On fences, immigration and racism. . .
September 27, 2006
Here in Texas the rhetoric related to the immigration issue has reached a new low. More and more Latino/Hispanic leaders have taken the position that you are a racist if you support border control. For several months they have painted Republicans and Democrats alike as racists for supporting tighter controls on the borders. You can’t turn on the local news without a cut to a someone of Hispanic origin railing against “the racist U.S. immigration policy.” The border fence (authorized by the House last night) is a lightning rod for racist rhetoric - the racist fence is a common phrase used to describe the idea.
Comments such as, “…the border fence is a racist attempt divide people along racial lines” are common. If you continue down this line of thinking you would have to conclude that anyone who built a fence around their house was doing so for racial reason. I suspect that most people put up fences for economic and safty related reasons. At our house our fence is designed to prevent people from stealing our property and to keep our son out of the road. We have no racial agenda.
This isn’t a race issue and I would hope that we could bring some honesty to the debate and admit what it is really about. Despite what you may thing, Hispanic is not a race. The Latino community is diverse including many races (white, black, native indian and even Asian) from as many as twenty different countries (most with little in common). If you generally don’t like Hispanics, you are an idiot, but you are not inherently a racist (you might be racist as well as an idiot as the two are not mutually exclusive). The two primary reasons our country is considering building a fence are economic and safety related.
If Latino leaders don’t like our immigration laws they should lobby against them. Arguing against enforcement and advocating violation of our laws is not the sort of strategy that helps build a strong country. The rule of law is important, not simply for justice, but for our economy. Latino leaders are not the only ones guilty of this behavior - our own Congress is as well. How? Simple, they do not enforce our laws when it comes to businesses who employ illegal immigrants. If we are going to jail and deport immigrants who do not follow our laws we should do the same for the businesses who employ them. My previous immigration posts: Immigration Problem - Just Pay Them to Leave, More on Immigration, 500,000 March for Immigration Reform and The Muse Immigration Proposal.
