racial profiling endorsed or legislated, and cite the relevant passages, or apologise for willfully and mischievously defaming the Senator.
(I, however, apologise if the article further down was revealed as a droll satire; I own that I read no further than the vile calumniation of Sen. Pearce.)
Cockroaches are NOT animals. There is no such thing as a LATINO! On the last census it stated that ‘latino’ is not legitimate. Get over it!
Presumably, a “Latino” is someone who comes from a country whose language stems from Latin. In short, a “Romance Language” (from “Roman,” not romanticism) That would mean that a “Latino” would be anyone whose country of origin speaks French, Spanish, Portugese, Rumanian or Italian at a minimum, huh?
I have French ancestry… does that make me a Latino, by the definition above?
I’m shocked! just shocked! Imagine the nerve of those republicans(and the majority of the american people)complaining that their country is being invaded by unskilled, welfare dependent self laborers, who are turning the USA into a third world sweatshop! BTW Navarrette,how much is Vicente Fox and George Bush paying you to spout this drivel?
Ruben,
Cesar Chavez would disagree with you. Is he a racist too?
First point, there are NO references in this article to the classic novel “Animal Farm”. Second point, Ruben, is that Hispanics ARE animals…As are whites, blacks, Asians, etc. We are all animals. Human beings are simply the cleverest ape this planet ever produced.
My third point is that the GOP is welcoming to Hispanics, Blacks, and any other race you can come up with, provided they are LEGAL citizens.
Can you not grasp that the “illegal” in “illegal immigrant” means they have broken the law? There is no reason to accommodate or welcome them. There is every reason to round them up and ship them off. Why should I obey the laws of this country when they don’t have to?
“Why should I obey the laws of this country when they don’t have to?”
Indeed! This has been a gripe of mine for years. These people can literally get away with murder here. Police routinely release them after a vehicle accident. One thing that holds this country together is a civil respect for the fairness of the law and these people – with the help of their apologists (like Mr. Navarrette) – flaunt our laws with an arrogance that is appalling. It’s just infuriating!
Ruben, I think a more relevant question ought to be, what is it that Hispanics like so much about the way Democrats talk about the criminals who steal identities, crash our borders, fill our emergency rooms, slow down our classrooms, form gangs, commit murders, sell drugs, and fill up our prisons?
It that the Mexican dream of coming to America illegally?
What is it about Mexico that they hate so much, that they would come here and live lives of underclass desperation? Why are they invading someone else’s land, what is it in their makeup that would make them think that this is an act of a respectable human being?
To come here as a criminal invader and then complain that they are not talked about nicely enough, so they are going to vote for the party that is ruining the economy…the ONLY reason the vast majority snuck across the border in the first place.
Do they care, one tiny bit, about the negative impact they are having on America? Do they care, in the slightest about the massive crime wave that is attendant to their need to steal identities? Do they care about the murders on our borders by their drug cartels, and how many of their number are directly and indirectly responsible?
It is not Mexican-Americans that are the issue, Ruben. It is Mexican-NonAmericans. “Hispanics” take umbrage at “nativism” and “racism”…so they threaten to vote for Democrats?
Don’t make me laugh. Mexico is a breeding ground of its own racism and nativism and has been for centuries. I suggest you try to write an article that doesn’t stereotype and brand people because of party affiliation…and try in that article to write why tearing down the system through illegal activities is not in anyone’s best interests. And lastly, how “Hispanics” should learn to talk about others…before they start giving lessons on how they should be spoken about.
1) It’s anti-illegal-immigration, and we SHOULD NOT TOLERATE the miscasting of this issue as anti-immigration. It’s a base deceit.
2) I’d have to be a fool to think this author would oppose illegal-immigration efforts IF ONLY there weren’t SOME who talked about it stupidly.
3) So my conclusion is that Navarrette is simply smearing the Republicans while pretending to care to help them.
4) What I’ve learned from this article is that PJM continues to suffer from serious deficiencies in editorial discretion.
Prior to posting I thought I should do a little research to see if I was too quick in my judgments.
I found 2 quotes on the front page of rubennavarrette.com:
Lou Dobbs:
“A few journalists are part of a network, a closed loop, if you will, of radical left-wing, open borders, amnesty-seeking advocates. One of them is a columnist by the name of Ruben Navarrette, who knows, really, in my opinion, nothing about the issue of illegal immigration or the economics of it and certainly even less about journalism. He attacked me in a column, titled Stirring up Anti-Latino Sentiment. This is the kind of nonsense you get from these ridiculous, small-time, closed-loop journalists seeking amnesty and open borders.”
- Lou Dobbs on CNN’s ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight’
Followed by Ruben’s response:
TRANSLATION: “Look here, Mess’can, you people should be seen and not heard. I’m working this side of the street. This is my meal ticket. Go back to picking peaches.”
—
Full deck of race cards, and this one played courtesy of PJM.
Ruben Navarette is a RINO (my apologies to rhinoceroses).
Ruben is a broken record. (A song on repeat loop for the digital generation.) If he ever wrote an article on a different subject I think I would faint.
What makes Ruben a Republican, even “In Name Only”? His opinion on open borders? His ideas on re-distributing my income? Is it more taxes on anyone who doesn’t work “under the table”? Or maybe he just checked the little “R” box on his voter registration form 30 years ago thinking it meant REPARATIONS?
The most consistent johnny-one-note that I have ever come across. It’s hard to understand why this dunce is given valuable space here at PJM, considering all the other fine work that is posted here. After awhile you just have to laugh.
Too bad Ruben never visits the site. I’d like to see him debate the issues a bit.
Democrats and Republicans have a donkey and an elephant representing their parties.
OH NOES!
Unlike many of the posters here, I agree that the rhetoric needs to be toned down. What many of the responders have overlooked is that the rhetoric includes MICROCHIPPING HUMAN BEINGS. Every Republican voter should be disgusted at the thought of that.
Hispanic voters tend to be hard working, pro-family Christians. That should be an easy bloc for the GOP to pick up, if they’d stop acting like illegal immigrants need to be shocked and microchipped.
Great,
Now, to the back of the line like every other LEGAL immigrant and come here and become American and stop the hateful La Raza stuff.
His writing is a mixed bag of hypersensitivity and valid complaints. Talking about “microchipping” people is not exactly the smartest PR move for anybody, let alone Republicans.
And make no mistake: the “open borders” crowd is an unholy alliance between leftist post-Marxists and business owners who want sources of cheap labor. The latter may be as capitalist as you and I but are simply short-sighted.
Also, has anybody ever looked at how “white” the ruling class in countries like Mexico is? (Yes, “Hispanic” countries have their own intra-Hispanic racial issues.) What is driving Mexico into the ground is a ruling class that only cares about itself, and sustains itself by exporting the country’s economic problems to the USA. (Note: economic problems. Most of the illegals themselves are just poor shlubs looking for a honest buck they can’t make in their own economic sinkhole of a country. Then our “welfare pimps” get hold of them…)
Finally: “Hispanics” should not be looked at as a monolithic block. Mexicans and Cubans (a rock-solid Republican constituency, as they all know what socialism means in practice), for example, seem to be on different planets on some issues.
And “heh”: if coming from a Romance language background qualifies one as Latino, I am Latino myself (aside from probably having some ancestors in the Spanish Expulsion)
Geez. Has the author never heard of a simile? In the imortal words of Sgt Hulka, “Lighten up, Ruben”.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1222-dream-act-20101222,0,3715809.story
Ruben Navarrette should be scared with the mounting anti-illegal immigration rhetoric. The above post from LA Times is about the Dream Act. No other topic gets more heated inflammatory comments in even left-tilting LAT than the Dream act/illegal immigration. Even in far left, predominately Dem CA comments In LAT run 10-1 against amnesty 4 illegals and the Dream Act.
BTW i have put up some comments today in LAT under above story ,which will only further fan the flames, as i am likely one of the more feared & hated flamethrowing anti-illegal immigrant bloggers in CA. I know because 3 times this year my blogsite has been attacked and shut down by leftist hackers.
3 times this year my blogsite has been attacked and shut down by leftist hackers………intolerance for thee, but not for me. That’s the Socialist creedo.
and you all dropped Phyllis Chesler but keep this guy around??
pfffffft PJM
agreed exaggerated hyperbole= drama queen
what is Latino? or Hispanic?
nonsense words made up by RACISTS
speaking Spanish does not make instant solidarity- in my state most Spahish speakers are anti commie CUBANOS- REPUBLICANS yes!!and have very little affection for or sympathy to Mexican illegals
the Argentines are not Mexicans, nor the Brazilians, Venezuelans
I thought you libs like DIVERSITY- well naverette the Spanish speaking Americans are diverse and not ONE group of similar political views
I here all this-this-and-that about the Cubans being anti-illegal and being such rock-ribbed American conservatives. Well let Sen. Rubio stand up in the Senate and introduce a vote to end “Wet Foot / Dry Foot”!!
Also keep in mind that a steady flow of illegals keeps the the Cuban/SA professional and media classes down their in South Florida employed. And I wonder if those seeking education say at Vanderbilt, Emory, the Ivies, or at some state university without a large citizen Latino recruting pool are checking off “non-Hispanic White” on their application.
As for those with Cuban and South American friends who are SOOOOO anti-wetback, maybe they’ve been telling you what you like to hear. They tell the Mexican paisas what they like to hear, too, how its all about “us Latinos”. Successful is the gun dealer who praises Israel when Mr. and Mrs. Silverstein shows up to look, and but then complains abouth “dem Jews” when the Palestian store owner comes to the counter.
Here is just one of my posts on illegal immigration/Dream Act, just posted in LA Times comments section today. If this is an example of Ruben’s Republican inflammatory rhetoric so be it. The Ultra libs do not give any quarter, so why should I.
“Shame on the Congressional traitors who attempted to grant out freebies and citizenship privileges to illegal alien lawbreaking foreign nationals who steal away lower-level jobs from UE American Citizens, often by using fake phony ID’s
The dream act is a Trojan Horse which if it had passed would have opened the gates to another massive wave of illegals, chiefly by allowing the students granted citizenship status to bring in all their families and extended relatives. It is just a sneaky backdoor attempt to grant amnesty to millions of illegals illegals.
Dream Act is just one more massive scam piled upon 3 decades worth: 3 decades in which illegals scammed/gamed the CA/USA benefits/welfare/educational system out of 10′s of billions.”
Law is not a popularity contest and if Latinos don’t like illegals being put out when there is an entire continent and a half of Latino polities already in existence then that’s tough; enforce the law and not voter risky perceptions. That’s exactly why 12 million illegals sit in safe harbor. If it were Asians being “profiled” or repatriated we would have no columns from you; to me that’s racial bigotry and not justice. If our Constitution was like you it wouldn’t exist in the first place.
Adding half a million new voters a year does make me cringe. What’s the thinking here Ruben? I truly don’t get it. All of South America is somehow not enough? Central America, Mexico? What is the goal and why are Latino’s so smug about overwhelming America demographically? I don’t want to Europeanize Latin America.
You yourself unashamedly tout immigration by race and portray whites who do so as racists; the difference? The Europeans Americans have law on their side and a culture they want to maintain intact in their own home country and not outside it like Latinos which is overreaching overweening arrogance.
The only breach I want to repair is in the wall that allows Latinos to march in and turn my nation into a shanty town. And who in this world authored a “racial profiling law”? Answer: no one. It’s a cultural and deluded conceit coming from those who use idiotic semantics to demonize Americans who don’t want to live in Mexico, as if that’s somehow racist. If it’s such a great idea, move there and don’t expect it to move here. Ever hear of the greater good? Where is that in your rhetoric? So I want to maintain my culture intact and you want to spread your culture from polities where it is perfectly intact. Where is your sense of proportion and fair play? There is none. You love Latin America fine but this ain’t it.
I’ve spent 2 years of my life traveling all over Latin America and I don’t want it here – it is broken. I know you and yours fantasize that America will turn into a browner exceptionalist America but it will simply turn into a less European unexceptionalist America. The proof is in the history of Latin America itself. Anti-Latino sentiment started the day of the Mexican flag waving illegals and not in the hearts of Americans; we can only take so much disrespect til we fight back in some fashion.
What in the world is so hard to understand about the idea of Latinos staying and fighting in their own polities as we did here instead of trying to piggy back Latino culture onto American values – it’ll never work. Try walking up into Dona Marta shanty town in Rio as I did and be confronted by a 15 year old kid with a 38 caliber revolver asking me what I’m doing fhere. Turns out he was doing me a favor. He told me I wouldn’t be killed for money, just for being there. We don’t need any more favors.
I am sickened by this display of blithe racism and cultural superiority while claiming to be the exact opposite. If you want to find the source of anti-Latino sentiment you have to look no farther than yourself. The idea that Latinos in America will build libraries is ridiculous and the idea that if they somehow did they’d be for the greater good and not somehow specifically benefit Latinos even more ridiculous; if I’m wrong dissolve La Raza and disassociate yourself from them. I saw no concept of the greater good in Latin America. There is only what you can take based on the unwillingness to create for all. I have to pay 10-20 times to enter a ruined church in Antigua, Guatemala and that is illegal here. I have to pay just to enter town squares in Kathmandu which I say is racist, 20 times more to get in the Taj Mahal, same with the Pyramids in Egypt and on and on and on. Plus, did you know that Thais don’t have to wait in line compared to “farangs”.
It’s only a matter of time before there is a Latino Congressional Caucus and you can see the genesis of that in the racist National Council of La Raza organization; talk about semantics, I love the spin La Raza tries to put on the spanish meaning of their racist name. Oh, it just means “the people”, sure, Latino people. KKK is fine with the Third World and minorities as long as it goes by a different name. You give us unequivocal advocation by race and that racist nonsense is fine by you and in return you take people to task for semantic pedantry? That’s a losing proposition and trading a Babe Ruth for a minor leaguer but what do you care as long as brown wins out regardless of fairness, right, morals, ethics or the law. Take a frickin’ hike with this nonsense.
How’s about illegals start obeying the laws?
As someone else pointed out, you’re whining about analogies. Most of the comments that offend you are to the effect of “we can do X with animals, why not with these people” — how’s about growing a thicker skin?
How about you start pushing for enforcement of the immigration laws and the deportation of all illegal immigrants, until you do that people are going to call you a lot of nasty things. And you are so thin skinned you will be upset and refuse to see that your actions are the cause for the name calling.
You nailed it Mr. May! The crux of the whole argument is do we want an unchecked, unassimulated Central American wave to bring their third world pathologies to the United States. This grandchild of a German Immigrant says no friggin way!!
Without reading more deeply between the lines, Mr. Navarrette’s point is well taken. He is merely suggesting a rhetorical change of not comparing Hispanic illegal aliens to animals. Thus far he’s got an excellent point. I tend to go with Marcus Aurelius and look at each point separately rather than trying to interpret the universe from a couple of data points, and I reckon there are plenty of Latino folks who are natural Republicans or Conservatives and native born Americans who are turned off and away by this kind of rhetoric. Pearce is my own State Senator, and he does not think of illegal aliens as animals, but it remains an unfortunate motif when overused.
One doesn’t have to be pro open borders to recognize that cruel language, even if inadvertent, can have a disproportionate impact. Everyone to the right of Lyndon Johnson knows that we are held to a standard far higher than anything expected of anyone to his left, so fair or not, it’s a good idea to choose words, metaphors and similes with care. Each of the examples could been worded just as effectively without the animal comparisons.
Having a good meaning doesn’t let one off from considering the format of the message. It matters! And since the odds are that every illegal immigrant will eventually be amnestied because a majority of Americans inexplicably vote democratic every so often, it does no harm to treat them with a modicum of respect.
If I were a furriner I sure wouldn’t trust America. Every so often we go insane and elect a Carter or Obama. Then we betray our friends, lick the boots of our enemies, throw away victories, and stab our allies and our very own troops in the back. May Obama be the last of that foul breed.
“The Germans, Chinese, Irish, Italians, Jews, and other immigrants were all seen as inferior to current inhabitants.”
If they were here legally then the complaint was groundless.
If however they Broke The Law to get here then yes they are inferior and thus do not deserve the treatment a LEGAL immigrant would.
Ruben,
Would you cut it out with the theatrics.
All we are asking is that they get to the back of the line, like my bother’s wife had to do before she could come here legally.
The last thing we need is a reconquista movement sucking CA and NM led by La Raza, a racist organization.
However, that appears to be exactly what Ruben is supporting, judging from his numerous–and repetitive–posts here.
Ruben, what are you doing to reach out to those of us uncomfortable with an open border with Mexico? I mean other than calling us racists and bigots, I mean?
I understand Americans can’t own property in Mexico. Have you called on Mexico to change its policy? How come?
Do you think Mexico should become bilingual giving equal treatment to English and Spanish? Do you think America should?
“Do you think Americans can’t own property in Mexico?” “Do you think that Mexico should become bilingual giving equal treatment to English and Spanish?”. Why not focus on the type of relations the two countries, Mexico and the US, might play? Would the relations between the countries ever be equal? What roles the countries would be expected to play? How can relations develop that are built on rather different levels of power and wealth? How do individuals from different cultures view the world? Which country establishes all rules of conduct, even moral one? Name the country which does not see any need to negotiate ways of understanding? Do you know the country who defines simply everything and expects the world to follow and in the end might argue that Mexico and the rest of the world are so extremely unexceptional that they just are not able to follow the exceptional arguments of very exceptional people?
Do you know the country who defines simply everything and expects the world to follow and in the end might argue that Mexico and the rest of the world are so extremely unexceptional that they just are not able to follow the exceptional arguments of very exceptional people?
It’s not that we Americans expect the world to follow. Frankly, I don’t care whether it follows or not. But when it does choose to follow it is not too much to ask that it respect our laws and, you know, not illegally cross our border.
And then demand social services and the right to vote.
Quite a mild bit of criticism of … racist Republicans – racist GOP … for a minority that they are, every single one not worthy of the term human seems rather bigoted to me, to smear them all.
But a good contrast between the Japanese treatment at WWII; yet there are those today that can see no justification, for lack of facts and experience of the history.
Too bad we don’t have another Mark Twain with this guy here, but then, I like a good joke myown fine self.
Perhaps we could have gotten a good definition of citizenship to go with this dose of salts.
Another fake issue being used by Ruben Navarette to justify another round of insincere “advice.” Nothing new here.
Hey, Ruben… you really should read your co-blogger Victor Davis Hanson’s latest. Here’s a snippet for you:
Funny how you never got around to mentioning MEChA or La Raza’s comments in your screed, ain’t it?
I suppose that if several people break into my home, lay on my couch, watch pay-per-view shows, eat the food in my refrigerator, buy stuff online with my ID, And then expect me to take mamacita to the hospital while she kicks out her anchor-baby (and I get the bill!) I’m just being mean and racist if I am not keen to my “undocumented houseguests” continued presence in my home. I don’t care if they are the Swedish bikini team, I want them GONE! Seriously, How many illegal trespassers does this country NEED, and when we reach that number, how do we keep another 500 million from still coming? If present US citizens don’t have the right to say who is welcome, who does?
For Goodness Sakes Ruben! This is an important question and all you can give us are 5 examples of Republicans speaking insensitively. Surely you could come up with more constructive recommendations. I.E., not being so intransigent about rounding up 12 million illegals and shipping them all back home or; being more open to a pathway to citizenship (from the back of the line). Surely it can be handled better than it was under Reagan. I like the idea of Hispanic immigration… if it’s legal. They are an important addition to the fabric our our nation, they are predominately Christian (which is a good thing). They are predominately non-Muslim (which is a good thing), they have a work ethic, etc, etc.
Unbelievable you would allow this race baiter on your site. You’re off my blogroll.
How about not call White Euro Americans Nativist Racists for wanting to control our borders?
Why is no one concerned with alienating white Euro US citizens? That is the real question.
The commenters at PJM seem to be mostly intolerant assholes. Mr. Navarette does himself no favors by allowing his work to be published here. I hope he’s paid a lot, and spends it on educating folks in places where they still appreciate that sort of thing.
Ruben, I read you in San Diego and really appreciate your take. How you are posting here @ PJ is baffling though. As the comments show.
Great piece though, keep it up.
The whole point being missed is that we have a security problem at our southern border. With out fixing this problem all other points are mute. It’s like the farmer chasing half of the herd while leaving the barn door open so the other half of the herd can still escape. If we let the soverity of our nation deteriorate what as a nation do we have left to stand next. We will fall into a new world order and have the u.n running our lives (O.K. it may be a bit of a reach, but it is plausible