Thread: Give me a break

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 4f859.html

Mark Davis:
Give me a break

Farmers Branch is trying to solve illegal immigration because Washington won't, and it has nothing to do with racism
August 30, 2006
Farmers Branch, Texas.

The name suggests a babbling brook running through fields of freshly baled hay. The reality is Interstate 35 running through blocks of suburban homes and businesses northwest of Dallas.

But there's still plenty of babbling. Farmers Branch has become the latest epicenter for the type of shrill protest that arises whenever anyone suggests getting serious about our immigration laws. First came Hazleton, Pa., where Mayor Lou Barletta pushed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, punishing landlords who rent to illegal aliens and businesses who hire them. English became the town's official language, eliminating polylingual legal documents and signs.

Communities across America are considering doing the same, but it is in Farmers Branch where City Council member Tim O'Hare stepped forward to say that illegal immigrants are responsible for many of the city's problems.

There is nothing in his slate of Hazleton-style proposals that would make life one speck more difficult for the numerous city residents who are English-speaking legal immigrants.

But with annoying predictability, along came the catcalls of racism. The League of United Latin American Citizens and other voices of Hispanic advocacy rushed to slap a clumsy label of bigotry onto anyone agreeing with the new proposals.

"Farmers Branch is now going to be a city of hate," moaned former LULAC national president Hector Flores. "The Statue of Liberty must be crying right now."

Maybe she's just gagging from such ridiculous rhetoric. If Lady Liberty has anything to truly cry about, it is the sad fact that immigration has deteriorated from something that made America great to something that threatens its very future.

In the 50 years from the Industrial Revolution to the Great Depression, millions of people flowed into America dedicated to embracing our culture, learning our language and assimilating into our value system.

Those traits are all too rare today, even among some legal immigrants. Add in millions of people who thwart our nation's laws the moment they arrive, and you have the crisis that faces us today.

Our porous borders are proof that the federal government lacks the spine and resolve to close them to illegals and deport the ones we find. Millions of Americans, starving for reforms that respect our laws and borders, will take whatever they can get, even if it's just some get-tough measures from City Hall.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas seeks to dissuade communities from enacting immigrant-related local measures, arguing that such matters should be addressed in Washington.

Well, wouldn't it be a grand day if her constituents had a lick of hope that something might actually happen? In this mealy-mouthed era of guest worker programs and a "welcoming country," even Republicans cannot be counted on to stand up for effective borders and the rule of law.

Let's have our federal officials butt out of what cities might wish to do in the absence of leadership from beneath the Capitol dome. If towns in Texas or Pennsylvania or anywhere else want to enact measures that deal with a problem Washington doesn't have the stomach for, let's have those debates in those towns.

But let's have them rationally.

All who oppose laws cracking down on illegals must purge all baseless, slanderous reflex cries of racism from their arguments. I know that the vast majority of illegals in America are from Latin America. But in many places (like Farmers Branch, for example), so are the vast majority of law-abiding, English-speaking immigrants who are part of what make their communities and our country great. They are welcomed with open arms by Mr. Barletta, Mr. O'Hare and all of us who want tougher immigration laws.

This is not racial. It is behavioral. And as long as the federal status quo, from the president on down, refuses to provide remedies, local governments will be tempted to pick up the slack.

He's right. Illegal immigrations is a law and order issue not a race issue!

All the pro-illegal organizations cry racism as soon as they are confronted with an argument against legalization!

Thank you Mr. Davis.

The way things are progressing at this time, I feel that non Hispanics should be screaming discrimination! It is sad to think it has come to this.