Defending the Strangers in Our Midst: The Demonizing of Immigrants

Breakpoint with Chuck Colson ^ | 6/9/2006 | Chuck Colson

[Sender]

For comparison, how difficult would it be for a boatload of illegals to land in NZ, get jobs and apartments with no documentation?

[PeterPrinciple]

Thought provoking article. We all read this and see different things. I am a big supporter of seeking the truth and that is one of the messages I think he is trying to send.

Regarding the treatment of "strangers in the land", we are commanded to treat them fairly and subject to the same laws we subject our selves to.

To be honest this illegal alien thing is a hot button for me and most other conservatives and it is hard for me to think objectively about it sometimes. I can tell you in GREAT DETAIL what I don't want but I can't tell you what I want in immigration policy.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> For comparison, how difficult would it be for a boatload of illegals to land in NZ, get jobs and apartments with no documentation?

It happens often. This past week, an Illegal was dumped at hospital with massive head injuries by four of his friends. Indonesian, it seems. Fruit picker, lo illegal wages. Seems he somehow got injured on the job...

We collect "overstayers" from all over the South Pacific: people who come to "visit" then forget about inconveniences like return air tickets and visas and the like. And we have a very long, deserted shoreline with plenty of places to land boats undetected.

The galling thing is they will, while their "case" is being heard, most likely qualify for every government Benefit going.

America has a particularly nasty challenge: two very long, undefended borders that are fair pourous over their entirety. Not funny at all, and good on ya for clamping down on it...

My objection is calling these parasites "Immigrants". They are NOT. They are Homeland Invaders, unwanted guests. They have not "Immigrated" by definition, because they have not gone thru the Immigration Process. Like I had to do: waiting my turn and doing things by the book.

They have jumped the queue, broken the rules, broken the law, gotten in ahead of everybody else who has respectfully gotten into line, followed the process, and waited their turn.

They are NOT Immigrants. They are Parasites. They are Illegal Aliens. Not Immigrants.

There is no such thing as an Illegal Immigrant.

[tumblindice]

Last May 1st Mexican illegal aliens & their accessories . . excuse me! "undocumented workers/migrants" and friends `belly-ached', demanded citizenship and threatened to go back to Mexico.
So now they're "on the road to citizenship" and will be made Americans, with all the emoluments and privileges of US citizenship (even if they still prefer displaying their native flag, and never mind all the other applicants following our laws) and that's just the way it is because our chief law enforcement officer says we can't enforce our laws.
Won't we then need more Mexicans to do the jobs these new Americans won't do?
So more Mexicans sneak across the (still unsecured) border and they become "undocumented workers/migrants". On May 1st they start belly-aching & demanding, so we make these "undocumented workers/migrants" US citizens and provide them with all the emoluments . . .
Won't we then need . . .

[GarySpFc]

Dittos for a lot of "contractors" building homes today.

What you are saying about nobody wanting to kill chickens is likely true, but it still is wrong to hire illegals. The builing of homes is another matter. Illegals have put many American craftsmen out of work, and that is not only illegal but morally wrong.

[Sender]

I agree, it's wrong to hire illegals. No one is punishing the employers or the enablers. Cheap labor who work hard and cannot complain or call in sick.

[Nea Wood]

As I see it, Christians (and everyone else) ought to be "supporting" whatever is in the best interests of the preservation of the same nation that enables them to worship freely and have religious freedom.

Very well said!

[DuncanWaring]

We can certainly demonize a lot of these guys.

[Spiff]

If not motivated by fear and racism, then what motivates some people hating people picking food or building shelter.

If not motivated by hatred for America and American citizens, then what motivates you to aid and abet the illegal aliens responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 Americans and the sexual abuse of almost 3,000 American children since President Bush took office?

[Spiff]

If not motivated by hatred for America and American citizens, then what motivates you to aid and abet the illegal aliens responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 Americans and the sexual abuse of almost 3,000 American children since President Bush took office?

Correction:

If not motivated by hatred for America and American citizens, then what motivates you to aid and abet the illegal aliens responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 Americans and the sexual abuse of almost 3,00015,000 American children since President Bush took office?

3,000 is the number of American children sexually abused by illegal aliens EVERY YEAR.

[gubamyster]

ping

The Illegal-Alien Crime Wave

[mthom]

Why dont you support an essentially open border with mexico? One that keeps out criminals and terrorists of course but lets all others in at will. What are you afraid of?

[Mrs. Don-o]

"Well, Chuck, suppose we shut the border, fire all the illegals, run them back to where they came from, and imprison the non-compliant -- but not say a harsh or false word against them. Will that do by your lights?"

I truly wish you could ask that question of Chuck Colson personally. I suspect it would be OK by him. He didn't come out in favor of lawbreaking or against law enforcement. He came out against "false witness against thy neighbor" --- which is still a violation of the Big Ten, last time I checked.

[Rockingham]

I hope you are correct as to Colson's views. His objection though was not false witness but supposed "demonizing" of illegals, an objection that could be made to apply to entirely true accusations -- like the extraordinarily large percentage of illegals in federal and state prisons.

[Mr. Silverback]

Ah, good post. At least for once somebody on this board knows how to bring evidence to support their point. Here's the problem: Colson is making the case that a major motivation behind the anger in the base is hatred of illegals, and that they are being frequently demonized. That just isn't true, either on FR or elsewhere. Virtually everyone who has a problem with illegal immigration feels that way because of a love of the rule of law or a disdain for the consequences of letting it go on this long.

So, Colson can cherry pick that email, and you can cherry pick Spiff's post, and Spiff can make that list and never get a grip on the fact that you could make a similar list about Blacks, lesbians, Scottish guys or dentists, but none of it means that the majority of us are engaging in demonization.

[Hardastarboard]

Chuck, you ignorant slut. For the last F%%KING time, NOBODY objects to LEGAL immigrants. We object to ILLEGAL immigrants. Nice try at word judo, but we're not buying it. We're not going to let you get away with it.

[Mrs. Don-o]

You wrote: "[Colson's] objection though was not false witness but supposed "demonizing" of illegals, an objection that could be made to apply to entirely true accusations -- like the extraordinarily large percentage of illegals in federal and state prisons."

I understand your point, although I think Colson's objecting to an unwanted generalizing. For instance, an "extraordinarily large percentage" of the inmates in federal and state prisons are males. I think you'd object if somebody "demonized" males in general.

Not that it hasn't already been done --- by some feminists who view testosterone as a toxic substance and the y-chromosome as a genetic defect.

[Mr. Silverback]

If not motivated by hatred for America and American citizens, then what motivates you to aid and abet the illegal aliens responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 Americans and the sexual abuse of almost 3,000 American children since President Bush took office?

Is this your motto, Spiff?

When in trouble
When in doubt
Run in circles
Scream and shout

[don-o]

Back to Colson's point - welcoming strangers

Should I go ahead and get the scissors and snip that from my Holy Bible?

This whole deal would not be a problem if we were a Chrisian nation. Maybe, some day.....

[Rockingham]

Yet why is the accusation of "demonization" deployed against opponents of illegal immigration? And why use that term anyway, which the Left is fond of and which, in most applications, is a shabby rhetorical tactic to denigrate an opponent as picking on some put-upon group?

Even at that, to call the false claims circulating on the Internet "demonization" is absurd. Most high school sports game cheers and slogans have more in the way of "demonization" than a recitation of false statistics.

Colson could have simply debunked the false information that was circulating and let it go at that. Instead, he seems to have weighed in on the side of illegal aliens, even the large criminal contingent.

Has Colson come to identify too much with his prison flock, including the illegals? Mexico is a wretched pit of a country with a predatory and corrupt ruling elite. Most illegals had miserable lives there, and I am sure many of the criminals have appealing stories to offer a sympathetic listener.

But what about the victims of the crimes of illegal aliens? The destructive effects of massive illegal immigration on the US? The erosion of rule of law? Of America's identity? The potential for terrorist attacks through insecure borders or civil war or a breakaway border region? The vast flow of illegal drugs?

Oh no, Colson implies, let us put those considerations aside for we must not, as Christians, speak too harshly of illegal aliens. In the end, I suspect that Colson favors the illegals.