Immigration. Again.

I strongly doubt that opinion is shifting, so this just means that fewer people care:

Illegal immigration protests organized across the country Saturday drew small numbers, and some were outnumbered and out-shouted by those who support immigrant rights.

The so-called "Stop the Invasion" protests were organized in 19 states, demanding the government increase border security and penalize employers who hire illegal workers. "We are keeping the debate on illegal immigration in the forefront of the American consciousness," said Joseph Turner of Save Our State, who was among about two dozen protesters who waved American flags outside a home-supply store in a Los Angeles suburb.

But Turner's group in Glendale was surrounded by more than 100 drum- beating supporters who chanted, "Racists go home." The two groups traded shouts and obscene gestures for more than an hour. One man was arrested for assault, police said.

Real talk: rallies like these don't work unless you have both a critical mass of participants & some sort of moral arguement, otherwise it's just a bunch of people shouting in the street. Besides, both sides have a flawed arguement:

-the "immigrant rights" groups are naive to occurences where illegal immigrants get special attention that others don't (i.e.: getting signs printed in their own language since they refuse to learn english), & seem to dismiss the slightest of cultural questions as "racist". Regardless of what one personally thinks about the culture here -- I myself have plenty of issues with it -- adapting to an extent is necessary, otherwise you're handicapping your livelihood, period.

-the anti-immigration people, on the other hand, are showing themselves to be steeped in US entitlement mentality so deep it's clouding the actual problem. Yelling "they took our JOBS!" is NOT an arguement for more border security, it is an arguement for the labor relationship in this country to adapt, confusing economics with race is the oldest trick in the book (look it up, blacks used to be shut out of unions for this reason). To make an example of someone...

"This is not a racist thing," said Daniel Anastasia, 46, a construction worker from Westchester, N.Y. "We pay taxes, they don't.

Dan doesn't realize it, but he just made an arguement for switching to a consumption-based tax.

I get paid what the union says.

Time to have a talk with that union then.

The contractor pays them cash. It's not fair to me."

The question to ask here is "why can't the contractor pay ME in cash?", get on it.


If you're just coming here to work, then that's fine IMO, we'd just like to know that that's what you're doing. Also, it'd be nice if you learned the language. That's all I really want out of immigration policy.