Tens of thousands of people pressing for immigrants’ rights demonstrated on Tuesday in dozens of cities. But with advocates splintered over tactics, the crowds paled in comparison with the turnout last year.
The demonstrations seemed to underscore how much the protest movement has struggled in the last year. More than 500,000 people turned out in Los Angeles last year. This year, the police estimated that 25,000 attended the largest of three rallies.
In Denver, where 75,000 people participated last year, an estimated 10,000 demonstrated, organizers said. The police put the number at no more than 2,000.
Unlike the protest last year, nobody called for a “day without an immigrant.” No widespread business boycotts materialized. For the most part, students did not pour out of schools.
Americans are tired of the phony rhetoric of politicians trying to profit from illegal immigrants. Republicans and their corporate string-pullers want cheap labor. Democrats and their ward-heelers want cheap and grateful voters. Both parties suck!
The “movement” of illegals was doomed to failure from the beginning. Essentially, it only has Mexican nationalism providing core support. The good will and natural sympathy of Americans for the poor and unfortunate provided some political support. None of this can overcome the ennui of a nation tired of hypocrites justifying scab labor and the absurdity of yet another amnesty for law-breakers.
Hear, hear! I’m tired of the empty arguments that if you are against illegal immigration that you are against immigration. I think the one benefit of the illegal immigration “movement” has been to bring to light that we need to improve the efficiency with which we allow legal immigrants into the country.
NPR has been doing fawning BJ pieces on the subject all this week.
Both parties suck! Yes, I couldnt agree more.
The rallies are down because the illegals realize that amnesty didn’t happen after the last rally, so what’s the point?
in the words of sir ralph… both parties are rotten to the core. for the republic to survive, little alone prosper, we need change at the grass roots levels.
ya know, as a tax-and-spend liberal, i completely agree that illegal immigration is bad: all spend in resources, no tax in return.
and i think that’s one thing we all can agree on — immigration good, illegal immigration bad
here in the northeast where we liberals actually generate half of this nation’s GDP (despite inbred redneck accusations of being marxist) legal immigration works really well — i understand that the hard-core problems are out west in states that have to make tough choices on resource allocation.
also, in the northeast we have huge eastern european immigrant communities, with many of the same problems with language, etc.
what a mess! how can we fix it? simple solutions like kicking everybody out or jailing them clearly are not feasible.
do any compromise solution ideas have any traction?
The turnout was lower because you didn’t have every politician using it as a selling point this year, like you did last year in the run up to the mid-term elections.
Illegal immigration has been a part of this country for a LONG time. It’s been a cog in the agricultural machine that generates billions of dollars.
It’s easy for people to say ‘illegal immigration – bad!’ The hard part (and the part those so vocally against the immigration) is figuring out what to do about it, and how to address the higher cost of doing business when you have to pay your labor fair wages.
Happy Cinco De Mayo.
The immigration issue needs a three pronged attack: 1) tough border security 2) easier and more lenient temporary work visa process and permanent resident process 3) enforcement of fines for employers of illegals — including an easy way to verify documents so they have no excuses.
We need all three, but politicians are only willing to support one or two.
a bunch of the protestors out here in L.A threw rocks and bottles at police.
They got their asses foam bulleted and beat up for disturbing the peace.
honestly I wish they had another half a million turnout, traffic last year when that happened was wonderful. No clogged spots on the road.
There is no solution to the illegal immigration issue, and there is nothing that we can do to stop it. If families believe they will have a better life in the United States they will risk death and temporary unemployment in order to get here. We on the other hand can not just shut down all assistance because we are part of an international community and that would be perceived to cruel and inhumane treatment. A fence and passport port system are a waste of resources, there is a lot of space on the Mexican (and Canadian) borders, and you simply can not enforce it. No man is an island, it simply won’t work.
The only real solution is the create a union. We simply need to merge the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It will happen, sooner rather than later anyway. It either needs to be a federation or a contemporary state. Given the differences in legal systems, I would lean more toward a federation. Than maybe for once we can refer to ourselves as Americans and not be cheating Canada and Mexico out of the title.
With the new unionized American, we can than issue one passport that would function as a universal ID. It would be heavily encrypted and allow for storage of some personal information (like a drivers license and medical insurance).
What I think would be key with this argument is less centralized government. It would be more regional based with limited federal government oversight. We of course would have to eliminate states or at least delegate them to a lesser role (like that of city government). The replace would be to divide each nation into regional governments, than have a national government, and than finally a federalized government to watch over the three nations as one unionized American state. It would be in some ways very similar to the EU and in others very different.
Jeff you are a loon. Just because europe is full of pussies, gave of their sovereignty and created an EU doesn’t mean we ever will. That would be the worst thing that could ever happen. Why would we ever want to merge ourselves with a third world country like mexico? The US would get the raw end of that deal.
13. CRIPES!!!! Are you insane?
#13, actually, the solution lies in promoting political and economic changes in Mexico so that they have fewer reasons to want to jump the border in the first place.
I’m not against illegal immigration, nor am i against *legal* immigration. Our economy benefits greatly from illegal immigrants (from mexico mainly), but what i DO hae a problem with is illegal immigrants obtaining free healthcare and other benefits that the majority of citizens US cannot obtain. The only way to get immediate treatment for the majorty of US citizens it be be shot during a drive-by, and be within crawling distance of a hospital.
Some associates and I at work were discussing this the other day, and we decided that the best way to get free healthcare is to renounce our US citizenship, goto mexico & become a mexican citizen, then flee across the border – viola! Instant free healthcare!
Hello from Canada,
We actually have Mexican farm workers up here (about 15,000 of them, a small number compared to the millions you have in the U.S.)
All of them are farm labourers mainly in the Leamington, Ontario area (a major fruit/vegetable growing area).
Here are the rules for those Mexican workers. The worker must not have a criminal background and must pass a medical (apparently the Canadian government uses their own doctors in Mexico because of corrupt Mexican doctors allowing labourers with TB in exchange for a sum of money).
The Mexican worker must be minimum of 35 years, married and have kids back in Mexico. Those conditions ensure that the worker will actually return home rather than skipping off to Toronto or Montreal after his contract expires.
The farmer has to pay for his flight from Mexico to Canada and arrange for a place to stay (mostly of them crash at the farmer’s home). A contract is made, usually for about four months and the Mexican labourer cannot do anything except farmwork. If the Mexican labourer arrives and the season is late (too wet for example), he gets to sit on his ass and do nothing and get paid for it (not his fault the weather is not cooperating).
The Mexican Embassy was allowed to open a consulate in Leamington to ensure that they have contact with their citizens (and to ensure that things are OK with them, such as, is the farmer paying you, etc.). Most labourers come back year after year if the farmer is not a nut case.
As you can see, the system above is a guest worker program that protects the Mexican labourer and ensures that the farmer gets the labour that Canadians wouldn’t touch. Both parties benefit. There is no such nonsense of having entire families move and stay and call themselves an immigrant (the proper term would be illegal alien).
The only complaint the Mexican labourers have is they didn’t care for Canadian food (and the local grocery store made deal with the biggest grocery chain in Mexico to send up a truck every two weeks with 400-500 products that they sell in Mexico) and the other complaint was the high cost of phoning home (and VOIP cards fixed that). They also had some complaint of high money transfer charges (I guess the labourers are from rural areas with little access to ATM machines).
No gets exploited or gets a free ride into the country. The system works well for both parties. I believe Switzerland has something similar but that the foreign labourer (unskilled) must return home after six months.
I suspect that the above scenario will never be implemented in the U.S. because business everywhere wants cheap labour and they have politicians in their back pocker. You need to control your borders .
Also a Canadian (used to be from Leamington, small world eh?). Used to want to immigrate to the US, now I can’t see why even a Mexican would want to. Too nutty (this discussion proves it).
#Jeff you are a loon.
I am sorry, you probably have me confused with someone who listens to talk radio and gives a fuck what you think. Sorry. It was just a suggestion. It would benefit both countries from a business perspective and it has been discussed (mostly at universities and law schools).
If you are interested. I would take a look at recent Harvard Law Reviews (or law reviews in general) or hit a number of academic search engines like JSTOR (any liberal studies search engine). There are a number of articles discussing the possible integration of political and economic cultures within North America.
A good place to start would be the Independent Task Force on North America article. I will admit that the article has been take a little out of context though. At the very least subscribe to or take a look at the latest issues of Foreign Affairs (you could actually go back over a decade). A good search term might be North American unionization or political harmony.
Excellent critique, Eidard! On this topic, I absolutely agree. Both parties suck!
#18 – sounds alot like a guest-worker program… and it also sounds like canada is a much better place for a mexican to work than in the US, all things considered…
20. I’m not interested Jeff, and yes, your still a loon whether you give a fuck or not. You want a North American Union, You want a European Union, then you’ll want an Asian Union, guess what comes next.
One World Government. I guess you think thats a good idea too.
Fine. I’m a loon. Don’t look it up (I could care less). Ignore everything that doesn’t make you comfortable. If you actually read my comment I never said anything about a one world order. It was about a North American Union. You skim over what I write, and than just simply write an insult (good for you!).
For the record, I don’t think a one world order is a good idea because it is not possible. It would be too centralized and would not be possible to implement given the divisions in human culture.
I think pooling of resources into regional governments is a good idea because it benefits people in economic and security matters (as long as the government is a federation or confederation). At the very least it adds another level (or division) of checks and balances.
Whatever…
Fine. I’m a loon. Don’t look it up (I could care less). If you actually read my comment I never said anything about a one world order. It was about a North American Union. You skim over what I write, and than just simply write an insult (good for you!).
For the record, I don’t think a one world order is a good idea because it is not possible. It would be too centralized and would not be possible to implement given the divisions in human culture.
I think pooling of resources into regional governments is a good idea because it benefits people in economic and security matters (as long as the government is a federation or confederation). At the very least it adds another level (or division) of checks and balances.
Whatever…
This is my country, and my chilkdrens country, this is NOT the country of late coming illegals eager for every handout and just as eager to accuse REAL Americans of racism when they don’t get that handout quickly enough. Goddamn them.
If the Zio-American government attempts to amnesty these illegals, there will be war and the bastards in Wash DC will be its first victims
How will we know when the “Illegal Immigrant Movement” has REALLY “turned the corner to failure”? When boxcars packed nearly bursting with illegals go coursing down US railways and don’t stop moving until they’re in Mexico, where they will permanently disgorge their unwanted (unwanted by anyone other than slave-driving neocons who lust after free labor) cargo.
White people had better start thinking about life as a minority in this country. If they need any help visualizing what this will look like, may I suggest studying the situation of White people in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Mestizo’s don’t want “equality” they want supremacy and and if you think otherwise, you’re a fool. Even the blacks who will lose out more than anyone with a mestizo majority are encouraging this invasion, which goes to show how much hate these people feel towards the white population. The 3rd world is coming. What are you going to do about white man?
Illegal immigrants broke into my garage and stole a lot of my tools. My neighbors saw them but they didn’t do a damn thing; they just asked me if I knew them.
Here are some facts about illegal immagration:
More than 43% of all Food Stamps issued are to
illegal aliens.
More than 41% of all unemployment checks issued
in the United States are to illegal aliens.
58% of all Welfare payments in the United States
are issued to illegal aliens.
Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties in
the United States are illegal aliens.
•The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus
services used) for the average adult Mexican
ILLEGAL alien is $55,000.00 cost to the American
taxpayer in a 5-year span. You, personally, are
giving $11,000 every year to ILLEGAL aliens.
There are over 7,000 illegals in Mexico wanted for murder in the US .
Illegals commit more than 5,000 murders per year in the US, almost twice the number of people that were killed in 9/11 ! Illegals kill more people every year, than all the terrorists incidents in American history, combined!
The estimated profit to U.S. corporations and
businesses employing ILLEGAL aliens in 2005
was more than $2.36 TRILLION dollars
I want this trash out of my country NOW
Jeff – You’re not a loon. I once thought a North American Union would be a good idea. More efficient, I believed. Then the massive Mexican invasion began, and I saw that Mexicans are far too different from Americans and Canadians, and that many of those differences are antagonistic to the point that I consider them unresolvable.
For example, many Mexicans enjoy bloodsports like bullfighting and cockfighting, which most Americans and Canadians find revolting.
In addition, many Mexican men have a different concept of when women are “of age”. So when they come here, become intimate with a 12 or 13 year old girl, then get arrested for rape, they genuinely do not understand what they did wrong.
And finally, corruption is pandemic in Mexico. Nearly every deal requires what’s called “la mordida” (the bite). Bribery is not only commonplace, it is essential to get anything done because of the lack of social justice in that country.
Better that Mexicans stay home and apply their energies towards creating the just society they’ve never had in their history.
Jeff, you would acquire more understanding of what the wider world is all about if you move beyond those JSTOR search engines and Harvard Law Reviews which you rely upon so much. Challenge yourself by consulting contrasting references like theJeff Rense website, and even consider references you may find initially repulsive, like Save Our State, ALIPAC, and VDARE. No one grows in knowledge and understanding simply by reading material that reinforces one’s paradigms; one must tackle sources which may rock those paradigms to the core.