HispanicVista Columnists
The Shadow of Rep. James Sensenbrenner
By Robert Miranda
With the House of Representatives approving the “Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act” H.R. 4437, the dice are cast and the direction this nation is heading on the issue of immigration is bleak and ominous. Arguably the most draconian bill to ever surface against immigrants out of Washington DC in the last half century, H.R. 4437 should send a cold chill down the backs of many pro-immigration advocates on Capital Hill and around the country.
H.R. 4437 is chilling because it represents a growing world-wide trend towards neo-fascism elevating its goose-stepping political campaign back onto the world stage without fear of criticism.
The rise in fascism around the world is being spurred by anti-immigrant forces using the issue to achieve political victory for their xenophobic cause. In recent months, European newspapers have reported on the rising number of neo-Nazis attending soccer games around Europe.
In September 2005, the HBO program “REAL SPORTS,” hosted by Bryant Gumbel, completed a three-year investigative report entitled, “Fields of Hate” focusing on this disturbing trend and found that open racism in European soccer stadiums was on the rise and gaining momentum because of the anti-immigrant way of thinking taking hold in Europe.
Some of the behaviors caught on film by HBO include whole sections of soccer arenas, from Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany, showing thousands of fans displaying pro-Nazi banners, waving swastikas and yelling Nazi slogans while openly giving the Nazi salute. These fans are on tape mimicking monkey sounds and throwing bananas onto the field anytime a black player touched the soccer ball.
The rise of xenophobia in Europe is reflective of the rise of that practice here in the United States, only difference being, Americans have not taken to openly showing their racism in sports stadiums. It is the politicians who have taken to exhibiting Anglo-American xenophobic agendas behind the closed doors of the United States government.
Leadership, in all but the Judiciary branches of government, now controlled by the Republican Party, has been hit hard with corruption charges. The biggest shift in GOP leadership comes on the heels of House Majority Leader Tom Delay, who was recently hit with criminal charges by the federal government. Delay's fall in leadership gave rise to House Judiciary Committee Chair James Sensenbrenner, Republican from Wisconsin.
Congressman Sensenbrenner is the driving ego behind H.R. 4437 and the evil shadow growing over Washington's immigration policy.
Calling for the need to protect the home front from terrorism, Sensenbrenner has been active pressing the passage of H.R. 4437, despite concerns pointing to what the law could do to hurt legal immigrants.
Rep. Sensenbrenner professes to be for legal immigrants; he is, after all, the chief architect of the new E-3 visa. Because of this new visa, over 10,000 Australians were allowed access into the United States, by-passing the H-1B cap established by the Immigration Act of 1990.
Hmmm…If Rep. Sensenbrenner can create a benevolent and just law designed to help Australians gain access into the United States, why does he feel compelled to draft up this evil and inhumane H.R. 4437?
It seems that Rep. Sensenbrenner is hiding behind his shadow. As noted psychiatrist and founder of Analytical Psychology, Carl Gustav Jung points out, “it is the ‘dark side’ of the ego, and the evil that we are capable of is often stored there.”
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- Robert Miranda, a frequent contributing columnist to HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) is a national award winning columnist, Latino community activist and Editor-in-Chief of the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. Email at: rmiranda@wi.rr.com