Observations from the “Ground Zero” of Immigration

On September 14, 2001, three days after the greatest loss of life occurred on American soil as a direct result of enemy attack, President Bush came to the blasted and blood-soaked streets of Manhattan to prop up the country, and deliver a message to our enemies:

“I can hear you.  The rest of the world hears you.  And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear from all of us soon.”  From that time forward, President Bush and most of the Congress has stayed the course in fighting terrorism at home and abroad.

Even the Democrats, for all their lowbrow politicizing and demagoguery, in the end usually vote with Republicans when the vote really matters, as they did just two weeks ago in voting to reauthorize the Patriot Act.  After all, this is America’s security were talking about, for both Republicans and Democrats.

It is remarkable how--when it wants to--Congress can work together to make it happen.  Who can forget both parties’s signing of “God Bless America” on the steps of the Capitol in 2001?  It shows that when needed, the politicians remember that it is, indeed, a   country together.

Yet, here in Southern California, which I view as the “Ground Zero” of immigration, it looks more like a country split, with a Congress all too unwilling or politically vapor-locked to do what should be done.

Last weekend, I watched as my state became a symbol of everything that is wrong regarding immigration.  I watched as well over half a million legal and illegal Mexicans paraded through the street of Los Angeles; holding up demeaning and anti-American signs, burning American flags, and flying the colors of Mexico as if California were, in fact, the “Mexifornia” as described in an excellent and thought-provoking book by National Review author, Victor Davis Hanson.

Throughout the country, similar protest took place, though not nearly as massive.  High school students throughout California and Texas and Colorado joined in, though it is doubtful that there truly cared for the cause.  It was, more than likely, an excuse to cut class.

The cause you ask?  Why, that would be the “right” of an illegal immigrant to stay in the United States and receive all the social benefits (read as taxpayer monies) they believe they are entitled to.

Roll that around your brain for a while: the right to stay here illegally.

Naturally, Latino leaders have encouraged their followers to ply the race card early and often, thereby showing that these people who “live within the shadows of society” came out long enough to learn a trick or two from professional race hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.  Well, it is America, after all; the land of opportunity. 

But here in California, where there are some two million illegal Mexican aliens, it feels more like a land besieged.  Last weeks march by illegals and their sympathizers felt more like a storming of the gates than it did a protest. 

But maybe this had to happen just as it did.  And maybe, the rest of America has now been forcibly shaken awake, and made aware of a problem that has for decades been ignored, or conveniently overlooked.

Ronald Reagan last dealt with the problem of illegal immigration. Reagan’s way of dealing with it was to grant amnesty, and promise tougher border security.  Twelve million people later, somebody forgot to lock the gate…

There are many arguments and passions that swirl around the issue of immigration and what we should--as a country--do about it.  The camp that argues that illegal immigration is a result of an economic need in Mexico and the United States presents a valid, if stained, argument.

There are jobs that Americans seem to turn there backs on; and cheap labor is plentiful over the border.  But what good is cheap goods and labor if your taxes are skyrocketing, your public schools are collapsing, and your state infrastructure--like hospitals--are besieged and overrun with people who cannot pay the bill?

This is California; and New York, and Texas, and probably coming to a city near you.  And as the burdens move in, the taxpayers and businesses move out.  California is reeling under the burden of too many people taxing the state-run facilities and programs, and too few taxpayers paying for it.

Security is the other major issue regarding illegal Immigration, and it is here that I believe rest’ the country’s biggest concern.  Thousands come across illegally into California daily, and not all of them are from Mexico.  It is quite easy for al-Qaeda terrorist, or anyone for that matter that means us harm to get in.  In a post-9/11 world, it is simply incredible that this should even be an issue hotly debated, much less an issue vastly unresolved.

It seems President Bush has cast his gaze away from the Southwest and the Golden State.  California has become a jump-off point for illegal aliens; so much so that they can openly march in the streets and demand what they want.  I, and I would say Americans by the tens of millions, are angry with President Bush, and angry at any politician who would seek to disguise amnesty as a “guest-worker program.”

Maybe it’s time that President Bush and the GOP majority that he leads in Washington are reminded of who they work for.  Though the presidents election days are over, his party’s are not.

Can you hear that, President Bush?  Can you hear what the majority of the country is saying to you regarding immigration?  If illegals--who refuse to even assimilate and become Americans--continue to tread through the streets as if they owned them, then you can bet that you will hear all of us across the country come November, 2006; and possibly 2008.

Marie is the founder of The Conservative Woman Website and Drawing Close.Org