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It’s not about ‘terrorists;’ Black Americans are the replacement work force; employers and elected officials are part of the crime.

By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

   June 12, 2006

 

  

                    The campaign to replace disgraced Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham by former Congressman/Lobbyist Brian Bilbray finally put to an end the pretense that Southern “border security” was about keeping al-Qaeda terrorists out of the country. From the millions spent by both Bilbray and the National Republican Committee on TV ads not one was about “terrorists.” They were all about keeping brown faced Mexicans out.

 

To his racist credit, Bilbray didn’t even pretend otherwise, but then again he never has. While in Congress not once, not twice, but three times he introduced denying citizenship to children born in the United States to illegal immigrant mothers. Not to children born to U.S. citizen mothers whose father is an illegal immigrant – no, just to foreign mothers. And of course, never mind it’s against the Constitution’s 14^th Amendment.

 

The re-born again Congressman now goes to Washington to take his place among those voting on immigration reform, which is not likely to pass due to the wide separation of ideas and philosophies between the House and Senate versions. Bilbray is for the enforcement only House version including more border fence building.

 

How ironic that he is all for building more fencing when his own TV commercials promoting his tough stance on illegal immigration included footage showing illegal immigrants scaling over existing fencing. As is typical with closed and narrow thinkers, it probably didn’t occur to Bilbray that he was presenting evidence that fences don’t work. But in the spirit of prolonging the issue with macho rhetoric and expenditures of a few billion dollars more, he will vote for more fencing – in fact if he had his way it would be 2000 miles not a mere 370 miles as proposed by the Senate or 700 miles as proposed by the House.

 

Bilbray along with the cadre of other anti-brown-faced Mexican immigrant Congress representatives will not take up the issue of the other 5 to 6 million illegal immigrants not from Mexico. That would require thinking, reasoning and coming up with a workable plan. For limited minds, it’s just so much easier to use force and fences to keep the unwanted out from our Southern country. If they take to the sea after that fails, well, we’ll deal with that then is their apparent present reasoning..

 

What about the illegal hiring by US companies? Again the feeble minded simply reason that if there are no illegal immigrants there won’t be illegal immigrants to hire. How quaint – if there is no supply there won’t be a demand. But Congress is no stranger to this type of reasoning; they have spent several hundred billion dollars in the drug-war with a mere pittance of that total on drug rehabilitation at home. The logic there – let’s not stop the users; let’s stop them from having something to use.

 

And, the other logic as voiced by the likes of Lou Dobbs saying he is sick and tired of hearing that Americans won’t do the work illegal immigrants do. Why if businesses pay more they will. Great thinking, but he and the others never quite get around to identifying who those Americans are that will go out into the farm fields in the summer heat. Of course, the one thing for sure is that Dobbs sitting before cameras wearing his $2000+ imported suits, and hundred dollar shirts does not mean himself.

 

I wonder if black Americans realize that Dobbs and the others probably have in mind that those Americans are – them. And why not – it was black Americans who did that work before, so why not again?  Don't black Americans understand that that is work for minorities? Hmm, maybe that’s why Affirmative Action was canceled.

 

And, it is also the same like minded who voice “if businesses paid more” Americans would do the job, but are the first to oppose higher minimum wage or living-wage legislation. Come on, saying it is one thing, doing something about it quite another.

 

The real classic is the bit about employers not knowing they hire illegal immigrants. Yet, when immigration officers have raided farm fields in numerous states, those employers pick up the phone and call their Congress representative asking intervention. The instant they pick up the phone, the phony excuse they didn’t know goes out the window. At the very instant the Congress representative acknowledges and intercedes on their behalf, their excuse that they don’t know who hires illegal immigrants goes out the window.

 

And when they demand immigration authorities stop the raids, they have in effect voted for amnesty for the undocumented employees, but more than that, they have aided and abetted illegal immigrants and interfered with law enforcement authorities – all on the books as crimes.

 

So will it be no amnesty for all law breakers or just not for the brown-faced Mexican illegal immigrants?

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Patrick Osio, Jr is Editor of HispanicVista (www.hispanicvista.com). Contact at: Posiojr@hispanicvista.com

(The opinions expressed by Patrick Osio, Jr. are solely his and do not necessarily reflect those of HispanicVista.com, editorial board of advisors or it’s contributing writers.)

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

The manual is available through Electronic delivery for $9.95 making it possible to download the manual for save on your hard drive, printing its entirety or particular sections while reaping considerable savings over printed copies.