Though my very last post was about immigration, I thought I would return to the topic, because this recent news (the list was sent out as early as April 4, but the story only broke in the last few days) has injected yet another obvious criticism of the reprehensible anti-immigrant position into my little brain.
What, precisely, is the problem with the illegal immigrants? I mean that question in the sense of, "What is the central concern with their being here?" Is it the fact that they broke the law in entering the country? Is it the fact that they are immigrants as such, legal or illegal? Is it because they are brown? Or is there some other unidentified quality which I have not thought of that (especially) conservative people have a deep problem with, that makes them do things like spy on other people purely on the suspicion that they are "illegal immigrants?"
At least for the group who created the aforementioned list, Concerned Citizens of the United States, breaking the law seems seems not to register as a big problem. Or at least we must assume it is not a big problem because A) they invaded the private lives of at least two legal citizens, and 1300 other human beings, without their consent, and a case could easily be made that this breaks a number of laws, B) they in all likelihood used illegally obtained information from government officials in drafting the list, and C) I surmise (though cannot as yet prove) that the members of CCUS support the racist law about to take effect in Arizona, which is almost certainly unconstitutional, and hence illegal. If CCUS, or any anti-immigration person or group has a serious problem with the fact that the sans papiers in this country are here illegally, they ought to think carefully about A, B, and C above before they give in to hypocrisy entirely.
Or, if they insist on breaking the law being a crucial factor in their anti-immigration stance, they must explain why passing an unconstitutional law in Arizona, and possibly in Utah, is acceptable and crossing the border without papers is not. Or how spying on people and invading their privacy is less bad than risking your life to cross the border just to get a better wage. Talk about a pioneer spirit! Honestly, we ought to dedicate this Pioneer Day to undocumented Mexican immigrants.
What could be worse to a rabid right-winger than passing a law that conflicts so obviously with the founding document of the United States that they hold so irrationally dear? Apparently crossing the border without papers. But what could give this illegal entry such a punch for those who hold this position? I submit to you that the only explanation i can come up with is straight racism, conscious or unconscious, institutional or individual.
Last time I checked (which was never - I am being facetious), it was an uncommon occurrence for a Utahan to cross the street when they saw a pasty-white teenager donning an over-sized t-shirt bearing a red Maple leaf. The same cannot be said for a dark teenager in a shirt with the Mexican flag on it. What I mean to point out is simply that racism packs the kind of irrational punch needed to drive people to create a police state where no one by definition could be reasonably suspected of being an illegal immigrant, but nevertheless everyone is. Racism against Latinos of all varieties has the force to convince people that invading privacy is less of a crime, in fact a necessary crime in order to prevent workers from seeking higher wages, regardless of artificial modern borders. This is the kind of racism that could never be directed against any North American nationality except Mexicans.
So, like in my last post, I implore those of the anti-immigration persuasion to either revise their position, explain to my why it isn't racist, or simply admit to being a racist. Any one of these three options is better than maintaining a deceptive (both self- and otherwise) stance.
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