Thread: Our own Sensenbrenner fights the alien among us

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Joel McNally: Our own Sensenbrenner fights the alien among us
By Joel McNally
Politicians from states along the Mexican border are so controlled by local fears and racial prejudices they can be downright un-American in proposing vicious, anti-immigrant legislation. But what's Republican Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner's problem? Wisconsin is about as far from the Mexican border as you can get without being Minnesota.
Waukesha, which is in the congressman's district, has a growing Latino population, but those immigrants are so overwhelmed by all the conservative, white Republicans gerrymandered into Sensenbrenner's district, he doesn't have to worry about any of their concerns.

And Sensenbrenner sure doesn't. As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Sensenbrenner just rammed through the House of Representatives what is being called the harshest anti-immigration bill in history.

The bill, also supported by Rep. Mark Green, who is seeking the Republican nomination for governor, would build a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border, reminiscent of the Berlin Wall. It also would make illegal immigration to this country a felony criminal offense, potentially flooding our courts and our prisons with an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already living in this country.

The bill is so viciously draconian that it is even opposed by such staunchly conservative institutions as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal.

You know a congressman is a wild-eyed extremist when he makes President George Bush look temperate.

Bush has proposed a "guest worker" program that would ultimately allow illegal immigrants already living in this country to work their way toward citizenship.

Like the rest of Bush's compassionate conservatism, it's just empty rhetoric so far. Bush has been talking far more lately about cracking down on border security than he has about passing his own citizenship plan. But at least it's a nod in the right direction.

The ugly legislation pushed through by Sensenbrenner has simply fed the appetite of those who hate and fear immigrants for even uglier legislation.

The next jackboot to drop is a proposal in Congress to abolish the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to everyone born in this country.

Those whose immigrant ancestors guaranteed their own citizenship now want to deny citizenship to children born of newer immigrants and toss the kids in prison along with their parents.

All those European immigrants were what made this country the great melting pot. But these newer immigrants are different. You can tell they are different because they are color-coded.

Sensenbrenner claims his intention is simply to "help restore the integrity of our nation's borders and re-establish respect for our laws." But somehow the only border whose integrity is of any concern is the one with Mexico.

We don't hear Sensenbrenner agonizing about illegal Canadians crossing the border and working in this country. There are no fences to keep out people who pronounce "about" "aboot."

If congressmen want to re-establish respect for our laws, they really should try passing laws that don't hold human beings of different races and backgrounds in contempt.

Besides embarrassing us nationally, Sensenbrenner's grandstanding against immigrants of color directly affects Wisconsin.

Our state Legislature is currently under federal pressure to pass legislation denying drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. If the state fails to do so, we could lose federal funds, and worse.

The worse is that our Wisconsin drivers' licenses would no longer be considered a valid photo ID for boarding airplanes in this country. We'd all have to carry passports even to fly to Sheboygan.

Guess who was responsible for the federal law invalidating the drivers' licenses currently being issued in Wisconsin? That's right. Wisconsin's own F. James Sensenbrenner.

Besides the annoyance of having our photo IDs revoked, the change Sensenbrenner sponsored to stop Wisconsin and other states from issuing drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants is simply bad public policy.

There are very good reasons why anyone driving in Wisconsin, even undocumented immigrants, should be required to have a driver's license.

To be licensed, drivers are required to take tests demonstrating driving ability and a knowledge of traffic laws and safety regulations. They have to be able to see. Those are pretty important requirements.

Forbidding states from issuing licenses to immigrants will not stop them from driving. Most immigrants came to this country to work. Many jobs require workers to drive, either on the job or to work.

If they cannot obtain legitimate drivers' licenses, immigrant workers will either drive without licenses or obtain them on the black market.

Sensenbrenner dresses up his anti-immigrant, anti-Wisconsin crusade with the claim that he is preventing terrorists from obtaining valid photo IDs. But, so far, we haven't had a single Mexican terrorist.

If Latinos ever do start abandoning Catholicism for militant Islam, wouldn't it be a good idea to have them registered with the Division of Motor Vehicles so we would know where they are instead of driving them further underground?

Joel McNally of Milwaukee writes a weekly column for The Capital Times. E-mail: jmcnally@wi.rr.com

Published: January 14, 2006

I invite this moron to come live here in San Diego for a few months and see how long he retains his misinformed, misguided views. I guess living in Wisconsin, his only contact with illegals is when they bus his table or mow his lawn. I think he might change his opinion if his contact with illegals was having them live 30 to 40 people in the one bedroom apartment next door, with beer cans and tequila bottles, cigarette butts and food wrappers all strewn over his front porch. Or if his contact with illegals was when one of them crashes into his car while drunk driving and injures or kills a family member, only to then flee on foot, leaving him to pick up the tab because they have no liability insurance. Or maybe he might have a different view of these 'good hearted folk' if his neighborhood had every wall, fence and exposed surface defaced with grafitti and tagger marks left by Hispanic gang bangers, like a pack of rabid dogs marking their territory. Maybe he might hold a different opinion if his only local hospital was closed because of being bankrupted due to catering to the hordes of illegal aliens, mostly pregnant women seeking to get free delivery care for their prolific numbers of anchor babies. Maybe the nightly sounds of gunfire, police sirens and Mariachi music being blasted at 160 decibels all hours of the night might change his opinion. I am so sick of these people who you can tell know nothing about the true consequences of illegal immigration by third world masses telling us what we should be thinking in regards to our neigborhoods being over run and made virtually unlivable, just so he can have his kids nannied cheap or his lawn look nice without having to lift a finger.

I thought of e-mailing this guy after I read his diatribe, but I said it wasn't worth it. Unfortunately I know nothing about him except what he wrote here and he's proven to me he's a jerk.