Illegals demand their freedom

Illegal aliens and their supporters hit the streets Friday to protest the Senate's new bill, which would make their presence here a felony. For the record, I believe making illegal immigration a felony is pretty ridiculous as well, and probably represents an election year political stunt.

That doesn't mean I agree with Jeralyn Merritt and the like. Actually, their attitude is the reason these protests bother me.

For example, wonder if any of the marching illegals realized they were exercising a Constitutional right of assembly they do not possess in order to protest a legal action against them from the country they've entered illegally? Even if most of the marchers were legal residents it amounts to protesting on behalf of scofflaws.

But no stinkin' Gringo logic crossed this participant's mind:

"They're here for the American Dream," said Malissa Greer, 29, who joined a crowd estimated by police to be at least 10,000 strong. "God created all of us. He's not a God of the United States, he's a God of the world."

Wow, she has a copy of Hillary's Bible. Here's another puzzler:

Hundreds of the students, some carrying Mexican flags, walked down the middle of Los Angeles streets, police cruisers behind them.

Sounds more like the beginning of an insurrection. That sentiment was not confined to places like East LA, though. Over in peanutland (Georgia) the state is considering a bill that would strip away services from illegals and also slap a 5 percent surcharge on their wire transfers. Pretty clever, and sure to tick off Vincente Fox since it reduces his gross national product.

But alas, the press will focus on comments like these:

Jennifer Garcia worried what would the proposal would do to her family. She said her husband is an illegal Mexican immigrant. "If they send him back to Mexico, who's going to take care of them and me?" Garcia said of herself and her four children. "This is the United States. We need to come together and be a whole."

Simple solution, get your husband here legally, Ma'am.

But let's not forget that people like Ms. Garcia are able to make such statements because our system has permitted illegal immigration. Both government and business have looked the other way in the pursuit of their monetary and political goals, so it shouldn't be surprising that some people might be confused when authorities threaten to actually uphold the laws. But the law is just that. Both immigrants and citizens must respect it, or chaos results.

MORE 3/25/06

The protesters were out in force in LA again today. I realize Frist's felony law might ruffle some feathers, but don't these folks realize us gringos are already forced to select our own language when dialing customer service or grabbing cash from a teller machine? It's not like we haven't been somewhat accomodating.

Also, it appears someone reviewed the media coverage from yesterday and realized way too many Mexican flags were in the coverage. Today Old Glory was prominent in the press shots, like the one at the left from CNN. I'm not sure that's going to sway many folks, after all many of the marchers are still breaking the law simply by being there. But it takes some of the insurrectionist edge off the events.

Meanwhile, in his Saturday radio address Bush crystalized the problem when he said, "America is a nation of immigrants, and we're also a nation of laws,". So he drew a line but it was wavy, since he also called for "legislation that does not force America to choose between being a welcoming society and a lawful one." He'll probably use this to push his amnesty plan as a compromise position, forcing the left to speculate on whether Rove had a secret role in orchestrating the protests.

3/25 ONE FINAL THOUGHT

In an interesting piece about AQ and nukes, Arnaud de Borchgrave of the Washington Times speculates on why Bin Laden wants to bring a few kilotons to America:

What interests bin Laden and Zawahri beyond casualty lists is collateral damage to civil liberties, privacy and the world economy.

Therefore, if we juxtapose Bin Laden's goal with this statement from a illegal alien marcher in LA we find a paradox:

"As much as we need this country, we love this country," Salvador said, waving a stick with both the American and Guatemalan flag. "This country gives us opportunities we don't get at home."

Since a large percentage of the world depends on America for their livelihoods (including many Muslims and Arabs) an attack here would be pretty risky. Look at it this way, if 500k are marching in the streets just to stay here illegally, imagine how they might feel if Bin Laden takes their meal tickets away.

ATZLAN 3/27/06

All the illegal aliens toting signs and pointing to the fact they're actually the indigenous peoples in the land of fruits and nuts are proof of a failed education system, either here or in Mexico. Clearly they are unaware of their own Spanish heritage. I believe that would make many of them European by descent, right?