Immigration Madness
As the grandson of immigrants (my paternal grandfather, Frank DeKok, from the Netherlands in 1909, and my maternal grandfather, John Kilian, from Germany in 1924), I've always tended to look upon immigration as a net positive phenomenon for America. I still do, even after reading New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's cautionary words recently that some lower-income Americans do suffer economic harm from immigration. Growing up in the Dutch-American town of Holland, Michigan, I always welcomed the cultural diversity the Mexican community there brought to my very whitebread hometown. Sure, there can be problems with immigrants, but they bring a lot of good, too.
The current immigration debate in Washington is another example of conservative Republican tomfoolery. The issue started appearing on rightwing websites less than a year ago. I'm still not sure why they decided to make it an issue now. Perhaps they decided their demonization of gays had gone as far as it could go, and they needed a new "threat" for their followers to focus their fears and hatred upon. The worst of the proposals before the Congress would make it illegal to even offer help to a sick, starving, illegal immigrant. Background checks on all prospective employees--against a national citizen database--would be required. You can imagine how anyone with a Spanish surname and a dark complexion would be constantly called upon to prove their citizenship.
My hope is that this will backfire on the Republicans like the California Proposition 187 in 1994 did. Prop. 187 would have barred illegal immigrants from receiving any public benefits, including school for their children. It turned the Hispanic community against Republicans and made them fairly reliable Democratic voters. Some Republicans dread the same effect from the current immigration "crackdown."