The Aforementioned Tired, Poor and Huddled Masses

I am a proud American of 100% Irish extraction. I fly the Irish Republic Tri-Color from the ramparts of my deck. I wear a kilt on St. Patrick's Day, and whenever else I can justify it. My ancestors arrived on these shores at various times. On one side my great, great, great-grandparents made it to New York, nearly starved to death from the after effects of The Famine. On the other side, my great-grandmother, who was sixteen and pregnant, nearly died on the ocean voyage. We have, without a pause in any generation, been soldiers in every conflict since The War of Northern Aggression, which some of you may know as The Civil War. We have worked at hard, thankless jobs, both before and after serving in the military. We have picked cotton and scrubbed floors. We have been victims of scurrilous discrimination, and hurtful, taunting speech. To this day, various members of my family, me included, struggle to provide for our offspring. We band together in times of need, and weather the storms apart. Through all these trials and tribulations one thing has remained constant: We have never wanted to be anything more than we wanted to be Americans. To prove that, all my ancestors shared one thing in common as they alit on these shores: they signed in. They acknowledged that they were here, and asked to become citizens.

Apparently though, times have changed. This past weekend saw demonstrations in the hundreds of thousands of, presumably, illegal aliens. They are not immigrants, no matter what the PC climate. Nor are they undocumented aliens. They are exactly what they appeared to be: illegal inhabitants of the United States of America. Many covered their faces and waved Mexican flags as they demonstrated for, demanded even, rights they have not earned and do not deserve. They are thieves in the night who have sneaked in under the cover of darkness, refusing to acknowledge our laws, and spitting on our proud combined heritage and tradition. They want to set up as Mexicans, here in the United States, while absorbing every social service imaginable. They want all the rights they can grab, while accepting none of the responsibilities. They do not, in many cases, even try to learn English, relying instead on the ACLU to sue for the right to have all manner of services provided in Spanish.

Do not get me wrong. A great many Hispanics have been a wonderful boon to this nation. I recently witnessed several hundred service men and women sworn in as citizens after completing tours of duty on the frontlines in the War on Terror. I have seen Cuban-born American men and women march in the streets for various causes, and those self same patriots have helped countless thousands of legal immigrants to register to vote. I have collaborated with an Hispanic outreach program to teach underserved members of the community; bringing literature classes to adults with elementary school reading levels. I know that there are hard-working latinos and latinas who want nothing more than to be Americans, and raise their children to have more than they had. I recognize these groups and I applaud them. These are not the people I would stuff into Greyhounds and send home.

You see that's because those I would send back to Mexico, and El Salvador and Honduras, still see those places as home. They have no desire to be citizens here; not if it takes any effort or sacrifice. Sure, a great many would take advantage of an amnesty program if it guaranteed them citizenship at the end. Few, however, would draw breath at the notion of contributing to the common good unless they were sure to be let in. Need proof? Why would they sneak across the border if their intentions were pure? Is Mexico a hostile nation? Are they on the short list of allowances? No, Mexico is an ally and a friend, and her citizens have more legal means of emigrating to the United States than do most countries. A large number, as many as TEN MILLION, have therefore decided that the laws of the United States are not worth the effort, or cannot meet the scant guidelines involved in becoming citizens. They simply do not deserve the blessings that my, and, presumably, your ancestors have afforded immigrants from every country on the planet.

What to do then? Pennsylvania's senior senator Arlen Specter has said that the problem is too big. We can't send them all back; not anymore. Yeah? Well maybe not, but we could start trying. We could also construct a fence along the entire length of the southern border for a fraction of the cost of providing the aforementioned social services collected by millions of illegal aliens. We could station more Border Patrol agents, and, in limited instances, the National Guard along the southern frontier. That would stem the tide while we started throwing back the refuse who have deemed our laws unworthy of acknowledgement. The argument to these ideas is always the same: What message does this send to the rest of the world? I'll tell you what message it sends: The United States is a nation of laws, and of kind and generous men and women who will gladly offer you a hand, provided you sign in.

Why then won't the honorable men and women in congress do something more substantial to stop this ongoing invasion? Because both see Hispanics as the new base in their voting blocks, and a politician's job is, first and foremost, to get reelected. So, will anything truly happen? Probably not. Legislation will get enacted, with much posturing and gnashing of teeth from both sides of the aisle. Speeches will get made. The flag, the American flag, will be waved, and in the end nothing much will change. In the end, the naturalized Jamaican-American with whom I work, and whom I adore, will tell her niece that unfortunately she did not make the cut and must now return to the Caribbean. The Indians who pump my gas, while proudly flying the US flag, will sadly inform their wives that they cannot come over here, not yet. The Pakistanis who run the bodega where I buy The Washington Post, will call the old country and tell their friends and families to keep trying. These good, honest, hard-working Americans will suffer for doing the right thing, but hey, you and I will have cheap lettuce, and Barbara Striesand will have inexpensive domestic help. Sounds like a case of, I've got the pistols, so I'll keep the pesos. Yeah, that seems fair.