Racism a Reality in Immigration Reform Debate
As we’ve seen, Obama supporters have a distasteful habit of accusing critics of racism. A white president, they insist, wouldn’t be treated so disrespectfully — heckled by a member of Congress, questioned about his U.S. citizenship, caricatured as an African witch doctor, etc.
But what in the world does any of this have to do with the immigration debate? Not much, except perhaps in the mind of the reader who recently objected to a commentary I wrote on this site about Obama supporters playing the race card. After all, he claimed, I deal from the same deck when arguing in favor of comprehensive immigration reform — including earned legalization for undocumented immigrants.
“This is your standard SOP for anyone that disagrees with you,” he wrote. “It’s also standard SOP for all left wing nutters. Must we link to only about 5 different pieces that you wrote in PJM alone where you say anyone that opposes your ideas is racist.”
Thus, I stand accused of hypocrisy and of unfairly injecting race into the immigration discussion.
I plead “not guilty” to both counts.
First, unlike Team Obama, I’ve never used the accusation of racism as a device to get people to stop criticizing me. All I’ve done is point out that parts of the immigration debate are all about race and always have been — unless you believe that Benjamin Franklin railed against German immigrants in the late 1700s because of, say, national security.
Or maybe you think that, when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, it was being colorblind. Or maybe you believe that, when Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, in 1905, accused immigrants of “diminishing the quality of our citizenship,” it had nothing at all do with the fact that most of the immigrants streaming into Lodge’s state of Massachusetts happened to be Irish. Or maybe you think it’s just a coincidence that, when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, it sought primarily to limit the number of immigrants from “southern Europe” (read: Italy). Today, unfortunately but unavoidably, the immigration reform debate has morphed from anti-illegal immigration to anti-Latino.
This isn’t to say that I think — let alone have written — that anyone who disagrees about the need for comprehensive immigration reform or who simply opposes illegal immigration is a racist. I don’t, and I haven’t. Racism is undeniably in the mix of the immigration debate, but it’s not the main ingredient. Besides, it’s not that easy to be called a racist. You have to earn that title. But, believe me, some people really work at it.
It usually starts with a worry about what some consider the inferior stock of the immigrants coming ashore — or crossing the border. The newcomers are poor, uneducated, low skilled, prone to have larger babies, etc. Take your pick.
After all, that’s one way that racism manifests itself — through a sense of superiority on behalf of one group toward another. It can also come through fear or animosity. You’ll find all three flavors in the modern immigration debate.
Some Americans dispute this and continue to insist that race and ethnicity have nothing to do with concerns over illegal immigration. Rather, what has so many people upset, they claim, is that it is – hello? – illegal.
Nonsense. If that were true, the debate over curbing illegal immigration wouldn’t lapse so quickly into talk of limiting legal immigration as well. Nor would it be the case that some of the most vocal organizations on the restrictionists’ side — the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, etc. — have an agenda that includes limiting both legal and illegal immigration. Nor would there be such ugliness, as when conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan wrote in a recent book that the United States was better off in the early part of the last century when most of its immigrants came from Europe as opposed to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Or when former Congressman Tom Tancredo glibly referred to Miami as “a Third World country.”
Some people might refuse to accept it, but there’s a word for that kind of thinking. And, don’t look now, but it ends in “-ism.”
Unlike what goes on in the Obama White House, this isn’t about deflecting criticism or attacking critics. It’s about accepting reality and finding a way to deal with it so we can fix a broken system.
We just gotta wait for the next oppertunity in IMMIGRATION REFORM
“Illegal Immigration” discussions and Ruben Navarrette.
What was it Mark Steyn wrote about recently?
Oh yes.
Ice cream…
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZjdjNjhkOTI1NDBhNGY4MzJjMGUxYmYzYjM4N2NiMjE=
This topic is getting very tiresome.
“This is your standard SOP for anyone that disagrees with you,” he wrote. “It’s also standard SOP for all left wing nutters. Must we link to only about 5 different pieces that you wrote in PJM alone where you say anyone that opposes your ideas is racist.”
I second this.
First, unlike Team Obama, I’ve never used the accusation of racism as a device to get people to stop criticizing me. All I’ve done is point out that parts of the immigration debate are all about race and always have been — unless you believe that Benjamin Franklin railed against German immigrants in the late 1700s because of, say, national security.
Really? You never said that immigration is about race, but you always said “racism” is a reason for the opposition to immigration reform. Heck, even your article summary said:
There’s no getting away from the fact that some opponents of immigration reform have racist attitudes toward newcomers.
Mind you that the late 1700s is not 2000s. There were less social and security impacts back then. Have you ever think that immigration reform proponents want to reward an illegal act? Is there any other illegal act that liberals want to reward so badly? Unless the opposition is to all kinds of immigration, both illegal and legal, then your accusation is without merit.
You want to be an immigrant? Then get an application form and apply for one. This is how it is done, even in a developing country. The only countries not caring about violations to their immigration laws and sovereignty are failed states like Afghanistan and areas authorities lost control like NWFP.
I could care less that Mexican illegals are dark haired and brown skinned. It doesn’t make an iota of difference. I would still be against illegal immigration even if all of them were blond haired, blue eyed, and freckled faced. Furthermore, I am convinced Ruben Navarrette Jr. would completely agree!
“I plead “not guilty” to both counts.”
Reuben, though I’ve seen some fine writing from you, this particular plea is rejected. You are guilty as sin . . .
The reality isn’t racism by opponents of mass immigration, the reality is race-baiting by its proponents.
I find it distastefully funny how the left conveniently develop amnesia when they are confronted with the fact that they disrespected GWB on a daily basis for years. And not in a subtle way I might add. Your claim in that respect is B.S.
Then you claim you have never used “Racism” as you then do exactly that. O.K. That’s fine as it is expected for leftist to accuse everybody else of the very things they themselves are guilty of, that is simply “SOP” for the left. Like affirmative action is not racist,
The left practices on a daily basis the tried and true method of “Divide & Conquer” where they divide everybody into this group and that and then pit them against each other. And that includes ethnic groups. The left is and has always been a racist organization. Since the OP seems to like history so much answer me this, Which party created and supported the KKK? answer: The Democratic Party. Imagine that…
Now I am not by any stretch going to claim there are “No” racist on the right, they will appear in every segment of society. They are however, and thankfully so, an ever shrinking portion of the American culture.
You cannot deny that illegal immigration has had a detrimental effect on our country. California is a prime example.
Just why should legal American tax payers be forced to pick up the tab for the medical and educational services of illegal non citizens?
You may phrase it any way you so desire but being illegal is pretty clear and it matter not where they come from.
I have no qualms with people who legally enter the U.S. We do have every right to limit who we allow into and who we allow to stay. Doesn’t every country do this in practice?
I would like to retire someday and live in Mexico or somewhere south but do you think I would be allowed to do so illegally without following the prescribed laws of Mexico? Not on your life bud..
Tell me how about those illegal’s entering Mexico’s southern border, how are they being treated these days?
But you think Mexican citizens should be allowed to flaunt the U.S. immigration laws, just how do you square that discrepancy?
Oh we must change the laws in the U.S. to accommodate those who want in when the Mexican Gov. would not in a million years change their laws which are more restrictive.
If I do move south I will do so and follow the laws of that country in my efforts to gain “legal” entry and status. I expect nothing less from those wanting into the U.S.
Why is it that Liberals cannot see through their rose colored glasses?
This article is pathetic.
It’s funny that you bring up the “Miami as a 3rd world country” statement. My wife is a 1st-generation Mexican-American who was raised in Houston (in an area of town known as “little Mexico) but used to spend her summers in Guadalajara, Mexico.
She described parts of Guadalajara as “third world” and says that parts of Houston have the exact same vibe.
She is also firmly against amnesty for illegal aliens and firmly against illegal immigration in general. She feels that if her mom was able to do it properly, everyone else should, too.
She also feels that a large number of illegals see the US as a job opportunity, and don’t want to assimilate or become citizens.
Now, I feel the same way, but I am white, so clearly I am a racist. You’re welcome to try to call my wife one, but I’m not responsible for the hospital bills.
Ruben is obsessed with race and ethnic identity. I happen to like Mexicans, Guatemalans, etc. and I enjoy practicing my Spanish when I can. I just don’t like being invaded and supporting racist chicano groups like La Raza with my tax money. Deport all wetbacks.
No Mr. Navarette, it’s about ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Don’t sneak across the border and then demand to be made legal. I was born in south Texas, lived here all my life, have a Hispanic DIL and am NOT prejudiced, yet I prefer that the laws of my country be observed. If you don’t like it, that’s just too bad.
Ruben please write your posts for Huffington. Take your identity politics somewhere else.
I can’t for the life of me understand how hard it is for you to accept that the illegal part of illegal immigration is what most people have a problem with.
Sorry Rueben, I was not alive in the 1700s, the 1800s or in the early or mid 1900s. Thus, I am not sure what the racist nature of any of those examples have to do with me. I am not Benjamin Franklin or Henry Cabot Lodge. Neither of them are my ancestors and have nothing to do with me, except that they were white men, which, to a bigot like you, makes me guilty by “racial” association.
Rueben you add absolutely nothing to this debate because you are obsessed with seeing racism and will not listen to the reasoned and rationed opinions of those who are against illegal immigration. You need to just move on and let less bigoted more reasonable people have this debate.
Ugh. Not this Ruben Navarrette sh*t again.
Wow Mr. Navarrette, what a collection of unproved and unprovable assertions. Because the most visiable group of illegals are latinos any one against illegal immigration must be evil racists.
The previous waves of immigrants came here to gain oppurtunities and became “american”. The current wave of illegal immigrants want to import thier home cultures into America, making America like the old country. That applies to latinos that insist on speaking Spanish only and want to return California to Mexico, or muslims that want to import sharia law and condcut honor killings.
Of course that is just plain racist talk on my part.
Cut it out, Rubén. The majority of the racism comes from the “La Raza” people. I’m happily married to a colored Latina (she will NOT say black), have never experience the crap you talk about except from Latinos.
Get a life or emmigrate!
Navarette’s strategy seems to be one of annoying his way to unconditional acceptance.
Good luck with that, Ruben.
“There’s no getting away from the fact that some opponents of immigration reform have racist attitudes toward newcomers.”
There’s also no getting away from the fact that some proponents of immigration reform have racist attitudes toward native Americans. La Raza?
What part of ‘illegal’ don’t you understand, Ruben?
I am married to an legal immigrant. She brings to this county a fine education, (two MA’s; Physics and Mathematics), speaks fluent English, as well as two other languages besides her native tongue, and makes a valuable contribution to the American culture and society as an educator at the college level. We spent the better part of ten years getting her legal status, to say nothing of the huge fees charged by the BCIS to process the paperwork, and so many headaches from beating our heads against the bureaucratic brick walls I can’t even count them.
Show me an illegal wetback with those same sort of credentials and I’ll support immigration reform, until then I want my country’s borders more firmly controlled.
Thank you for the opportunity to rant.
A place is not a race.
As much as you may want it to be, Spanish is not a race.
Catholic is not a race.
We are nationalists.
That does not make us racists.
It makes us F*ING patriots. Don’t like that? It’s our home, not the criminals who break our laws by invading.
Your entire foundation is based on a lie.
Impeach obammy, jail his ilk, seal our borders and deport all who do not belong.
Then Rubin, then… we can talk about who we would be willing to CONSIDER coming into our home.
Coming to America is a privilege, not a right.
Respect that or go to hell.
DH
Reuben trots out his tired old theme, and I dust off my tired reply.
My wife is an immigrant, a legal one, and a US citizen, and ethnically, culturally, and lingusitically Japanese. There are also some Americans who resent her accent, lifestyle, ethnicity or whatever. Not everyone is nice or classy or intelligent. Surprise. There are “some” people who believe in zombies or belong to the KKK or whatever. They are a fringe, and I don’t give you the opportunity to label me as a crank by pretending these people are representative of anything other than themselves.
The majority of Americans of all races would like our laws obeyed, and resent having our pockets picked to pay benefits to people who are not here legally. When I go to Japan, I obey their laws. When I’m here, I obey our laws. When I went to Mexico, I obeyed their laws.
Why does anyone from Mexico merit a dispensation to ignore our laws?
That is the question Mr Navarrette cannot and will not answer.
What happens to Guatemalans when they try to illegally invade Mexico? Seems we should send our illegals packing, change the 14th Amendment, and keep them out. Illegal immigration depresses real wages (especially for our poorest), causes crowding and inflation, and increases costs across the board for medical services, social programs, and infrastructure.
#7
We could get Mexico to change, at least before Obama has a chance to gut our military. Not invasion per se, but think about it. If a bunch of relatives of ex-pat retirees in Jalpa or San Miguel de Allende had a march on July 4th demandng the right to buy property- you might get a lot of the peasantry riled up, but I think the government would stop short knowing they’d have a rain of nukes on their heads sooner than you could say….and the narcos would probably be peacemaker in that whole deal. Why are Costa Rica, Belize, and Panama relative havens for Americans: ex-pats and the latent threat of force.
#8
you are lucky that Houston resembles Guadalajara (I think it resembles Leon,GTO myself) instead of an even worse Mexican backwater.
There is nothing shocking about people in a country resenting those that want to be part of that country, legally or illegally. And yes, there are those that are guilty of racism. My grandfather used to talk about “irish and dogs keep off the grass” and it was not a warm welcome. However, there is a legitimate gripe about letting immigrants off willy nilly for breaking the law. So we must think outside the box and work to get control and eventually solve this issue. Without all the hype. Will we do that? probably not.
I think what’s interesting, and you don’t see it reported often, or at all, is the attitude among many in the African American community towards Latino immigrants and illegal immigration. I live in Maryland, and I’ve seen communities that used to be African American, and are now full of Latino immigrants (both legal and illegal, I’m sure). Jobs that used to go to blacks now go to Mexicans (I guess the so called “jobs Americans don’t want”). Blacks refer to Mexicans as “them” the same way whites used to refer to blacks as “them.” Blacks used to be THE minority in the county, and now it’s Latinos who are getting the special treatment and services. There’s a lot of anger there.
The perception is those who are against immigration reform are white southerners, but that’s just not true. Blacks, in their views towards immigrants, are just as bad.
The same tired rhetoric from the left. They continually ignore the illegals flooding over our northern borders as well, because it isn’t convenient to their argument. That argument being, we are all racists.
The author also points toward the most recent attitudes regarding Italian immigrants, without considering that at that time it might have had more to do with concerns over the spread of organized crime rather than a dislike of Italians.
Kieth O would be proud to have you as a guest on his show along side Ms. Garofolo.
What would I rather have? Someone NOT calling me racist or a country full of third world scum? That’s a no brainer. Call me a racist. I really don’t give a rat’s rearend. In fact, take a look around you. The destruction to USA brought to you…name calling!!! Racism, blah, blah -
I recently visited a good old friend in Echo Park, a former lovely charming funky low-to-middle class suburb not far from downtown LA. Not far from my friend’s home is a very large public elementary school which has, I’m informed, 1200-1500 students. What I saw and heard as we visited that morning ASTOUNDED me… I’m curious to learn if Mr. Navarette thinks the following observations are racist …
During our two hour visit several groups of several hundred children came out for recess. All announcements over the public address loudspeakers were made SOLEY in Spanish. No pretense was made to even pretend that English speaking students were in attendance.
I asked my friend if they ever make announcements in English on the PA? “Not for several years”. I asked my friend when this all-Spanish thing began, he estimated for at least the last three years, maybe longer. During our visit I observed ZERO identifiable “anglos” or “gringos” (as our non-racist ever suffering Latin
brothers often refer to us). During our visit I observed ZERO black or asian children. This public school in this once “mixed” suburb has become a redought of Mexican “diversity” indistinguishable from most schools in all of Latin America where (if the children are lucky enough to even have a school), they certainly don’t bother with announcements in English, and certainly don’t have any “anglos” or “gringos” or blacks or asians on the roster.
I’m fairly certain Mr. Navarette will find my observations (and my outrage) to be dangerously suffused with racism. I’m fairly certain I don’t care any longer what he, or any other victim pimp race baiting illegal immigration apologist thinks. The fact that vast tracts of infrastructure ranging from our urban centers to our public school systems to our hospital systems are being overrun, colonized, and parasitized by illegals is causing irreparable harm to this nation. Apologists like Navarette are a BIG part of the problem.
Navarrette is a brainwashed and useful diot. He can’t be helped. But Pajamas Media can remove this moron from its blog site. I couldn’t care less what this guy thinks about anything.
White nationalists have tried to inflitrate groups against amnesty, but that’s still a small minority.
When it comes to immigration, it’s about assimilation, not race.
It’s nice to have pieces of other cultures merge into your own and help develop things such as food dishes, however if assimilation and playing by the rules is not encouraged, then eventually you’ll have a Balkanization of the nation.
Teddy Roosevelt stated there is no room for the hyphenated American, and I have to agree with him on that.
Americans disdain law breaking which is the main reason other cultures are a failure and the NUMBER 1 reason most immigrants love the USA because they feel secure in their person and that make all of life easier. Illegal Aliens are an anathema to the whole concept of Law. They violate the very thing that they want from the USA. It has nothing to do with race except that it is a fact that most illegals are latino and that by the Cato Institute’s number, hardly a right wing organization.
That being said, countries have borders in order to control what goes on inside that country…its called sovereignty. The borders control how many people clump together and to prevent the numbers from becoming unsustainable ie California. We now have 6 people for every job..we now have resource shortages..the numbers of people are too great. We do not need any more people in this country. No matter what race.
No Ruben frustration with massive illegal immigration is not about race. For me, it’s about national security and economics. Millions of poor uneducated undocumented people flooding into the country getting billions of dollars in social services. And ‘no’ they do not actually pay taxes! The majority get paid cash under the table and are in rental housing. No income or property taxes paid. Sales tax does not count. I have no problem with people coming to this country to work hard, contribute and make a better life no matter where they come from but we are under no obligation to be the world’s emergency room, school house, employer or housing provider. Let alone that we have a right to protect our borders from terrorists and criminals.
What part of “illegal immigrant” do you have difficulty comprehending there Ruby?
I and people I know are against illegal and unrestricted immigration. We are against those coming to the US for money and money only. Those who have no burning desire to be Americans because of what America has stood for. I am against those who have no desire to enter the melting pot that is America. I don’t want to “little Mexico” or “little Venezuela” popping up bringing the attitudes and customs that have made those countries what they are today.
I live in a large metropolitan city in a boarder state. With the economy in a downturn about 20% of illegals have left since there is no day labor work to be had. In the same time that this has happened the homicide rate has dropped nearly 40%. Whole homicide squads are looking at being reassigned.
I am not a racist. I am a culturist. People here may not have the same views on everything but they must have the same values. I grew up in a town that was about 50% Hispanic. I didn’t realize that until very late because really they weren’t Hispanic and I wasn’t White. We were Americans.
What’s happening to PJM? Do they let anybody write here? It seems to me they have lowered the standard lately.
A prime reason I stopped reading the U-T when I lived in San Diego… Take a trip to Los Angeles or San Ysidro.. it bears little difference to TJ. I guess according to the author I should be happy with the destruction by people who invaded my country illegally.
Yea, and there is no getting around it that some proponents of immigration reform have racist attitudes. They think that white behavior is explained by “whiteness” and that more “browness” or “black” consciousness in a borderless world would be an improvement over white life styles and habits of thought. That’s probably why there is a big push for “white studies” programs, to better understand the deviant nature of white consciousness, and its genetic propensity for having race panics over different colored people sneaking into the country illegally; mainly to work for those racist corporations who love to exploit the colored wretched of the earth.
Absolute nonsense. I work closely with people of all ethnic backgrounds, Hispanic, black, Asian, Indian and have no issues with any of them. Heck, my very first girlfriend was a Mexican-American girl way back in 1980. But whenever I go into a store and hear Spanish being spoken I automatically assume the speakers are here illegally and it makes me very angry. It has nothing to do with “racism” and everything to do with their absolute lack of respect for US law, the American people, our language, and our culture. I also get angry when I see or hear illegals demanding the rights, privileges, and benefits of US citizens. How dare they. You are wrong Mr. Navarette and your attempt to guilt us into accepting an invasion from Latin America won’t work.
There’s no getting away from the fact that some proponents of immigration reform have racist attitudes towards the majority in the new country.
So far the score is 40 – zip~! 40 replies to this piece and none have agreed with Mr. Ruben Navarrette Jr.
Does that tell you anything?
Are you going to cry ruben…. I do so love the word games you play. I will take the time to honor you with a long somewhat complete bitch slapping that you so deserve.
“First, unlike Team Obama, I’ve never used the accusation of racism as a device to get people to stop criticizing me.”
Once again I love the word play. You are correct as far as I recall you have never used/accused anyone of being racist to stop them from criticizing YOU… just your clearly racist ideas most of all another huge play on words “immigration reform”… which you really have zero interest in reforming.
So you are very much correct in that argument… of course that wasn’t what I accused you of…. but hey lets twist other people’s words into whatever you want them to be… ANOTHER standard SOP of leftwing nutters like yourself.
“I’ve done is point out that parts of the immigration debate are all about race and always have been — unless you believe that Benjamin Franklin railed against German immigrants in the late 1700s because of, say, national security.”
Really? The last time I checked pretty much anything from investing to bus seating to well anything has a component of “race” in the debate…. guess what THEY DO.(at least from the leftwing/collectivist point of view) So lets see you either think every single person reading your pieces is a complete Fing idiot… Or you believe as so many racists like you do, that anyone who opposes your ideas is racist…
O and believing that all your readers are complete idiots since your writing on an “evil right wing” or “white wing” as many racist put it site, which means that your still a racist… hows that for some wonderful word play. I mean really ruben in every piece you write are you going to tell us poorly educated racists that the world is round too? The only people who believe race has nothing to due with a lot of issue that involve collectivists is well racists LIKE YOU. Who believes that pro-open borders groups/ideals are not based solely on racist ideas… no not them. They after all aren’t white so they could never be racist…
“Or maybe you think that, when Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, it was being colorblind. Or maybe you believe that, when Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge, in 1905, accused immigrants of “diminishing the quality of our citizenship,” it had nothing at all do with the fact that most of the immigrants streaming into Lodge’s state of Massachusetts happened to be Irish. Or maybe you think it’s just a coincidence that, when Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924, it sought primarily to limit the number of immigrants from “southern Europe” (read: Italy).”
And your point… o wait call everyone a racist who disagrees with your ideas… Whats was that’s about a standard SOP again?
“Today, unfortunately but unavoidably, the immigration reform debate has morphed from anti-illegal immigration to anti-Latino.”
I completely agree people like you are on the front line pushing this morphing for all its worth to support your racist ideas. Its the people who are for illegal immigration and open borders(or more correctly open southern border) that have done everything in they’re power to paint anyone against that idea as anti-”latino”.
“let alone have written — that anyone who disagrees about the need for comprehensive immigration reform or who simply opposes illegal immigration is a racist.I don’t, and I haven’t.”
Really… REALLY. Is this your version of “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” or is it “Could you define what “is” is”.
“Besides, it’s not that easy to be called a racist. You have to earn that title. But, believe me, some people really work at it.”
Well you’ve worked hard and you’ve earned it. Wear it with some of that Highspanish pride… o wait you already do.
“After all, that’s one way that racism manifests itself — through a sense of superiority on behalf of one group toward another. It can also come through fear or animosity. You’ll find all three flavors in the modern immigration debate.”
Once again no doubt there… the mexicans have all 3 and then some. Highspanish also have all 3. Lets also not forget that racism is a form of collectivism…collectivism is of course leftwing… and the vast majority of 3rd world countries are leftwing. It is far more likely for an immigrant to be racist then for a US citizen to be racist against them…. I mean you know if you believe that fairy tail that people other then whites can be racists and all.
“Some Americans dispute this and continue to insist that race and ethnicity have nothing to do with concerns over illegal immigration. Rather, what has so many people upset, they claim, is that it is – hello? – illegal.Nonsense. If that were true, the debate over curbing illegal immigration”
And were back to the “everyone’s a racist if you disagree with me”. Hows that hypocrisy working out for you?
“wouldn’t lapse so quickly into talk of limiting legal immigration as well.”
By “limiting” I must assume refusing “expanding to open borders/limitless”. The only ppl interested in limiting legal immigration are racist LIKE YOU. People like you wish to only let mexicans and some spanish in… YOU wish to shut everyone else out of being able to come here.
“Nor would it be the case that some of the most vocal organizations on the restrictionists’ side — the Center for Immigration Studies, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, etc. — have an agenda that includes limiting both legal and illegal immigration.”
You got any facts to back that up? Also will they claim “not guilty pleas” due to word play/”I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”?
Also I know since your racist… and a collectivist… that you believe a handful of groups means “everyone” but let me spell it out for you… those groups probably account for less then 10% of the people who oppose your racist views. Sorry for pissing in your collectivist cheerios there.
Also funny that you don’t talk about groups like La Raza, La Mecha, MS-13 or hundreds of other racists groups that support open borders… funny thing about them is they are clearly and blatantly racist and they number in the millions of members… in fact they do represent a huge amount of the people/money who support the open borders movements. So if we were to say look at the facts not fantasies of the immigration debate. On the open border side accounting for close to 50% or more you have insanely racist groups supporting the measure… on the other side you have groups accused by these racist groups as racist for opposing they’re racist ideas which of course only account for a small percent of the over all people that believe in those ideas… hmmm yeah lets think about those facts.
“as when conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan wrote in a recent book that the United States was better off in the early part of the last century when most of its immigrants came from Europe as opposed to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Or when former Congressman Tom Tancredo glibly referred to Miami as “a Third World country.””
Yes EVERYONE RACIST. I mean lets not talk about how many of the people coming from Europe had real job skills and came LEGALLY. No neither one of those could be the reason clearly EVERYONE IS RACIST. Or lets not talk about how we’re preventing people with real job skills from places like india from coming over LEGALLY because our racist immigration system favors mexicans and spanish…. no lets not talk about that.
“Some people might refuse to accept it, but there’s a word for that kind of thinking. And, don’t look now, but it ends in “-ism.””
Realism….? LOL
“Unlike what goes on in the Obama White House, this isn’t about deflecting criticism or attacking critics. It’s about accepting reality and finding a way to deal with it so we can fix a broken system.”
O I completely agree… the racist and broken immigration system needs to be fixed. I would suggest a complete ban on any mexicans coming to the US for the next 30 years. This would fix not only the racist part of our system that has let mexicans come in huge numbers and shut every single other group and race out… but it would also go a long way toward forcing mexico to fix itself and deal with its huge amount of racism, corruption, leftism, and a host of other 3rd world issues, instead of using racism to blame the US and white people for every problem they have and to cut them off from the easy money they make selling they’re slave labor and drugs in the US. But hey people like you believe that all of mexico’s problems(and the world’s problems) are either those evil white peoples fault or the US’s fault…
Do feel free to come roll around with the dirty poorly educated racist unwashed masses that hang out in the comment section… o wait your far to superior for something like that.
Ruben writes:
Which is exactly right. I have read your screeds in the local fishwrapper for years and this is exactly what you do. Got any other straw men, Navarrette?
#1 – Q: Illegal immigration is called illegal immigration because? A: Maybe someone, like, you know, broke the law?
Ruben – You are and have been a racist all of your life. Admit it. You support la Raza and la MeCHA, right? C’mon, you can do it.
The funny thing is that U.S. immigration law has been skewed, for years, in favor of many of our immigrants coming from Latin America and Asia. Immigration from Canada, our neighbor to the North, is actually in some ways more difficult than immigration from Mexico. Believe it or not, if you wish to permanently immigrate from Canada to the U.S., the last I heard you had to find an American willing to immigrate in the other direction. Imagine that being applied to Latin America.
At this point I feel like the guy in the Tea Party Protest who was carrying the sign that said something like: “No matter what I write on this sign, you’ll say it’s racist.”
“First, unlike Team Obama, I’ve never used the accusation of racism as a device to get people to stop criticizing me. All I’ve done is point out that parts of the immigration debate are all about race and always have been — unless you believe that Benjamin Franklin railed against German immigrants in the late 1700s because of, say, national security.”
I guess I would have to mention that the host of previous immigrants came here looking for a better way of life and, once here, intended to stay. They learned English and adopted the American way of life. How many of today’s crop come to work and send most of their earnings “back home”? Too many illegals have no intention of making the US their permanent home. If they were, they would follow the steps and play by the rules.
Some Americans are racists; some are communists, others are socalists, some are child-molesters and perverts, some fascists- so what? 300 million Americans represent a full spectrum of opinions, many laudable and some reprehensible. Whenever the left invents a cause those who do not join in are considered “un-American.” Many people do not believe that the races are equal. They look at the world and their observations lead them to that conclusion. Most of them have the good sense to keep their opinions to themselves. At the turn of the last century many progressives, always the arbiters of what is permissible, were racists. Some favored abortion and contraception to keep down the numbers of what they considered their inferiors. Eric Foner, a left-leaning historian has called the Ku Klux Klan “the military arm of the Democratic Party.” So relax, Ruben, people will think what they want even at the great risk of upsetting you.
When you can’t argue on the merits, call your opponents racists.
Most opposition to illegal immigration is based on:
1) Illegality
2) Cost – particularly for social services consumed in excess of taxes paid (note: the previous mega-waves of immigration occured when there were far fewer government-provided services)
3) Security and integrity of our borders
4) Slow assimilation
Particularly stupid the point that questioning our current legal immigration process is racist. Is questioning a broken policy of family unification championed by Teddy Kennedy racist? Is desiring a policy like Canada’s that selects for the educated and wealthy (regardless of race) racist? Is questioning the number of immigrants the US accepts a taboo? Who says the current numbers are optimal? Should they be higher? Lower? Is is racist to ponder this question?
Mr. Navarrette always ignores these arguments, deliberately misrepresents research and statistics, and still gets published on this subject. Pajamas Media, he is the Paul Krugman of immigration.
No Ruben Navarette! We are not racist, we are free and generous Americans that want our laws enforced OR ELSE! We are fed up with apologists for law breakers like you and you need to be WARNED. This will not stand, wakeup and read the tealeaves. There’s a huge reaction coming from the 80% of Americans that donot want unfettered immigration and we will have our laws enforced one way or another! That day speedily approaches and woe be unto those, such as yourself that call us racist while apologizing and facilitating this criminal activity against your own country. You will reap a whirlwind!
Yes, racism is a reality in the immigration debate. And, most of it originates with the proponents of citizenship for illegals and a variety of special programs that delay or discourage assimilation. Navarette is in the forefront of these racists.
Racism is real, it’s here and it always has been here. Same with illegals. If everyone could just shut their mouths and listen to one another w/o the name calling or the oh so famous blame game we might actually come to some common ground. Lets focus on the securing the border and dealing with the people on hand. If we could get rid of the drug dealers/rapist/gang members, then I think we could handle the people who are remaining. Americans have become so cynical and over all disrespectful of one another that they cannot see past their own thoughts and feelings. Lets take a good look at our own. We are FAR from perfect people. So before we start blaming others for what we do or don’t have lets reevaluate ourselves first. At one time, EVERYONE was an “illegal” immigrant. Do you think the Indians and Mexicans were happy when all of us showed up? Absolutely NOT. They want a better life just like our ancestors did…and we brought some of our rift raft here as well.
The sad part is we teach our children to be kind, respectful, understanding, to not see color and treat everyone equally..yet look at us? We don’t practice what we preach and yet we wonder how did our kids get so disrespectful? How did they grow up with such hatred or lack of ambition…take a good look in the mirror.
I think blogs like this one are good but yet they accomplish nothing. We have become so closed minded that we cannot see what needs to be done let alone change anything. I feel bad for President Obama, he doesn’t stand a chance. What once was such a proud moment for America will now be known as the black man who failed.
Even the Congress is guilty, they won’t agree to compromise so nothing will change for the good or even the bad. Remember why we voted him in the office in the first place people….”It’s time for a change.”
I agree with Mr. Navarette, immigration reform can’t be about anything but race because the greatest number of illegal aliens in this country are not Scandinavian, Irish, Japanese or Australians (caucasian or aboriginal). They are Hispanic. That does not, however, change the fact that they are here illegally. The desire to have laws in place to ensure that people here illegally are sent back to their country of origin and prohibited from coming back unless they do so legally is not racist. Neither is it racist to suggest that citizenship on the basis of birth be only awarded to children born to parent who are visiting this country legally. I also don’t see a problem with requiring folks to prove that they are here legally and severely penalizing them via fines or jail time if they aren’t here legally. This has nothing to do with race as long as we enforce the law without regard to race.
So, does race play a part in the debate over illegal immigration? Yes, because the people here illegally happen to be predominantly of one particular race. Does that make enforcing the law a matter of racial discrimination? No.
Another racist diatribe by Navarette. He is a one trick pony and Spanish-speaking Al Sharpton wannabe. He just hates whitey and wants to displace us with immigration.
22. MarkD–excellent response.
Ruben: “You are what I say you are and if you disagree you’re lying.” Really? That’s your argument? And you back it up with an example of some groups that you identify as restrictionists who want to restrict immigration (yeah, that’s a real a-ha moment) and then something Pat Buchanan said?
I say we speed up the line for the legal immigrants – whoever, regardless of race, ethnicity, primary language, or other factors, is “in the cue” gets expedited. Those multi-year waits should be shortened by two thirds. In the short term that will mean a 24-7 (as opposed to a M-F 8 to 5) CIS bureacracy, night hearings and citizenship oaths etc. After the cue is cleared, then we can adjust our immigration policies for relevant skills and/or # of slots based some other factor that minimizes Latin America (though I think we shouldn necessarily encourage European immigration – not so much out of racism, but to keep Europe from being Eurabia). This way the hispanics who did it the right way can join us in ridiculing the illegals.
Ruben that is not true. I came to this country 25 years ago to a small town in Kansas. I was loved, cared and treated the same way that I was in my native country. In Mexico, people discriminate against darker Indian looking Mexican and Chinese. In same Latin countries, Chinese are not allowed to own properties. The lighter your skin is, the more upper class you are. You cannot denied that.
So, in the US is the same thing too. If you have money, if you are a prestigious darked skin Iranian doctor, you will be married to a blonde Irish American girl, and be accepted in that society like any other succesful person. This story about discrimination is so stupid because you have not discussed it in your Sociology class in college with your Marxists teachers. Ruben, at one point or another, all humans discriminate and have prejudices. That is how you develope criteria. You do that with food as well. Some towards fat people, others towards laud and low and uneducated people. If you assimilate into a society, there is always going to be some elements of rejections due to different value systems but not because of systmatic racism as you like to say. You are not a good journalist and your arguments are weak, misleading and sadly, passe.
If every illegal alien currently in this country was, like I, of Scots-Irish extraction, I’d still want them gone. Get it?
#50, the problem is that what needs to be done is exactly nothing that the President and Congress are doing.
As to the gist of this post, if the law is wrong then change it. If it isn’t changed then enforce it. Is that simple enough?
It probalby is too simple. The problem for the illegal crowd is that a majority of Americans wouldn’t stand for the change. How do I know? Because the President is a Democrat and Congress is Democratic majority and they still won’t touch the immigration laws.
You’re confusing racism with ethnocentrism. Racism is ridiculous, but ethnocentrism is often quite rational.
The problem that I have with Latinos overrunning the US is that theirs is an alien (and largely broken) culture whose pathologies I do not want to take root here. Mexico is a mess. There is no way to fix that mess because we are not a party to its creation. The problems of Mexico are solely created and perpetuated by the people who live there. I do not want those problems to be imported into this country. Character is destiny, and the character of a nation is its culture. For whatever reasons, the culture of Mexico is fundamentally broken in ways that results in poverty, corruption, and all of the other ills we see so much of south of the border.
The physical differences that we use to pigeon-hole individuals as belonging to one race or another are accidents of genetic drift resulting from geographic isolation. As humans migrated out of Africa into Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Americas, the gene pools became separated and superficial differences began to emerge resulting in the distinguishing characteristics that we call racial differences. The significance that we place upon these differences is entirely socially constructed.
The reason I bring this up is because you mentioned Germans and Irish in your article. Both groups are almost the very definition of Caucasian. A white person who hates Irish or Germans may be a bigot, but they aren’t a racist unless their hatred is based upon race, which would make them a bit schizophrenic.
It should also be remembered that the culture of Ireland 18th, and 19th centuries was even more diseased and broken than that of Mexico today. There were very good reasons why Americans didn’t want more Irish showing up. The stereotype of drunken shanty Irish was not unearned. It was only after the descendants of the Irish immigrants cast off the negative aspects of the culture they inherited that Irish-Americans were able to take their place in American society as full citizens. They learned what it means to be an American and never looked back. I myself am the descendants of Irish immigrants on both sides of my family. The dysfunctional pathologies that my fore bearers struggled with are as alien and bizarre to me as to anyone.
If the same thing is to happen for the descendants of illegal aliens, the culture and character of our nation must be preserved. We cannot allow ourselves to be so inundated with refugees from broken societies that our own society is overcome with their cultural diseases. It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about people from Mexico or from anywhere else. This has nothing to do with the fact that they have suntans in winter, and everything to do with the fact that their culture is broken. Ethnocentrism, not racism.
That does not mean that we should end immigration from Mexico, or curtail it. I don’t know how many legal immigrants actually come from Mexico each year, but I doubt they are sufficient in number to cause any harm. The same is true of immigrants from other parts of the world. Immigration is good, provided that it results in the creation of new Americans whose descendants are also Americans. If it reaches the point that these newcomers do not become Americans and their descendants are not Americans, then it needs to be curtailed. This is why illegal immigration is such a problem, it is already well past this point. If there were only a few Mexicans coming across I wouldn’t care any more than I do about the illegal immigrants from places like Cambodia. There just aren’t enough of the latter to cause a problem.
Rubin, please get your head out of that dark and stinky place.
BTW,,, the score is now 56 – zip.
As I mentioned up thread, my wife is a LEGAL immigrant with an education from a top European university. We live in a predominantly Hispanic city in south Texas. She is a math professor at our local college and I get to listen to her rants on; “how is it possible these young Hispanic students are able to even get a seat in a post-secondary school?”. I refer her to the Affirmative Action rules on open enrollment. Fully 3/4 of her class time is spent on remedial math as the freshmen students cannot add, subtract, multiply, or divide, without an electronic calculator. Almost none have a grasp of fractions, decimals, or signed numbers, and she might as well be speaking Greek when lecturing on algebra.
These students are the product of a local school system full of the children of illegal immigrants that gives passing grades based on attendance, not on performance. These are young people born here,,, and still speak English as a second language. It does not bode well for the future of America if the country has to depend on the college product of today for its needs and developments of tomorrow if we want to stay viable.
Up thread at #54, urbanleftbehind mentions the need for speeding up the naturalization process for the; “cue of legal immigrants”, who are in bureaucratic limbo for years, oddly, most of those are the ones with the necessary skills and education we need for the advancement of America. True story, my wife’s graduating class had 28 physicists that year,,, 26 are now in the USA, either teaching at the college level, or working in high tech places like NASA, developing the next generation of the Hubble Telescope, or figuring out how to send a man to Mars. We have some good schools in the USA, but MIT and Cal-Poly can’t do it all. We need the advanced science degrees from good European schools to make the difference.
The people we are currently getting from Mexico, illegal or otherwise, are not helping our cause.
But then,,, I’m probably a racist for saying so.
So after untold trillions of dollars, decades of effort…endless intimidation and brainwashing to erase “racism” maybe its time to realize that it will go away about the time that human egotism, paranoia, and self pity go away. Whats fueled this national insanity in the first place is mass immigration and the force fed idea that its normal which it most definitely is not.
“If that were true, the debate over curbing illegal immigration wouldn’t lapse so quickly into talk of limiting legal immigration as well.”
Non sequitur. A lot of folks who want to limit legal immigration aren’t operating from a racial worldview, but a protectionist one.
I’ve been in high tech for over 30 years, and in that entire time, people have run for leadership positions in the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers on a platform of cutting off visas for technologists. I don’t recall anyone ever making it an issue of race, but rather one of economics: importing workers with much lower wage expectations than domestically-trained engineers.
I don’t doubt that there are racists who object to legal immigration, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who objects to legal immigration is a racist. For the record, I favor legal immigration — and I strenuously oppose allowing illegal immigrants to benefit from violating our immigration laws.
NOTE TO PJM EDITORS:
READ #55 from Ranchera.
It says it all about why you need to STOP PUBLISHING this CR*P from this “writer.”
This entire argument is fallacious and disingenuous.
You apparently don’t know, ot choose to distort, the meaning of the term “racism” Racism refers to a belief that differences in intelligence, physical aptitude, or intrinsic behavior are due to genetic groupings that are termed ‘race’.
Your misuse of the term is consistently inconsistent, and is a sophistic attempt to equate obviously distinct and different attitudes:
· Benjamin Franklin may have “railed against German immigrants”, but it was not a manifestation of racism – Germans are of the same race as Franklin.
· Henry Cabot Lodge may have opposed Irish immigration, but his race is the same as theirs.
· Italians are also of the same “race” as the congressional majority that passed the immigration act of 1924 – that was not an instance of racism either.
These are instances of “ethnocentricity”, the belief that one’s culture is better than another one. Most Americans agree wholeheartedly with that assessment, and apparently so do the thousands of people from other cultures who are lined up at the door (or sneaking under the fence) to come here.
We who oppose unlimited legal immigration, and abhor illegal immigration, recognize that cultural assimilation is an intrinsic and necessary aspect of the success of the American melting pot, and that unlimited legal immigration impairs achievement of that outcome, while measured inflow facilitates it. Demonstrators in Southern California, where we both live, demonstrate by waving Mexican flags instead of the stars and stripes, that this essential process is not occurring.
Immigration should be regulated, measured, responsive to the needs of the United States and most of all legal. Yes there is a term for that attitude, that ends in ‘-ism’: Americanism.
Ruben, Ruben. Your comment of calling the ILLEGAL ALIENS ‘newcomers’ display your ‘bipartisan’ stance on the matter.
Try to serve your turdsicle of a discussion somewhere else..
Journalism, true journalism is indeed dead when perusing your one sided banter.
BTW, your examples of ‘high teen pregnancy, uneducated, etc.’, is backed up by fact. Tough item to confront and discount..
Perhaps if the U.S. bordered Norway you’d see the wreckless abandonment of blonde hair, blue eyed’ people you’d mentioned.
Unfortuntely, FOR YOU, this isn’t the case.
Ruben, I’ve got a question for you. The hundreds of laws overlooked by our state, federal law enforcement community (as well as in-state tuition, welfare, head start programs, ‘citizenship’ by birth, EEO, AA to name but a few..) I’ve got to ask.
What’s the point of an illegal alien being on probation? So as they don’t ‘break the law..’?
not even reading this latest pile of crap from Navarette. let me guess, he wants ILLEGAL ALIENS to be granted citizenship again? right?
that’s pretty much the only theme on every article he writes about immigration.
PJM need to start getting a clue and stop printing this kook’s articles. as soon as you see the name Navarette on the article you already know what it’s about – amnesty for ILLEGAL ALIENS.
the day Navarette CLEARLY UNDERSTANDS what the word ILLEGAL means would be the day I start reading his articles again.
It’s unfortunate that we have to maintain this relentless bombardment of our lawmakers in Washington. I almost cannot believe we have actually sustained several victories against the rich, powerful and the open border denizens? We have gained major headway in implementing E-Verify, the illegal immigrant worker extractor? But we cannot stop calling the Senators and representatives at 202-224-3121 and emphasizing the–THE AMERICAN WORKERS COMES FIRST. Demand they not table, but to install E-Verification on a permanent basis. If we release the strangle hold on those who influence our economic future, they will find a way to contain the program?
Sen. David Vitter offered an amendment that prevents any further delays in the implementation of the Social Security Administration’s No-Match-letter program. Sen. Jeff Sessions offered an amendment that requires all federal contractors to use E-Verify and a permanent re-authorization of the application. All American workers must keep an eye on Sen. Harry Reid, Speaker Pelosi, and HS chief Napolitano as they–WILL–make the effort to squash or weaken immigration laws and today might conspire to cut funding for E-Verify as of September 30?
In a move to block Sen. Sessions’ E-Verify amendment, the Senate leadership tried to table the amendment, but the motion failed and was later passed.
This is an outstanding win for 10 million jobless Americans whom are suffering? We are finally harnessing the Special Interest lobby as they are now raving mad. Congratulations go out to these politicians, who are fighting a perpetual battle against the massive corporate welfare program, called illegal immigration, which taxpayers have always supported. Illegal aliens and families are catered for through emergency rooms laws, while the legal population is hounded for unpaid bills. It is truly a massive impediment if foreign nationals can also access any health care reform that passes? Our phone calls should not stop until E-Verify is fully funded, in-perpetuity? 287 G must continue, which will give our police the training to question people of their immigration status. ICE raids must be reinstated on all suspicious businesses. More Border Patrol agents? Change birthright citizenship laws like Europe? E-Verify could have many use, including drivers licenses, health care, insurance in the mainstream state benefits verification? Last, but not least the Immigration Reform and Control Act must be enforced, not undermined so they can heave at us another path to citizenship. We cannot support another BLANKET AMNESTY. The last one was Mickey Mouse and driven by unparalleled fraud. Three websites have the raw ingredients of the undisclosed cost and other information at NUMBERSUSA, JUDICIAL WATCH & for OVERPOPULATION statistics CAPSWEB.
As for the 2010 Census? Small states will miss out big time on federal dollars, while mass illegal immigrant states will gain more seats in Congress and too much power and influence? Of course ICE could check the immigration status of those who are counted, even though it’s supposedly against US law? As an afterthought all those Americans who love there country must watch the History (International) cable documentary–”THE CRUMBLING OF AMERICA.”
First, Mr. Navarrett, I still don’t understand what a Latino is. Help me to understand this because I think you are trying to discuss those Mexicans who have brown skin or Indio roots which, by the way, I find especially racist on your part. I work with scores of people from all over the world especially Latin and South America. Let’s see: the Columbians are generally whiter than me and many have almost blond hair. The Mexicans range from white to brown. The Argentinians have generally have white skin and many of them have blond and red hair. The Venezuelans generally have brown skin but many have white skin and light hair. The Brazilians ( most of whom will hurt you if you call them Hispanic ) also range in skin color; many of them have Hungarian, Italian and German ancestors. Many Mexicans have German and/or Japanese ancestors and many of the South Americans have Spanish ancestors. To a man (woman ?) they all speak Spanish (or Portuguese): unfortunately the Mexicans don’t understand the Argentinians and the Columbians insist that only they really speak Spanish: any other Spanish is only some plebian dialect. The only true dark-skinned “Latina” with whom I worked was my Admin. Assistant and it wasn’t racism that made her hate to leave the office during daylight hours. Unfortunately, as soon as her foot hit hit the sidewalk, every young American male within visual range was drawn to her like moths to a flame and she got fed up with trying to fend off young and oversexed American males. In short, as you joyfully sling around the word “Latino”, could you please explain or define what exactly that word comprises and how racism plays a part?
Secondly, most Americans don’t want any more inundations of illegal Mexicans. To be frank, this is the only nationality (not race) that, for the most part, refuses to speak the native language, insists on special accommodations, has its own radical lobbies (La Raza, MECha), maintains an almost fanatical devotion to a chimerical country, reprises a phantasmagorical and tragic national history in which they are all victims of the elusive gringos, and for the most part, refuses to assimilate. From my empirical experiences, the Venezuelans, Brazilians, Bolivians etc. all make a determined effort to learn English and seriously try to assimilate: all except the Mexicans who insist on speaking their version of Spanish. Moreover, if we must insist on having Mexican Spanish as a second language in the US then why don’t we all agree that everyone gets to have their original language on an equal footing ? My Russian friends can have their own television stations and the Indians can have Sanskrit transcriptions in the local Home Depot. To do otherwise would, following your rationale, be racist.
I know that you desperately want more Mexican immigration; illegal or legal. About any other nationality you could care less. You have written about this for years and every 1 to 3 weeks, those of us that read the local newspapers, are again treated to another diatribe about the evils and racism of white men versus the sanctity and hagiographic wholesomeness of the Mexicans who have the right, if not the duty, to move to the US any time they feel the urge. Maybe it’s time for you to examine your own motives and admit that you are nothing more than a clumsy and boorish mouthpiece for La Raza: a truly evil and racist organization.
Atleast be RACIST EQUALLY La RACIST!!!! CUIDADO
Envy-fueled, hatred-engined, rage-driven and pathologically-persistent career “racist,” Navarette, also takes the PJM Blue Ribbon (from Herr Rosenbaum) for the year’s best – so far – demonstration of (il)Liberalism’s definitive symptom: the projectile projection of its psychopathology.
Yawn.
Next?
This should be REQUIRED READING for everyone!
68. El Commandante
Congratulations on a well written and accurate perception about “Latinos”.
I would recommend that you submit this article to all major newspapers and blogs.
Another perspective about Latino/Hispanic immigrants: it relates to their SOCIAL CLASS.
Upper class
Most of them are richer than most Americans. They come her to enjoy the best this country has to offer. They are well educated, own businesses here and abroad, or just simply keep an eye on their bank accounts and investments. They may live in secluded places or mingle with lots of other well-off people, but are usually low key since some have experienced or seen extortion or kidnapping back in their countries. Most of them are white, some are bronzed.
Middle class
These are mostly professionals or skilled trades who really want to live the American Dream. Well educated and hard workers. They live and act like middle class Americans, but enjoy some of their home traditions. Most of them are here legally, but if not, they strive to become legal. They belong to all kinds of races and colors.
Lower class
These poor people are lower class there and here. Minimum or no education, they are the dispossessed and are looking for a better life. Their countries make it very hard for them because they live in economies of survival. Many are farmers or laborers. Their lack of education and language skills make it hard for them to immediately adapt to the new and different country, but their children can be fast learners. They are from many races, but the majority may be dark skinned. These are the people some Americans don’t want.
And these class divisions apply to immigrants from all over the world.
To # 68 El Comandante!
Gracias.. Thank you so very much about telling the bloggers that this “Latino” and “HISPANIC” term is an American invention by Marxist DEMOCRATS!
In Brasil you don’t have Afro-Brasilian or you don’t have Hispanic-Brasilian and they had slaves too! The are Brasilians and very proud of it. I think that the Mexicans have an inferiority complex because they cannot accept who they are. You can see that when they play soccer. They have low self-esteem. It is so much easier to find an excuse for their failure..”The Gringos don’t like us because they are racists” I dare you Ruben, come and live in Buenos Aires and see if you can survive there for even a month. The Portenhos are going to take good care of you. You have never left this country and all you write about are ideas that some stupid Marxists professor of yours told you in Harvard! Get out of your chair and go to live in different Latin American countries and you will see the real discrimination that exists bewteen them just like in the US. You are not going to have a Carnegie or a Rockefeller invite you to their home, not because of being racists but because you are a poor nobody. That is how the world works, elitism not racism. Would you be invited to attend a Party that the upper class Mexicans are having tonight? No way…who are you? That is the life in this country and in all countries.
El Comandante, I echo other posters respect of your comment.
Like Ranchera, I have a friend who lives in Argentina. Mendoza.
He was recently working in Ontario, CA, though his company prefer he ‘float’ or stay in Atlanta, GA due to difficulty of obtaining a work visa with multiple entry/exit to/from Argentina (yet another reason why the U.S. is WAY ahead of the game..).
Anywho, my friend Marcos, who speaks English very well would be in Atlanta and be asked if he was Mexican. The man was truly insulted. He’d tell them he wouldn’t go to a country uninvited (his word for illegally), push a horrible version of the Spanish language on the citizenry and expect many American benefits. More so than putting into the system.
Though admittedly he knows there’s a lot of problems in Argentina. Argentina has many illegal Bolivians taking work. There is high unemployment numbers there, long before the worldwide financial crisis was afoot.
He banks through an American bank due to the unreliable staying power of Argentina’s mediocre financial arena.
Crime is high as well and reliance upon law enforcement is comical. Nonetheless their Malbec is incredible and as you’d mentioned, MANY Argentines are blonde hair, blue eyed as well.
Pardon me, that was supposed to be Ontario, CN.
El Commandante, I felt the need to comment of the Admin Assistant co-worker you’d spoken of. It’s a 2-way street.
My wife and her girlfriends often get the ‘creepy stare’ from Hispanic males.
Recently when walking from the parking lot to the Metro a truck with Hispanic occupants had driven by and had taken a picture, with flash, of my wife. bad move. For these guys were in a work vehicle. I called the phone number on the side of the door panel and was adamant to speak with the Senior person in their office.
#77
A work vehicle with a company name, a work phone #, and a senior manager ID’ed? I think I would have said I was from ICE (plausible, since youre in the DC area or NoVA) and have waited for the “white envelope”. Why leave it at just a reprimand?
“There’s no getting away from the fact that some opponents of immigration reform have racist attitudes toward newcomers.”
There’s no getting away from the fact that some proponents of open borders and mass immigration are motivated by anti-white racism and want to see white people turned into a minority.
The reality is that paid shills for the globalist plutocracy,like Navarette,have been hired to slander,libel and trash opponents of the illegal alien invasion of the US as racists. How much do they pay you Ruben? How does it feel to earn a living helping to lower the living standards of American workers?
Deguello #79,
Your question would perhaps be posed in another way:
Why would Pajamas Media continue to fund a “writer” of such…ahem…(and then continue with your definition…!).
“Opponents of illegal immigration are racist, because I say so.”
If there is a better synopsis of this article, then feel free to share.
No 68 El Commandate
Very good educational entry. An eye opener. Like the African continent, once you have been to south america, you lose your stereo types within days. I have family in Paraguay and their indian homogenous social caste, work ethic and custom(s) are amazing. I have learned much from them. And your short comment about Brazians was very true. Heck, I have visited parts of France and Spain that claim to be quite separate (in speech and custom) from another part of the same country. Let alone on an entire continent. Again, thanks.
David Thomson –
“I would still be against illegal immigration even if all of them were blond haired, blue eyed, and freckled faced. Furthermore, I am convinced Ruben Navarrette Jr. would completely agree!”
Then you’re a fool, who assumes that Navarrette subscribes to your deracinated, neonconservative foolishness. The guy is a RACE man. He cares about the well-being of people who look like him more than people who don’t look like him — just like Doug Feith, Richard Pearle, Norman Podhoretz, Bill Kristol, et al. He hasn’t drunk the neocon koolaid brewed up for dumb Kulaks such as yourself.
The racism is on the Mexican side
They feel they have a right to come and go as they please from America because they are “indigenous’. Meaning just about all illegal Mexicans are Indians or have high percentage of Indian blood. They feel they have a divine right to come here illegally and make us support and educate their anchor babies. The jobs in construction are all gone. Their labor is not needed but they refuse to go back home to the nest they fouled
It’s outrageous really
Reuben is more Spanish than Indian.
He just likes the idea of Mexicans invading America and taking over some parts at least of the USA. The illegals are his battering ram
Mexicans claim Arizona and California are really Mexican land.
Then how about North Carolina which has tons of them?
Was that part of Mexico?
Don’t expect logic or honesty from them because this is a tribal struggle for them
Illegal Aliens come from all cultures and are all colors. I would prefer that every one of them left, applied in their country of origin, and waited in line like many of my friends and family had to do. Having said that, why do you think all illegals are from Mexico or South America? They also come from Russia and Poland, China and Viet Nam, Sweden and Denmark, Iraq and Iran, India and Pakistan etc;. I hope that solves the problem in your racist mind. I might also add that I do believe Democrats play the race card to such an incredible degree and are using the Latino group in a very abusive way making every effort to convince them that anyone opposed to illegal aliens are racist and hate Hispanic groups. That to me is the most disgusting abuse of power. But, one has to remember they are the party of racism historically speaking.