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Get ready for a ruckus. Monday is the day tens of thousands of Americans and
illegal immigrants take to the streets in a day-long boycott to show the country
what every person here means to the economy and the nation. It promises to be quite a showing,
because the organization is deep and wide. No doubt Spanish-speaking radio has
been a huge leader on this, as has the Roman Catholic church and unions across
the country.
One of the leading union organizers is Jorge Rodriguez, who has a big demand:
“We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally),”
Rodriguez said. “That is the message that is going to be played out across
the country on May 1.”
For the record, I'm against “full amnesty,” as Mr. Rodriguez
defines it. It's my belief most Americans are too.
What I'm for is represented by the Kennedy-McCain bill, which
allows for a path to citizenship, but through paying fines, back taxes, having
to complete a background check, learning English, and waiting in line behind
the thousands of people who have been waiting patiently to earn their citizenship.
Frankly, I think statements made by Mr. Rodriguez are counterproductive to the
cause of illegal immigrants yearning to find their place in this country. Clearly,
Mr. Rodriguez doesn't care what the majority of Americans want, which is a guest
worker program, as well as a gradual entrance into legal citizenship, but not
before people here illegally pay back taxes and do the other things I mention
above. Militancy isn't going to convince anyone to support the cause at this
point, because this issue is already on boil. Demands for “full amnesty” make natural supporters and people trying to decide balk because it smacks of entitlement, which isn't going to win anyone over now. Again, this issue is just too hot for demands to hold sway, besides being the wrong policy.
Pro-immigration activists say a nationwide boycott and marches planned for
May 1 will flood Americas's streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty
for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it tackles reform.But while such a massive turnout could make for the largest protests since
the civil rights era of the 1960s, not all Latinos, nor their leaders, were
comfortable with such militancy — fearing a backlash in Middle America.(snip)
Organizers of the May Day marches, which have strong support from big labor
and the Roman Catholic church, vow that America's major cities will grind
to a halt and its economy will stagger as Latinos walk off their jobs and
skip school.Teachers' unions in major cities have said children should not be punished
for walking out of class. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School
District said school principals had been told that they should not try to
keep students in class but instead should walk with the children to help keep
order.In Chicago, Catholic priests have helped organize protests, sending information
to all 375 parishes in the archdiocese.
As I've also said, I want to target employers that break U.S. labor laws, above
all else, because without that we're just doing the same old dance we've done
before. Congress also has to back the enforcement with funding, something that hasn't been done so far.
This brings me to another part of the picture that no one and I mean no one is addressing.
The abject incompetence of the bureaucracy held responsible for compiling and
keeping track of illegal immigrants and the entire process of immigration in this
country, which isn't close to being funded. I've heard from retired members of the federal agencies charged with
keeping track of illegal immigrants and immigration in general, with every one of them stating that our government
is overloaded with the current backlog, our technology and staffing wholly inadequate.
Now imagine that system dealing with 12 million more people. We haven't even begun
to deal with the root of what it takes to handle this issue, which begins with the realization that
our federal government can't handle the challenge it faces on immigration. It's likely only to get worse from here.
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