I’ve never done a post on illegal immigration before… at least not that I can remember. Last Sunday there was a rally in Postville, IA to protest the treatment of the illegal immigrants who worked at Agriprocessors, Inc. They spoke out against poor working conditions, and to call for the legislation that would give legal status to illegal immigrants. This facility was raided back in May by ICE with 389 workers arrested.
When I saw the article regarding the rally in Monday’s Des Moines Register something immediately jumped out at me:
More than 1,000 people from around the Midwest converged on this small town Sunday to show disdain for the treatment of immigrant workers arrested during a massive raid here in May (emphasis mine).
Immigrant workers… hmmmm could there be some editorializing going on in a news story? No way! The Register would never do that! The New York Times coverage was a little different:
The march was called to protest working conditions in the plant, owned by Agriprocessors Inc., and to call for Congressional legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants. The four rabbis, from Minnesota and Wisconsin, attended the march to publicize proposals to revise kosher food certification to include standards of corporate ethics and treatment of workers (emphasis mine).
I think it is interesting that the New York Times would get this right, and the Des Moines Register wouldn’t. It shows how slanted to the left the Register has become. I also found the make up of the protesters interesting:
The Tony Leys of the Des Moines Register reported:
More than 1,000 people from around the Midwest converged on this small town Sunday to show disdain for the treatment of immigrant workers arrested during a massive raid here in May.
The demonstrators included hundreds of people bused in from the Chicago and Minneapolis areas.
They carried signs reading, “Love thy neighbor” and “Build sense, not a fence.” They chanted, “We are all immigrants” and “Si, se puede — Yes, we can.” (obviously Obama backers, LOL) And they listened to religious leaders pray in English, Spanish and Hebrew.
Julia Preston of the New York Times wrote:
About 1,000 people, including Hispanic immigrants, Catholic clergy members, rabbis and activists, marched through the center of this farm town on Sunday and held a rally at the entrance to a kosher meatpacking plant that was raided in May by immigration authorities.
First off… how many was it? Again could it be that the New York Times was more accurate than the Register? Interesting. I also find it interesting that they had to ship the majority of people from out of state. Perhaps it is because Iowans know what a burden illegal immigrants have been on our economy? These people do not represent mainstream America by any means.
“Love thy neighbor.” That is manipulative. To want the law to be enforced is not an act of hate. I agree with the group when they protest how these illegal immigrants were mistreated. That is deplorable, and we should stand against that. I also don’t think it’s helpful to protest ICE doing its job. Those arrested broke the law. Until the law is changed their status is illegal, and ICE was well within its rights to do what it did. I also feel that companies that break the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If companies wouldn’t hire illegal immigrants there would be less incentive for them to come.
“Build sense, not a fence.” I’m sorry, but that is stupid. So let’s welcome the drug trafficking too? How about terrorists who want to come into the U.S. through our porous southern border? The border must be secured before any meaningful immigration reform can take place.
Then we can talk about visas. A path to citizenship for some, not all. I don’t think it is fair to those immigrants who are here legally for amnesty to be given for all. Perhaps we need to look at quotas from different countries as well. Another thing too, I think the status of the children of illegal immigrants who are born on U.S. soil needs to be addressed.
The 14th Amendment was not seen to apply to children of aliens until the Supreme Court decided that should be the case in the 1898 Wong Ark Can decision. Since children born by illegal immigrants on U.S. soil are considered citizens this provides further motivation to come here illegally.
So I believe that with increased border control, punishing companies who break the law, and addressing the status of children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. (which I’m not sure would take a Constitutional Amendment or not) we should see, I believe, a drop in illegal immigration. Then we also need to make sure our legal immigration process is fair and fast, because it is part of our heritage and we need to honor it as such.