How not to raise the issue of illegal immigration

[Mr. Deez]

Link.

This is the kind thing that makes conservatives and Tea Party types look bad and exemplifies what's wrong with conservative politics today. A college group could host a substantive debate on the issue or invite a speaker (even a controversial speaker) to discuss the issue. Rhetorically and intellectually, the pro-illegal immigration stance is actually pretty indefensible and very easy to defeat if you keep the issue at the center of attention instead of yourself. (Hell, they advocate something that has the word "illegal" in it. How hard can it be to make them look bad?)

Instead, they promoted something very inflammatory that feeds every negative stereotype about them while illustrating no serious or intelligent point about the issue. That enables the opposing side to divert attention from the real issue and set the narrative in much more favorable terms for them. That narrative, which should be about lawbreaking, is now about whether or not the people advocating the conservative position are racists, ********, or both. The result is the Right looks bad, and the Left never has to defend its position on the issue.

As I've mentioned before, for several years I was an officer in the umbrella organization that had loose authority over the university chapters. As such I wasn't really involved in campus activism. I wrote opeds, coached debate teams, edited our candidate questionnaires, interviewed candidates, drafted position papers, analyzed legislation, etc. (In other words, I did stuff that took brains.) However, I did occasionally advise chapters, and during my time with the group, two chapters held or sorta held this exact event back in 2005 (including the UT Chapter), and I thought it was a dumb idea back then and told them so.

 

[Larry T. Spider]

A real discussion would have to include faults of both parties and business lobbyists. YCT would rather take the simpleton route and blame Jose Bordercrosser trying to make $10/hr laying bricks. Obviously they drag down the party as a whole and allow dems to perpetuate the stereotype that conservatives are racist.

 

[Uninformed]

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[Michtex]

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[Vol Horn 4 Life]

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[huisache]

we could send millions scurrying home if our BP would bust the employers instead of the workers. Offer illegal aliens a five year green card in return for turning in their bosses who knowingly hire them; offer ten year cards for the guys who sell them fake IDs.

Put a few entrepreneurs in a federal pen for six months and watch all the other guys at the club ditch their employees pronto.

No jobs, bienvenidos a Mexico.

The insane federal government proposes to hire scores of thousands of new BPmen at huge wages and retirement benefits to run around in those swell trucks and vans catching the aliens and the locals in Falfurrias and Uvalde and Brownsville who assist them.

But I know my congressman tea party is not kean on having his donors prosecuted.

 

[HornHuskerDad]

I was very disappointed in the YCT initiative - absolutely the wrong thing to do. We definitely need a solution to the problem of illegal immigration, but it appears that the politicians are not willing to do so. Some kind of Guest Laborer program (like the old bracero program of the 50s and 60s) would be a start. Giving out blanket amnesty and a short path to citizenship is not the way to go - why reward them for being here illegally?

HHD

 

[Mr. Deez]

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[CedarParkFan]

I agree with Deez on the point that the real issue has been obscured. I also hold the opinion that, while a stupid stunt, the outrage is misguided. The fact that 12 million plus illegals are in this country should outrage the American citizenry much more than the antics of a bunch of college students. As Deez stated, it gives the supporters of illegal immigration a reason to whine and avoid the real issue. One more point I'd like to make to some of the offended talking heads who call the radio shows:

QUIT USING THE TERM "IMMIGRATION" IN REFERENCE TO "ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION." THEY ARE NOT ONE AND THE SAME.

Our government has every obligation to enforce the laws and the Americans citizens have every right to expect such enforcement.

So, yes, I think the stunt is childish, but I'm not appalled or offended.

 

[dillohorn]

Listen to the police scanner in Amarillo for a week and people will see why border security should have been a major effort years ago.

 

[huisache]

I was a prosecutor in Amarillo in the 70s and the problem then was criminal immigrants from Oklahoma infesting the fleabag motels on Amarillo Boulevard (old Route 66). I was for building a fence across I-40 but realize now that was not a good idea

 

[dillohorn]

I'll go for that idea too. I'm also for carpet bombing the old 66 through the city (now called Amarillo Blvd). The whole area there is a good place to get killed.

 

[huisache]

Amarillo is a good place to get killed if you are in Potter County because all the witnesses are in the bathroom.

Randall County is a different matter

back to the OP: I was having lunch at place in downtown CC yesterday and stopped to talk to the workers on an interminable street project to find out when they expected to finish a two block project that was supposed to be over by July. They told me a couple more months. The whole conversation was in Spanish, not Tex-Mex because none of the six could speak English. I didn't ask for a show of papers.

This kind of thing is standard down here now.. Cheap labor of good quality for the owners leads to nice profits for the owners of their company and a competitive bidding advantage. Too bad for American workers trying to get their foot on a first ring.