.
Ann Curry reported on the Today
Show on NBC on May 17, 2007 that one third (1/3) of the
US
population is now "foreign born", underlining
again that we are "a nation of immigrants", a
polyglot group of people from all over the planet.
[VDARE.COM note: MSM
Wishful thinking? It`s actually
closer to 12%].
This phrase,
"a nation of immigrants" and the lines from Emma
Lazarus` 1883 poem on the Statue of Liberty, "Give me
your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning
to breathe free" have been used repeatedly by
the open door lobbyists as emotional linchpins of
the growing debate over how many and how should
immigrants come to America.
Of course, that poem was
misinterpreted to justify open borders and in fact the
Statue of Liberty`s history has been gotten quite wrong.
Fortunately, according to an October 2000 NY
Times article, we learn that Barry Moreno, a
National Park Service librarian, spent five years
researching and writing The Statue of Liberty Encyclopedia.
Moreno and
other scholars say that the statue was
originally intended to be an anti-monarchy,
anti-slavery symbol. Immigrants, and the Lazarus
poem, were not popularly connected with the statue until
the 20th century. [Cracks Found In the Myths Around
Statue; Park Service Librarian Writes Book to Clarify
Lady Liberty`s Origins By Glenn Collins, October 28,
2000
PDF]
Anyway, if over 100 million of us
were not born here, as a Democrat, I am not saying that
this fact is bad in and of itself.
What I am saying is that, to quote
another Democrat,
Roy Beck, President, of NumbersUSA, "the Golden
Age of Immigration into the US" was between 1925
when the
last major reform in our laws occurred until 1965
when the present grotesque statutes were enacted, since
then bringing at least 40 million new immigrant aliens,
both legal and illegal, who have added their rapidly
multiplying offspring to the current population of the
US, largely causing our population to expand by 80
million people from 1970 through 2003. Many of those
here illegally are not even counted!
Assimilation of those
1925 to 1965 immigrants into the American scene
occurred successfully. So did that occur with aliens
coming in earlier mass migrations. Most of those coming
since 1965 did not necessarily come for
permanent residence and citizenship, but more often
as
border crossers from Latin America motivated by the
lure of jobs.
In 1940, the US population was
about 150 million. Now it bloated to over 310 million
and we are going to add at least another 100 million by
2050 if present open border policies continue to unravel
every aspect of American life.
For example,
Yeh Ling-Ling, executive director of Diversity
Alliance for a Sustainable America, said that according
to U.S. Census Bureau data, most Hispanic immigrants
have low incomes. They, therefore, do not pay enough
taxes to even offset the cost of educating their
children, which averages $7,500 per child per year
nationally…[Immigrants,
Boon Or Bane, The Morning News, Springfield
Arkansas May 11, 2007]
As the fact of taking tax dollars
away from citizens to educate illegal immigrants really
continues to grow, more citizens will be motivated to
vote their pocketbooks.
Right now, as promised by Senator
Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV), that body is
planning to vote on a bill (S1348) on Monday, May 21st
that would authorize fast tracking citizenship for at
least the number Reid estimates, 12 million aliens here
illegally now, but many authorities estimate the number
at
20 million and postulate that the new law would
bring
in millions more.
The serious questions of impact,
environmental, cultural, and economic, seem to pale
before the question of
how many terrorists are among those already here.
Without a careful review and followup by the
Department of Homeland Security, the
FBI and the
CIA, that vital question is being ignored by the
rush of current lawmakers to follow the orders of their
corporate paymasters, the religious and ethnic
lobbyists, and Democrats who say, "Si, Si" to
more
predominantly Hispanic voters (who are assumed to be
Democratic voters) without regard for our national
interests.
We can only pray that the few
voices of reason in both Houses can stop the current
rush to massive new legislation for a broad amnesty
which will fail to bring us true immigration just as the
1986 reforms and all its predecessors. Bush
eagerly awaits the chance to sign this new amnesty
bill. Based on his record with everything else he has
backed, Americans should be especially leery of his
endorsement of this initiative. Again, business
money talks loudest.
If, like the
mighty Titanic, we hit this huge block of dangerous
legislation (the
McCain Kennedy bill that passed last session was 700
pages which many who voted for it had not read), we
seriously risk the same fate of that tragic liner, going
down as a nation too weak to find solutions for its
problems, to greedy to build the proper safeguards, and
distracted by peripheral pleasures of man the lifeboats
offered by sound leaders who back true reform.
However, do email these Senators (I
have), as they are the potentially "swing votes" on
killing this amnesty express train:
- Lamar Alexander (R-TN), up for 2008
re-election
- Thad Cochran (R-MS), up for 2008
re-election
- John Cornyn (R-TX), up for 2008
re-election
- Orrin Hatch (R-UT), was up for 2006
re-election
- Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), was up for
2006 re-election
- Jon Kyl (R-AZ), was up for 2006
re-election
- Trent Lott (R-MS) was up for 2006
re-election
- Ben Nelson (D-NE) was up for 2006
re-election
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), was up for 2006
re-election–remember Senator Abraham lost there on IR
- Craig Thomas (R-WY), was up for 2006
re-election
They all have web sites; go there
NOW and give them your personal (not mass emailed)
message.
In
coming out strongly against S1348, American Legion
Commander
Paul A. Morin, noted the need to
insure these features in ANY new legislation:
- Securing the borders and coastline points
of entry;
- Removing the jobs magnet by imposing and
enforcing employer sanctions;
- Eliminating most social services benefits
for illegal immigrants;
- Promoting a strategy of attrition through
enforcement; and
- Effectively screening and tracking foreign
visitors in the U.S.
Such reforms are not really hard
to do. It is simply a matter of will. And over 80% of
American citizens want it done. We are getting to
the point of desperation over this failure by our
government at all levels to do our bidding on this key
issue and so many others. Frankly, it is high time to
throw out all the rascals who salute only their
paymasters and not us citizens.
Donald A. Collins [email
him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own.
