The Fifth Column

Looks like we now know why CASA of Maryland is so hellbent on flouting our immigration laws:

Casa of Maryland got a $1.5 million shot in the arm Tuesday from the Venezuelan-owned oil giant Citgo, money that will support programs across the state and bolster a long-planned employment center in Langley Park that could open as early as October.

Citgo's donation will be spread over three years, beginning next year. It is the biggest corporate donation the immigrant advocacy group has ever received.

It is sad and pathetic that such an organization would willingly accept a large donation from the government of a tyrannical communist dictatorship that limits the freedom of their people and threatens geopolitical stability in the Western Hemisphere. CASA in the past has chastised those who oppose its support of illegal immigration, and chastised those who questioned their motives. But it is clear that the motives are CASA are no motives that are in the best interest of the United States. Nobody of sound moral fiber would accept Chavez's blood money as they did...

Illegal still means Illegal

Unsurprisingly, the Sun Editorial Board has a problem with the Anne Arundel County Police arresting people accused of committing crimes:

Mr. Leopold's comments play well in this conservative county, but they do a disservice to residents who may be unfairly targeted because of their ethnicity. His rush to judgment rouses less kind emotions.

Mr. Leopold says his even-handed approach to immigration helps those who play by the rules and is tough with those who don't. Providing $14,000 in county funds to an organization that helps legal immigrants navigate the citizenship bureaucracy will have benefits. But his decision to refuse grant money to a group that couldn't identify the citizenship status of its clients will likely drive those immigrants further into the shadows.

The Annapolis raid was part of the Bush administration's stepped-up enforcement at workplaces. But these raids aren't the answer to the estimated 11 million people who live here illegally. The country can't arrest its way out of this problem. And local efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants have more political impact than practical effect. This is a national problem that demands a comprehensive federal solution.

Of course the Sun is completely glossing over the fact that illegal immigrants are still in this country illegally. While the editorial is correct that the country cannot arrest its way out of the problem, and that business owners who knowingly employ illegal aliens should face consequences for their actions, that does not mean that police officers should turn a blind eye to the enforcement of our immigration laws.

Illegal immigration is a severe problem in this country, and clearly not enough is being done across the board. Illegal immigrants should not be immune from prosecution and deportation due to their crimes merely because immigration policy across the nation is broken, as the Sun seems to suggest.

Additionally, the enforcement action has nothing to do with racial politics, as the editorial board sheepishly insinuates, nor is it because John Leopold is playing to the voters in our county. Obfuscation of the immigration issue behind such political excuses further cheapens the immigration issue, and unnecessarily adds a racial and political component to what is clearly an issue of national security first and foremost.

As a nation of laws, it is absurd that the Sun would suggest that these laws be ignored without a national solution. The law is in place, and jurisdictions at the local, state, and federal levels all need to step up to ensure its enforcement.

Which part of "illegal" do they not understand?

So we had a bunch of "immigrant activists" protesting in downtown Baltimore today about the raid yesterday that arrested 46 illegal immigrants yesterday here in Anne Arundel County. And some of their quotes are....interesting:

"Every person affected yesterday has a family," said Jessica Alvarez, vice president of the National Capital Immigrant Coalition. "Today we are here to show that every person has a voice and has a community behind them. This is unjust, and our voices need to be heard."

Yeah. That's a bummer. Of course what is truly unjust is the fact that you have people in this country illegally. Let me say that again: they are here illegally. I do sympathize with the fact that these folks want a better life. I do sympathize with the fact that they came to America for an opportunity. But I do not sympathize with the fact that they willingly violated American law in order to come here. There are legal ways to enter this country. The folks arrested in the raid did not do that. And I am not sure which part of "illegal" these activists don't understand.

John Leopold, of all people, had a very solid retort to these protests:

"Illegal means illegal. The laws should be respected and obeyed," Leopold, a former state legislator, said in an interview. "This administration has had a fair and balanced approach to immigration. On the one hand we crack down hard on illegal immigrants, but at the same time we reach out to try to assist those who are trying to secure citizenship through proper legal channels."

And you can't really put it any more succinctly than that. The majority of people who oppose illegal immigration support legal immigration for people who want to do things the right way, entering the country and going through the legal process to obtain residency and citizenship. And really, this raid and these protests do shed more light on the complete failure at the federal level to address this issue.

Yes, something is unjust about this situation. But what is unjust is not that people who broke the law may suffer the consequences, it's that not more is being done. It's unfortunate, but illegal actions have legal consequences.

Paging Cross Canadian Ragweed...

...because I am, allegedly, a Carny Man! Go read is comments there, I am choosing not to post it here.

Once again, the racial politics of the left. "Lefty" here tries to play my opposition to illegal immigration as racial politics and carny games. Which is kind of incredible because the entire crux of the argument has nothing to do with skin color, or the budget, or any of the other things the left postulates that this is about. It is the left that wants to make a racial issue of of this. I merely want to see the borders controlled so that no illegal immigrants of any race, color, or creed get in. All we need to do is to start enforcing the border and give illegal immigrants who are here an incentive to do the right thing, for once. It's not about nativism, it's not about racism, it's not about any of the crap that the Urban Liberals want to say it's about.

That's what makes this comment from "Lefty"...:

Illegal immigrants are people, people with families who are part of our community. The vast majority of them don't break the law,

...so unintentionally funny because, a rational person might surmise, an illegal immigrant already broke the law. That's why we call them illegal immigrants.

Once again though this always comes back to the lowest common denominator. The left plays racial politics because they are losing the battle of ideas.