Thread: Ruben Navarrette Jr: Immigration debate riles Latinos

Immigration debate riles Latinos
Ruben Navarrette Jr., San Diego Union-Tribune
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

U.S.-born Latinos in America are fed up. They're tired of the ugliness in the immigration debate, and they're not buying the argument that it does not concern them.

Take it from Janet Murguia, president of the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights organization. She recently delivered a passionate and important speech to the National Press Club in Washington. Her topic: the immigration debate and what she labels a wave of hate sweeping the land -- one that isn't limited to illegal immigrants, or even immigrants in general, but which is now splattering onto all Hispanics regardless of where they were born, what language they speak or what flag they wave.

"Most Latinos aren't immigrants," she said. "More than 80 percent of Hispanics in this country are U.S. citizens or legal residents. But the truth is, Hispanics understand that this issue is about all of us."

That's obvious. You might live in Colorado or New Mexico or Arizona and come from a family that has lived in the United States for several generations. And yet, your citizenship is being challenged by nativists who paint with a broad brush. All they see is your skin color or surname and, from this, they conclude that -- unless you go along with every harebrained scheme to combat illegal immigration -- you're, as one reader recently informed me, "an American in name only."

How do you suppose Hispanics will react? A middle-aged reader who describes himself as Italian American recalls that when he was growing up and the Italian kids were picked on in school, it only made him feel "more Italian." It could be the same with Hispanics, he wrote.

Could be. According to Murguia, "two-thirds of Latinos say that the failure (of immigration reform) has made life more difficult for Latinos overall and roughly half say that it has affected them personally."

Part of the problem is that the right-wingers weren't content to just attack illegal immigrants. They had to attack an entire culture, which is shared by legal immigrants and U.S.-born Hispanics. And so, a discussion that should have been about exactly three things -- improving border security, smoothing the path for legal immigrants, and deciding the fate of 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States -- became about outlawing taco trucks, limiting the number of people in a home, blasting pizza parlors for taking pesos, banning Spanish language library books, and other nonsense.

The way Murguia sees it, immigration is "on the verge of becoming one of the largest civil rights issues of our generation."

Not to mention an election-year issue. Arguing that the ugliness of the immigration debate "galvanizes the Latino vote," Murguia vowed that Latinos would fight back.

"We will not be demonized," she said. "We will not be scapegoated. And we will not be ignored."

You tell 'em, Janet. I've had my share of run-ins with the NCLR over the years, and lodged my share of criticisms of the organization. But not for the reasons that nativists, cable news demagogues, and right-wing columnists and bloggers attack it. I've argued that, for too much of its 40-year existence, the group has been too corporate, too cautious and too easily co-opted by foundations and Fortune 500 companies looking for an entree into the Hispanic market.

But in this case Murguia has a point. An ethnic group that has always answered the call to duty, and which boasts a higher ratio of Medal of Honor recipients than any other, deserves better.

That's what I'm hearing from many U.S.-born Hispanics. When they talk to me about the immigration debate, they condemn the hypocrisy of a society that is addicted to illegal immigrant labor but looks for others to blame for the addiction. As for the claim that much of this is about national security, they wonder why no one talks about building a wall along the U.S.-Canada border. They worry about racial profiling as authorities become more aggressive in rounding up illegal immigrants. They recognize the racism, and the assault on their culture, and they resent that they're being lumped together with recent immigrants. But at the same time, they find it easy to identify with the immigrant plight - through their parents or grandparents. Most of all, they scoff at the claim that, as U.S. citizens, this debate doesn't concern them and that the attack is limited to illegal immigrants.

Hey, no matter what side of the border we were born on, we weren't born yesterday.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 109U8V.DTL

No you moron, ILLEGAL aliens rile latinos! Get it right for once, will you?

you are right, Miguelina.....radical, ethno-supremacist groups like LA RAZA, MECHA, MALDEF, CHIRLA, and all the others promoting illegal immigration on behalf of illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America are what riles the rest of us....and is an embarrassment. Their antics along with the audacity of the Mexican government, their consulates, and their network of agents via the Institute of Mexicans Abroad is what makes for negative stereotypes. Their actions, marches, protests and ridiculous demands are what upsets most Americans...and with good reason.

He needs to start this article with the words A very small minority of. All of the US citizen latinos I know are fed up with illegals.

Here's what riles us here in California:

http://www.fresnobee.com/local/sv/story/542750.html
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/sv/story/538224.html

Visalia man arrested

Visalia police arrested a man after finding him with stolen property that had been taken from a church.

A Visalia police officer was conducting a security check at 3 a.m. Tuesday at Heart of the Valley Church at 2800 W. Walnut Ave. when he saw a man hiding behind his vehicle, according to police officials.

When the officer contacted the man, 37-year-old Visalia resident Jorge Juarez, they found an electric keyboard lying near his truck that had been stolen from the church.

After arresting Juarez on suspicion of burglary and possession of stolen property, officials served two search warrants and located two amplifiers and two speakers that had been stolen from the church in an earlier burglary. The stolen items were worth about $4,000.

Suspected drug dealer arrested after traffic stop

A traffic stop for a minor violation led to the seizure of 18 ounces of rock cocaine and the arrest of a man suspected of being a drug dealer, Fresno police reported Tuesday.

Sgt. Alex Robles said Dagoberto Robles, 19, of Fresno was stopped shortly before 8 p.m. Monday in southeast Fresno for a traffic infraction.

He was arrested on suspicion of being an unlicensed driver, and an officer called a tow truck to remove the vehicle, Sgt. Robles said. The officers were doing an inventory search of the vehicle before allowing it to be towed when they found a plastic bag containing 7 ounces of rock cocaine.

This is what La Raza wants every Hispanic to believe. They are as out of touch with Hispanics as Obama is with America.

I wonder what LA Raza thinks about this web site:

http://dontspeakforme.org/

bigtex: La RAZA is very aware of YDSFM and they don't like it when educated, mainstream Americans like their members speak up and don't "tow La RAZA's pro-illegal immigration/open borders" line.....this is why Navarette took the time to write that article....YDSFM is a relatively small (compared to LA RAZA) group that has been active on the front lines of the immigration debate and public policy and legal initiatives all across the country ....and LA RAZA doesn't like it not one bit.

La Raza counts and does math like A.Anderson does . if you have 30 to 40 MILLION ILLEGALS that totally blows her whining speech . From everything "I've" read that is how many we have .
We should not By LAW even have this problem . Nor our states closing hospitals due to bankrupty or lack of funds . But we do cause of BushCo. We don't need or want a scum American . We want our Country back Bush and you in Jail

Originally Posted by legalatina

bigtex: La RAZA is very aware of YDSFM and they don't like it when educated, mainstream Americans like their members speak up and don't "tow La RAZA's pro-illegal immigration/open borders" line.....this is why Navarette took the time to write that article....YDSFM is a relatively small (compared to LA RAZA) group that has been active on the front lines of the immigration debate and public policy and legal initiatives all across the country ....and LA RAZA doesn't like it not one bit.

I am sure they don't like this site. My wife is a member and she is a naturalized US citizen originally from Argentina. She was conned into joining LULAC a few years back and it took about 3 months of racist email coming from LULAC members including the Houston President of LULAC to convince her to drop her membership. LULAC has one agenda and that is to promote Mexicans. They could care a less about Hispanics. La Raza is equal.

More ethnocentric rambling.