If the U.S. is so inferior, then why are you here?

What can one say about Montebello High School? While rallying against tougher immigration laws, student protesters lowered the American flag, raised the Mexican flag, then flew the Stars and Stripes upside down beneath it.

A protest can be chaotic and unpredictable. These students rushed out of class, their adrenaline pumping. Emotions ran high -- some were rallying against laws that directly affect their mothers and fathers.

Even so, why did they use their protest to make a statement about America versus Mexico? Among Mexicans championing immigrant rights, why is there a faction that insists on denigrating the United States? Why are some people itching for the right to live within the United States displaying symbols that suggest they find our southern neighbor a superior nation?

Some protesters blame America for the sorry state of their native country. As one immigrant e-mailed me, ‘‘We are here because it's YOU the U.S. who keeps our countries from developing, or seeking any kind of enrichment. It's you who occupy our countries, and build military bases. It's the U.S. that has throughout history supported oppressive governments to keep oppressing their people.''

Other protesters -- and they don't speak for all the protesters -- look at America as a flawed country. They see poverty beside rampant materialism. Compared to most Americans, they're more likely to interact with a racist police officer or an unscrupulous contractor or a condescending shopkeeper in their daily lives.

They see the hypocrisy in an immigration system that rarely punishes Americans who hire illegal immigrants, while routinely deporting the immigrants themselves.

They've got a point: America isn't perfect. Many Americans are as quick to point out our flaws as any of the protesters we've seen this past week. Self-criticism is one of America's strengths. We find flaws; then we try our best to fix them.

Even as we criticize this country, however, we know deep down how great it is. We don't need to say it out loud any more than we need to point out how athletic Michael Jordan is when we critique his baseball swing, or how beautiful a Hollywood celebrity is when we gossip about her ugly dress at the Academy Awards. We assume America's greatness even when we lament its politicians, or its social problems or certain parts of its foreign policy.

Could it be, however, that America's greatness is no longer something that every immigrant feels? Could it be that we name our strengths so seldom and our weaknesses so frequently that all perspective has been lost?

If that's the case, I'd like to address all those immigrant protesters who view America as a nation unworthy of admiration.

Let me explain why so many Americans resent your judgment. Let me explain why we think you're wrong. I'll ignore every strength America possesses save those related to immigration, the topic you are protesting. I'll argue that whatever our system's flaws -- and they are many -- it is the best immigration system the world has to offer, which is a pretty good argument against disparaging our citizens and denigrating our flag.

America accepts more immigrants than any nation on Earth, even if you don't count the illegal immigrants within our borders. If you think we provide too few opportunities for legal immigrants, as I do, you must still acknowledge that every country on Earth, the country of your ancestry included, provides far fewer opportunities.

Once here, immigrants enjoy more economic opportunities than anywhere else on Earth. In America, Latinos aren't even our most successful immigrant group economically, yet Latinos earn more here than they do anywhere else -- their native countries included -- and far more than, say, Algerian immigrants in France or Moroccan immigrants in Spain.

Let's take the largest Latino group, Mexicans, who last year earned sufficient funds to support themselves and their families --- and to send an additional $16 billion home to friends and relatives in Mexico. Do you realize how much that means to Mexico? Thirty-thousand dollars is an impressive annual income there. Sixteen billion is equivalent to providing roughly 530,000 Mexicans with $30,000 each. To be sure, Mexican immigrants work hard for that money.

It is equally certain, however, that they'd lack the opportunity to earn that money but for America, where the free enterprise system and low levels of corruption allow for the creation of wealth.

Do you perceive racism here? It does exist, as abhorrent as that is. Yet America is more welcoming to outsiders than any country on Earth. We protect minorities as effectively as any nation, and far more effectively than most.

Of course, you know all this on some level, because you chose to leave your nation and to come to America among all the other nations on Earth, most of which wouldn't even allow anyone from your nation to immigrate legally.

So if you are a legal immigrant, participate fully in the immigration debate. As someone who has written column upon column criticizing the current system, I'll admit as quickly as anyone how flawed it is.

If you're an illegal immigrant, enjoy the fact that though you can't vote, you can speak your mind here with impunity, a privilege undocumented foreigners enjoy in very few countries. I'll acknowledge all accurate critiques; America is far from perfect.

However, don't dare to denigrate this country. It insults us, sure, but that's beside the point, which is this: Given the merits of the American system compared to every alternative on Earth, and the unprecedented success so many Latinos have achieved here, it makes no sense to single us out for reproach.

So it is not so inferior then. Let them so get cash in their superior land of Mexico. We need a freaking fence now!!! And I am speaking as a son of immigrants. A fence better be part of the final bill passed by the 2 chambers. The illegals definitely don't love this country; But they certainly hate it. Since the illegals love Mexico so much I say round as much of them up at these protests and send them back. When they protest why, just tell them that because of the generosity of the American people we are shipping them back on our own dime since, judging by the flag they flew, they definitely prefer Mexico more. So we are just doing them a favor. They can go fly that flag proudly in their beloved Mexico. We need a fence to help plug the hole!!!

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=21841.........

Andres Jiminez, director of the University of California's California Policy Research Center, told the media, “It's not only Latinos who are marching in the streets, its unions too: firefighters, farm workers and Hispanic students who had thought of U.S. law as protecting them and are now starting to see it as a threat to their future.”

He was right about this much: Latino organizations did not act alone. The media has failed to report that organized labor directed the illegals and minors. The L.A. Times revealed the rally’s “security” was handled by a union identified only as “Local 1877.” That would be local 1877 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the far-Left union founded by New Left radical Andrew Stern, which called for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq in June 2004 and worked in concert with Ted Kennedy to roll back anti-terrorist Homeland Security measures. According to the L.A. Times, the SEIU’s goons kindly helped “herd marchers along the route.” That was not the extent of SEIU’s help, though. The union also “coordinated the more than 100 buses that dropped off marchers from throughout California, Las Vegas and a few Southwestern cities.”

In other words, the massive rally against Homeland Security – since that is what gaining control of America’s borders would promote – was staged by a leftist labor union and staffed primarily with illegal immigrants.

SEIU did not work alone in this. It was aided by other radical or left-wing political pressure groups, including:

· Southern California Human Rights Network (SCHRN), whose members are apparently affiliated with the International Socialist Organization. SCHRN drafted a resolution in Orange County declaring, “We believe that no human is illegal and oppose the criminalization, dehumanization, and exploitation of migrants, immigrants and or economic and political refugees, by means of media, legislation, ideology, rhetoric, etc. [This] includes augmenting border patrol units, commissioning other law enforcement agencies to work in conjunction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and [includes] such policies as the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and other policies that exploit the indigenous, peasantry, and environments of countries abroad.” In other words, capitalism and any form of immigration laws are exploitative.

· Pomona Day Labor Center, which helps employers hire “day laborers.” One must presume this organization knows its employees are illegals.

· Central American Resource Center, which advocates for illegals and lobbies for the government to make a “‘presumption’ of hardship” for and grant “permanent residency” to Central American illegals.

· Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), founded in 1986 to “get as many people as possible through the amnesty program established” by Ronald Reagan.

The cause is being helped in another way by the Los Angeles Unified School District – where more than 25,000 walked out of classes: through taxpayer-subsidized lobbying courses. According to the district, students “would remain in their home rooms through the day for discussions on the immigration issue, how to influence lawmakers and the consequences of walkouts, said Rowena Lagrosa, executive officer for educational service.” (Emphasis added.)

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