The national debate on immigration has taken a nasty turn in recent years, and with a Presidential election in 2012, I assume the rhetoric will only get nastier. First the State of Arizona passed an immigration law that was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to legalize discrimination against Mexicans in the spring of 2010. Then in June 2011, Alabama passed an even more restrictive immigration law, which interestingly has resulted in an excellent article by NPR called, “Have the crackdowns on immigration gone too far?”
Strangely, many who support these extreme (if not illegal) new immigration laws use very patriotic language. However, I always am tempted to ask these supporters if they’ve forgotten what is etched on our very own Statue of Liberty.
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
I recognize that the United States cannot simply open their doors and must better track people, but at our core – our national identity was built upon what is etched on the Statue of Liberty and we’d be wise to remember that. The AZ and AL laws seem to forget or find that an inconvenient truth.
BosGuy 
I believe that borders are man-made. We need to embrace change and to encourage integration into our society. Native Americans, including the indigenous people of Mexico, were here before many of our European ancestors.
We must continue to protect our borders from those who wish to hurt us as a nation, and welcome those who want a better life, and wish to work for it.
Change is the only constant in life. Our culture and our society will continue to change as we welcome new citizens. It is my hope that they will bring their traditions, and embrace those we cherish.
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I wanted to stay and they wouldn’t let me.
Buggers……
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I am firmly of the opinion that every wave of immigrants enriches the culture of the United States.
From the food to some of the traditions and festivals, it ensures the U.S. will always be one up from any other nation on the planet.
And as one who feels the flow of Italian blood in my veins, I have an interest in the experience of Italian immigrants to this country in the early part of the 20th century.
It’s one of the myriad reason I won’t speak to my father. His anti-immigrant screeds got to be a bit too much, and that coupled with other crap he’d said to me, I’d just had enough. He can’t see the parallels of Italian emigration and the inflow from Mexico, Central and South America, and even Honduras, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic etc.
Me, I’ve worked with some of the groups above and I can tell you they’re evey bit as vested in the U.S. as I am.
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I am a Cuban exile, not an immigrant but I have been subjected over the course of 52 years to some of the most odious discrimination any one can imagine let alone endure the same as my hermanos Latinos have..
The one most important reason these kinds of laws are placed on the books is because a great many Americans are xenophobic…as they are racist and homophobic as well. From their point of view…we are taking away “THEIR AMERICA” not realizing that America belongs to each and everyone of us. The Statue of Liberty doesn’t say give me your WASP (heterosexual) tired and poor and the statue of justice is blindfolded to reflect a lack of partiality.
One thing is for sure, there will be very few of us Latinos voting Republican in the next elections…and that includes the traditional Cuban vote in Miami even if they put up Marco Rubio as VP. who by the way is the son of pro-Castro exiles…as most of those who came to the U.S. before 1959 were. Maybe that is something we can point out to.
great post, thank you for it.
saludos,
raulito
http://fromtop2bttm.blogspot.com/
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Ask the Native Americans how they feel about “illegals”.
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Emma Lazarus’ words are just that…..kind of like the forefather’s ‘separation of church and state’ (the only way any GOP candidate wants that is if the religion isn’t christian).
Who knew Newt would be the voice of “reason”. Effectively sealing his fate as the non-nominee.
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