The 614-page legislation euphemistically labeled "reform" would give illegal aliens benefits not enjoyed by law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens. Can anyone imagine the IRS accepting from a citizen three years of back taxes in place of five years owed? Lawbreakers from south of the border would now be given that right.
Why should lawbreakers qualify for Social Security and the earned income credit previously reserved for citizen taxpayers? Would Teddy Roosevelt, FDR or Truman meet with officials of a foreign country before defending the nation's borders? George W. Bush agreed to have American officials consult with Mexican officials to obtain their assent before constructing a fence along the border.
Mexican President Vicente Fox has threatened to bring legal action against the United States in American courts should America have the temerity to build a fence or to arm National Guard troops, now unarmed and restricted to answering telephones and delivering supplies for the Border Patrol.
As for the canard that Latinos perform work shunned by Americans, African-American columnist Thomas Sowell wrote recently: "Even in occupations where illegals are concentrated, such as agriculture, cleaning, construction and food preparation, the great majority of the work is still being done by people who are not illegal aliens. … But when will the glib phrase-mongers stop telling us that the illegals are simply taking ‘jobs that Americans won't do?'"
The crisis facing America transcends the 12 million illegal aliens living here. Unless the Senate legislation is blocked by conservative Republicans in the House, the Hagel-Martinez provisions will permit an estimated 80 million additional legal immigrants to enter America by 2025. That is two-thirds of our current population.
The Senate bill, which pays only lip service to border security, does not address already overcrowded under-funded schools; a near-bankrupt Social Security system; overcrowded jails and prisons; overburdened health and welfare services; crowded cities and highways. The legislation will of necessity require the largest expansion of the federal government in the nation's history.
Liberals urgently need this new perpetual underclass of victims to justify the legions of new bureaucrats this benighted legislation will engender. More significantly, this legislation will change the culture, the very nature, of what today is known as America.
Supporters argue that the newcomers would become assimilated as did those who emigrated to America in the 1850s. That assertion is false.
Then, 90 percent of immigrants were Europeans whose religious, cultural and social customs were similar enough to Americans' that only English had to be learned. Today, 85 percent of immigrants are from Asia, Africa and South America. Not only is their language different, but family, religious and cultural beliefs and customs are different, and most show no interest in learning English and becoming assimilated.
Already, white Americans are in the minority in California, and Hispanics are agitating for a complete takeover of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Assimilation? Here are the words of George W. Bush in a speech at Florida Atlantic University in 2000: "Just go to Miami, or San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago, or West New York, New Jersey … and close your eyes and listen. You could just as easily be in Santo Domingo or Santiago or San Miguel de Allende."
Hispanic activist Venable de Rodriguez said "the idea of an active reconquest of Mexican (he means American) territory is in the air. But the reality of cultural re-absorption already renders it a foregone conclusion."
The May Day protests with demonstrators carrying Mexican flags were organized by ANSWER – Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. This organization distributed signs reading "Amnistia -- Full Rights For All Immigrants" and "immediate and unconditional amnesty … with no delays or complicated application procedures." The Web site also called for the jailing of law-abiding Minutemen who were called "racist vigilantes."
The National Council of La Raza, the Race, which receives $15 million annually from American taxpayers, supports organizations calling for "Reconquista"or "Aztlan," which means the Mexican reconquest of at least five border states. Its motto is "Por La Raza Todo, Fuera de la Raza Nada." (For the Race everything, for those outside the Race nothing.)
Robert Suro, writing in The New York Times, has written: "Latino immigration could become a powerful demographic engine of social fragmentation, discord, and even violence."
Democrat Kennedy and McCain and other RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) will saddle our grandchildren and great-grandchildren with programs that only future confiscatory taxes can possibly support.
Samuel T. Francis, in "America Extinguished," states: "The total costs of mass immigration are not only wages, welfare, and crime. What is clear is that the new masses are not assimilating, that they and their political and cultural leaders increasingly reject the very concept of assimilation. … What it is really costing us is the American Nation itself. … America as we have known it for the last two centuries will cease to exist."
Dr. Walter T. Schoen may be reached at wtsbbs11@pinehurst.net.
