Keep ugliness out of immigration debate-CNN opinion piece

[pampango]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/OPINION/12/14/navarrette.immigration.bigotry/

"Tis the season of peace on Earth and good will toward men. Yet you wouldn't know it from the screed from the conservative radio talk show host who recently charged into the immigration debate with gums flapping. He called for a crackdown on illegal immigration but also a wholesale tightening of immigration policy so we admit fewer legal immigrants as well. The radio talker was half-right. Americans must get serious about stopping illegal immigration, mostly by doing something we never seem to do with much enthusiasm: punish employers. But legal immigration shouldn't be dragged into the mix."

"Still, the worst part was the wildly inappropriate language the host used to justify his position. He was dangerously out-of-bounds in framing the issue as one of protecting society from the latest wave of immigrants, most of whom come from Mexico and Latin America. Unless something was done to curb the flow, he said, these foreigners would continue to "alter our demographics, erode our culture, and threaten our language."

Demographics. Culture. Language. And people wonder why accusations of racism and ethnocentrism keep surfacing in the immigration debate. It's because of ugly, alarmist and bigoted statements like these -- the sort of poison that has a familiar ring to it."

"Let's be real. Americans have been griping, "There goes the neighborhood" for more than 200 years. The first group of immigrants to the United States who were accused of diminishing the quality of life for everyone else -- by altering the demographics, eroding the culture and threatening the language -- were the Germans, followed by the Chinese, the Irish, the Italians, the Greeks, the Jews, the Muslims, etc. Now, it's the Latinos' turn to be in the rhetorical crosshairs."
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The author doesn't say which conservative talk show host he was listening to. Since they all say pretty much the same thing it is hard to tell from the parts of the show that the author references. The fact that the conservative brought demographics, culture and language into it, rather than economics, is right out of the rw playbook.

[KharmaTrain]

1. Yeah, Chicken Noodle Nuze Should Talk...

It was Lou Doobies who used their facilities for years to fan the fires of this "debate". They exploited hatred of hispanics for ratings...giving Doobies and other right wing shills tons of airtime to air racist and xenophobic garbage that they now claim should be tamped down. What a bunch of hypocrites.

Immigration was set up as another GOOP wedge issue that plays on this corrupt party's need for boogie men to energize their base. Never blame those who exploit the undocumented workers...look the other way and blame the brown-skinned people who talk funny. It's a trick that's been in the playbook going back to the earliest days of this nation.

[Kahuna]

2. Too late, CNN. You condoned the ugliness every time you signed

lou dobbs' paycheck.

[xultar]

3. The enablers are going rogue. What the fuckity fuck fuck?

[Kansas Wyatt]

4. I do not give a shit about nationality....

I have always been for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Why?

Because for the last 30 years we all have had the free market rhetoric and laws shoved down our throats, which has also weakened unions. Immigration was suppose to have been settled back in the 80s, yet the free market employment environment attracted illegal immigrants working for less money, 'doing jobs Americans won't do,' which is complete horse shit. Just ask anyone in the construction industry, how illegal workers have hurt them, which also hurts unions, since the non-union side are the ones hiring the illegal workers for less money and can win bids that way. And their craftsmanship on the jobsite really shows and is scary. I do not care what country they come from, they are hurting the American Worker and helping Corporate America gain more power.

In our free market economy, illegal workers are a way to screw the American Worker even more and it has had a devastating effect on the American Worker.

Sorry, I have witnessed the effect of what the use of the illegal worker has done to the American Worker for the last 20 years. With that said, the crackdown needs to start with the employers, who employ illegal workers. If you stand for illegal workers, then you stand for insourcing and outsourcing as well. That is the bottom line.

[Odin2005]

5. The latest "protectionism is racist" whine form the resident Free-Trader.

:eyes:

[pampango]

6. OP has nothing to do with protectionism, though it is indeed about racism and how RW talk radio

argues for stopping legal, not just illegal, immigration and uses demographics, culture and language to make their case rather than its economics effects. We have discussions about immigration on DU but they focus on the economic effects on American workers and the economy, not on demographics, culture and language. If you don't see the difference that's fine with me.

The US has had immigration (and the issues associated with it) for centuries - long before there was "free trade". Protectionism is defined as restricting trade between countries. (Smoot/Hawley was not an immigration bill.)

[Romulox]

7. Still waiting to see the OP's name (if only once!) in a thread about worker's rights

or social justice, or domestic poverty... :shrug: