Hundreds of thousands of angry illegal immigrants are coming out in the open to demand their rights and rewards for winning what they must think was a game of hide-and-seek. They snuck across our borders and settled in our cities without being caught so they win. Ole, Ole Olson, all in free.

The most ridiculous part of it all is that these “illegals” may be victorious. The stumblebums in Congress who already have all the laws they need to arrest and deport these invaders seem split between developing new and stronger immigration laws and awarding them the grand prize – jobs, amnesty, and new ways to get citizenship.

Many apply the same logic they do towards Iraq. We may have gone in there for the wrong reasons, but now that we’re there we can’t pull out. Invasion interruptus is not a viable option. Now that the illegals are here, we don’t dare send them home.

And where is the Department of Immigration & Naturalization Services (INS) during this commotion? Certainly they have a list of all of the people who entered the U.S. legally, people that came in by invitation on quotas. They should have a database of the questions these people answered when they got their initial papers, things like name and age, birthplace, how, where, and when they entered, where they lived in Mexico or other countries, what address or sponsor they would be staying with or their first intended address in the U.S. Things illegals with the same name and forged papers would not know or be able to answer under questioning. Why aren’t the INS and law enforcement at these rallies taking names and kicking butt?

We even have Mexican consulates distributing passports and “Matricula” cards to illegals in most cities. Recipients are unhindered while lining up to get these new forms of identification and permissiveness. How many have they passed out? If we knew it might give us a more accurate picture of how many illegals are here instead of guessing that it's eleven million or millions more.  

The truth is that we can trace the lineage of a cow from Canada suspected of having “mad cow” disease, but we can’t keep track of the people who entered our country legally and were given authentic visas or green cards. The reason is that we haven’t made the effort and the “illegals” have learned this from first hand experience so the game continues.

After so many years of getting away with it, the illegal population has swelled to the point that they’re a significant power that can flaunt the law and stand up to demand “rights” and better treatment personified by the banners reading “we are not criminals” and many other delusional statements they, like children, truly believe.

Those on the West Coast, and particularly Southern California, believe that they’re taking back land that was once rightfully theirs. That Mexico didn’t really lose the two year war that ended in 1848 and cede the land west of the Rio Grand River and North to what is now Oregon (See Map). That because they again occupy these territories just as we occupy Iraq it’s alright for them to stand up and be reckoned with. It’s the democratic way, and isn’t that what the American Empire is now trying to sell to the rest of the world?

Even President Bush and most of the illegals themselves believe that our economy will fold without workers who are doing jobs Americans won’t undertake. What started years ago with farmers hiring cheap migrant labor has grown to include many other industries that would suffer by “walk outs,” possibly bringing our economy to a screeching halt.

The farmers usually hired these temporary workers as self-employed independent contractors and left it up to them to pay taxes. And most of these migrants wired much of their cash earnings back to families in Mexico and went home themselves at the end of the harvest season because they couldn’t afford the expense of staying in our country. They're what we now call “guest workers” and are not quite the same as those who try to settle permanently.

Others will argue that we’re a nation of immigrants. Forgetting that we established quotas and immigration laws to control our needs or that these quotas could be increased any time we need more workers, these people will argue that the current attitude towards Mexicans and other Latinos is just another expression of bigotry that was once leveled against Italians, Irishmen, Germans, and others who successfully melded into and helped form our culture. It’s just history repeating itself.

The flip side of that argument is hostility towards illegal immigrants has never before occurred while the country is teetering on the brink of financial disaster with a skyrocketing national debt, a falling dollar value worldwide, an outrageous balance of trade, outsourcing of industry and jobs, unemployment, and an overextended military/industrial Empire rapidly becoming too expensive and wasteful to support.

In other words, these other occurrences took place when the American Dream was something more than the opportunity to get on a game show, win a lotto, become a superstar athlete or entertainer, or sue someone for malfeasance. Opportunity in America was much different even though “stock boy to president” was always more fantasy than reality.

On top of that, we had nineteen foreigners legally enter our country, receive driver’s licenses, credit cards, bank accounts and train for two years to fly but not land large aircraft, then bring us the horrors of 9/11. Border security is crucial to our well being, but what little there is obviously isn’t working and hasn’t been addressed properly. And it’s not going to be resolved by providing amnesty.

The main problem with illegal Latinos is that they work for less than Americans who are unwilling and unable to live several families to an apartment and are otherwise financially committed to responsibilities like taxes, education, medical treatment, mortgages, and so forth, and are, in fact, paying for many of these same things in order to provide welfare and opportunities to the illegals. David Bresnahan summed this up humorously in an article titled; “Mr. President, I’m Headed to Mexico.”

For instance, while the basic minimum wage for citizens of Southern California is $6.75 per hour, most illegals are willing to work for $3.75, almost half. And it’s questionable whether they pay any taxes at all other than sales tax. Do you think the counterfeiting mills that grind out forged documents and identification are charging sales tax?

If you want to stop illegal immigration one of the ways to do it is to eliminate their job opportunities. How do you do that? You do it with existing laws and by punishing those who hire illegals. Put a few CEOs and presidents of large corporations like IBM, WalMart, Kroger, or Holiday Inn in jail plus their personnel or “human resources” people. Watch how fast these lawbreaking companies crack down on hiring illegals. Just look for people pushing brooms, cooking, busing tables, cleaning offices, cutting grass or taking out the garbage. Do the same with small businesses, even suburban homeowners, and you’ll see how fast foreigners learn that there are no jobs for them in America and stop sneaking across our borders.

The ball has been in the federal government’s court for a long time. Long before it got as far out of hand as it is today. And every American should at least be asking themselves why addressing this subject has taken more than four years and whether the Latino reaction would have been the same if immigration reform had started a week after 9/11 when we had the sympathy of most of the world.

As I’ve said before, what more can you expect from a body of government that steals our payroll tax retirement and health care money and spends it on illegal invasions and graft?

How many of the Latino protesters have volunteered to go to New Orleans where we really need clean-up and Halliburton is offering their pay scale? And whatever happened to military service as a path to citizenship?

Don’t worry. The out-of-touch with reality Beltway Buffoons will come up with something to please big business that wants this cheap labor without having to outsource, reward most those who have broken the law for the longest period of time and, at the same time, bring in new votes.

Epilogue

Perhaps the most poignant lesson to be learned from these massive demonstrations, and one that will pass over the heads of most couch potatos, is what can be accomplished by the united enthusiasm and banging drums from other people who are clearly in the wrong because they’ve broken the laws of the very country they want to recognize and treat them fairly.

Imagine what could be accomplished if the American taxpayers united in strong protest against what our own government has been doing to them and their children. Imagine how our elected representatives would react if hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets to protest the government’s stealing our Social Security retirement money, the huge debt they’re leaving behind as they themselves retire comfortably at our expense, the lies and fraud involved and the illegal invasion of hapless countries that did nothing to offend us, as well as the abandonment of our own people in what was once New Orleans.

Imagine what would happen if the American people were shouting something like “if not now, when” instead of illegal Latinos yelling “si,se puede” – yes, we can.