Illegal: Growing Up Unwanted in America

Hucka-what?

Gee, Mr. Huckabee, sir, Mr. Wanna-Have-My-Finger-on-the-Button-and-Be-the-Leader- of-the-Free-World, sir, what do you think about the political unrest in Pakistan?

"We ought to have an immediate, very clear monitoring of our borders and particularly to make sure if there's any unusual activity of Pakistanis coming into our country," he told reporters in Orlando at the end of December.

Um... what?

Pakistan, in case you haven't noticed, does not share a border with the United States.  And when looking at numbers of immigrants that are in the U.S. without papers, Pakistanis rank below Europeans and Canadians (when are we putting up that wall around Canada, by the way?).

This is exactly the kind of exploitation of post-9/11 fears that makes this immigration "debate" so opportunistic and cynical.  When faced with challenges, do we want to be a nation that scapegoats people and changes the subject instead of dealing with issues head-on?  Where was the concern about your Mexican landscaper or busboy before 9/11?  And what in the world is the connection with "national security" anyway?

Mr. Huckabee, shame on you.  Let's hope you get knocked out in the primaries.  Then again, if you're the Republican nominee, it will just pave the road for President Obama to restore some sanity in our government.  So keep at it, Professor of Geopolitics Huckabee.

A Glimpse Into the Future

Here's what it would be like to live under a regime that conducts raids on illegal immigrants and their employers.  It smacks of the frightening totalitarian regime books our teachers tried to scare us with in high school:  apartments filled with personal possessions that its occupants didn't have time to secure, a neighborhood decimated by the raids and the fear that followed, businesses going under.  Way to go, Springfield, Tennessee.

Someone Explain "Conservative" To Me

I am actually drawn by the theories of conservatism - pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and don't wait for the government to do everything for you.  If the religious right who want to dictate my morality and not my government's actions hadn't shanghaied the Republican Party, I might have hung around after the Reagan luster began to wear off when I emerged from high school.

But (and here is a big but), it's amazing how many people who call themselves conservative (we presume that they are using the term in its classical sense) are actually all about big government when it comes to their pet projects like "defense," ($480+ billion we don't have for a war no one can make sense of?  No problem!  Put it on my card!) and "illegal imimgration."  Here they are all about big government projects to build walls and pay for monster enforcement, even to the point of arresting and deporting 12 million people, a project so ambitious it makes prison-building contractors everywhere tingle.  Check out this self-proclaimed "less government is better" type spreading the same out-of-context rumors and silly arguments while simultaneously saying he's for smaller government.  Somebody wake me up, I'm having a nightmare.

Unfortunate Rhetoric

It's the same veiled bigotry that made it once acceptable to say that women were too hysterical to vote or blacks too ignorant to hold office - now it's immigrants with brown skin who are the target, and any factoid we can bring out of the murky woodwork to buttress the claim that immigrants (read: Hispanic, poor immigrants) are no good is fair to say.

Note this gem on Michelle Malkin's blog, by Heather McDonald:  Hispanics don't have family values.  Because apparently only licenses issued through government offices that most illegal immigrants are too afraid to frequent are the way to prove you are committed to your family.

Texan of the Year

The Dallas Morning News has named the illegal immigrant "Texan of the Year," which, as you can imagine, has not pleased many Texans, or many Americans.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/texanofyear/

But of course it's the obvious choice.  What other person or persons has had a more direct impact on Texas and the national debate this year?  Except Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, of course.  While we continue to marginalize "illegal" immigrants (the term itself is offensive), we will never move on to a compassionate conversation that meets everyone's needs.  So kudos to the Dallas News for being a positive force in the conversation.

Less Citizens, Less Trouble

The backlog of applications for citizenship represents tens of thousands fewer citizens who will be eligible to vote for the 2008 presidential election.  And it's not hard to guess that new citizens are much less likely to vote for "tough on immigration" candidates, or, in other words, Republicans.

While I hesitate to impute such foresight to the Bush Administration (the people who brought you the Katrina response and the "Don't worry, we'll be greeted as liberators," style of reconstruction planning), it does seem that sitting on those applications while the election inches closer, particularly with the hotly contested elections we've had the last two cycles, certainly plays in the Republican's favor.

Pre-publication publicity for Illegal: Growing Up Unwanted in America

My dear friend and brilliant t.v. producer and personality Phyllis Haynes of Studio1Network.net interviewed me about the forthcoming Illegal: Growing Up Unwanted In America.

Watch the clip here:

Here's the Story to Watch

Arizona has taken it upon themselves to be the test tube for the rest of us: they are driving out illegal immigrants through a harsh and punitive law aimed at employers.  And it seems to be working,  Experts agree that the numbers of illegal immigrants in Arizona are decreasing.  Interestingly, the economy is also slowing.  This will be the state to watch to learn, first hand, what policy experts have been telling us all along: when you drive out cheap labor, your economy slows.  Click here for the full story.

Streetfight

Here's an example of how bullheaded fights about immigration don't let anyone win: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20071220-1309-wst-immigration-streetfight.html

Illegal immigrants looking for work outside a Phoenix furniture store, and a fed-up owner hiring marshals with deportation power to patrol his parking lot.  Should a private individual have the right to have people deported?  Should protesters be shooing away his business?

These issues arise out of resistance to what is and out of talking "at" each other instead of trying to find a solution.  The reality is that these workers are there, and obviously there is enough work to support them coming back consistently.  Work center, anyone?

$20 Salads

It's eminently logical:  cheap labor gives us the low prices we all expect.  What about that $20 salad?

It's a distinct possibility, says Professor Ronald Gunderson at Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff.  The wages we would need to pay U.S. citizens, even minimum wage, would drive up prices on consumables to uncomfortable levels.  It's the dirty little truth about this entire illegal immigration debate: we espouse the need for fair wages for all, but demand $2 lettuce.  Click here for the whole article.