Rose Colored Glasses

Robert Kuttner brings us a piece chock-a-bloc full of lies and rosy rewrites of history. He is literally so full of crap it's hard to know where to begin. Let's just dive in, shall we?

Source: The Boston Globe

Bad times for immigrants

He starts with a bang and a lie in the title. Immigrants Bob? Really? We still take over a million LEGAL immgrants a year. Perhaps a person with a shred of honesty might use the term 'illegal immigrants'.

CONGRESS IS belatedly grappling with immigration reform. There is no more difficult dilemma, both in terms of the politics and the need to balance contradictory policy objectives. The heightened concern with terrorism only complicates the job.

There is nothing contradictory about enforcing the law. Terrorism merely underscores the seriousness of the problem. It doesn't complicate anything other than president Bush's desire to open our Southern border.

The House bill would deny undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, build a two-layer, 700-mile wall between the United States and Mexico, and redefine undocumented presence in the United States as a felony. Good Samaritans who helped illegal immigrants could be punished. The bill's sponsors have the fantastical hope of literally rounding up all 12 million and sending them back.

Good, good and good! The truth is not one bill suggests the "fantastical" idea of rounding up anybody. I would like that because I think it sends a potent message, but alas, we are no longer an actual country in any real sense. So I will content myself with the reality that if we crack down on corrupt businesses the problem solves itself. No jobs, no illegal immigrants. Or close enough for rock & roll!

America today is failing to control its borders. Most estimates place the number of immigrants here illegally at around 12 million. Despite heightened security since 9/11, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates that well over 500,000 entered illegally in 2004, more than in 2001.

America hasn't attempted to police it's border in any serious way since at least 1953. Don't believe the hype. Yes, many many dollars have been thrown at the problem, in Washington that equals fighting the problem. But without the will to act on the law, we have done less than nothing to solve this problem.

By coincidence, I made a long-deferred visit last weekend to the Ellis Island national museum of immigration. Ellis Island, which served as principal screening point for immigrants between 1892 and 1954, evokes an era of awful Atlantic crossings in steerage, culminating in terrifying inspections that divided immigrants into tolerably fit people who could stay and those who were sent back.

But, compared with what many immigrants face today, Ellis Island was a pretty benign system. The majority of people were admitted. Until 1924, there were no quotas. The huddled masses were welcomed to the island with decent meals, cups of milk for the children, physical exams, showers, blankets, and some rudimentary explanations of how things worked in the new land.

In best Progressive Era fashion, inspectors sought to exclude people who they thought had been recruited by unscrupulous labor contractors. It was a time of massive citizenship education. Immigrants were seen as future citizens, not just cheap workers.

Lie, lie, lie. Actually they were most definitely considered cheap labor. Big business wanted the immigration to continue unabated, average Americans didn't and it took Congress forty years to listen to the American people. A bill to limit immigration came before the Congress every other year during that forty year period, not exactly an issue on the back burner.

As a consequence, most foreign-born people quickly became part of American democracy, and its most enthusiastic champions. They participated. They voted. Soon, they made amazing economic and cultural contributions.

Define 'soon'? It took the average Ellis Island arrival a minimum of four generations to break out of grinding poverty and early death. Due to the 'enclave' phenomenon immigrants didn't learn the language all that quickly, much as we experience today. Soon, Bob? Not really.

They also brought us the era of the political machine and corruption on a scale we'd yet experienced. If your going to use history lessons Bob you can't pick and choose.

Today 12 million immigrants, mostly poor, are outside our democratic system. The obsession with terrorism, ineptly administered, has played havoc with cultural and scientific exchanges and admissions of foreign students. Even legal entrants can face political hazings, as well as denial of social benefits.

Obsession with terorism? What in the hell is this guy smoking? Does he really think this is some trick to inconvenience "immigrants". Note how he manages to skillfully use and omit the idea of illegality when it suits him. When we're talking about mean politicians it's 'illegal'. When we speak of noble people who merely strolled over an inconvenient border it's 'immigrant'.

And what the hell does he mean by "political hazings?" I note he provides no examples, I think that's because there aren't any. "Denial of social benefits?" Again, no examples, just this ominous phrase. What does it mean to the fever swamp of Bob Kuttner's mind, I suspect we'll never know.

We'll just have to content ourselves with inconveniencing his beloved "illegals."

H/T LoneWacko

illegal immigration
ellis island
rose colored glasses