We're a "nation of immigrants" and a "nation of laws"

Summary (posts follow):

Yet another massive/illegal immigration talking point, repeated almost like a mantra, is that we're a "nation of immigrants". That's sometimes followed by the actually correct claim that we're a "nation of laws". They fail to note that we're actually a country of citizens. Most Americans, of course, have immigrant ancestors but they are now citizens and not immigrants. See also immigration tradition fallacy and the discussion of "reconquista"-style comments from Barack Obama.

Last modified Jun 21, 2009

Discussed in (click each link for the full post):

Obama asked stock question about immigration, gives stock, uneconomic reply (smears e-Verify; Orange County) - 3/19/2009

... here's what I believe: We are a nation of immigrants, number one. Number two, we do have to have control of our borders (see secure the border). Number three, that people who have been here for a long time and put down roots here have to have some mechanism over time to get out of the shadows (see living in the shadows), because if they stay in the shadows, in the underground economy, the...

NCLR, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO, SVREP send letter to John McCain about immigration - 9/02/2008

John McCain is too corrupt to stand up to the far-left and those who support illegal immigration, prefering instead - like Bush - to court those who will never support him.

Barack Obama's Reconquista 101: "they didn't cross the border, the border crossed them", Indians aren't immigrants - 8/18/2008

... event, said: "We are a nation of immigrants," Obama answers. "The only people can say that they aren't immigrants are the people sitting right here," the Presidential candidate says and points to the tribal leaders. "There are some families who have been here for 4 or 500 years. They didn't cross the border, the border crossed them." Certainly, h...

Barack Obama proud of attending immigration march (LULAC, Mexican government) - 7/08/2008

Barack Obama's prepared remarks for his speech at the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) convention include him taking pride in having marched in support of illegal immigration at the Chicago event on May 1, 2006. Unfortunately, no one has yet asked him why he'd be proud of marching at an event whose main organizers have links to the Mexican government.

Villaraigosa, Dellums, Nickels don't want ICE immigration raids of "responsible employers" - 6/20/2008

... WHEREAS, the United States is a nation of immigrants, the overwhelming majority of whom are making an important and positive contribution to both our economy and our culture; and 2. WHEREAS, immigration reform is one of the most pressing issues facing The U.S. Conference of Mayors; and 3. WHEREAS, the federal government has not been able to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation; and 4...

Scott Aust/Rapid City Journal helps Obama hide behind kid to support illegal immigration - 6/01/2008

Scott Aust of the Rapid City Journal offers "Mom proud of teen's moment with Obama" (link) about seventh-grader Steven Cady who asked Barack Obama about immigration in Rapid City, South Dakota yesterday. That article has the heartwarming backstory, with everyone thinking everything was just great.

Barack Obama immigration editorial misleads - 4/15/2008

... done. We are a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and we must reconcile those traditions. It's time to move beyond our broken politics and achieve real progress on immigration reform, not just for the sake of passing a bill, and not as a favor to immigrants, but so that we can finally address the concerns of the American people, and make real the hopes of all those who want nothing m...

Brian Williams/Tim Russert/MSNBC puffball Democratic debate (1/15/08 edition) - 1/16/2008

Yet another Democratic debate was held yesterday on MSNBC, featuring Brian Williams and Tim Russert as moderators (transcript link). It was as ripped-from-the-Soviet-archives as we've come to expect from such debates, only this featured even more questions solely about process and horserace and even fewer about issues. It also featured three extremely lightweight questions about immigration, ...

Nick Miroff promotes 9500Liberty pro-illegal immigration documentary (Eric Byler) - 11/03/2007

A documentary about the immigration situation in Northern Virginia from independent filmmakers Eric Byler, Annabel Park, and Jeff Man is currently being serialized on the web: youtube.com/9500Liberty. Nick Miroff of the Washington Post promotes it in "Raw Look at Immigration Crucible". Both he and a member of the local Minuteman Civil Defense Corps say they're balanced.

Diane Sawyer/Good Morning America in Mexico on Columbus Day - 10/05/2007

... it will basically be a "nation of immigrants" propaganda piece and she won't be featuring anything remotely approaching real reporting, such as Mexico's role in encouraging emigration in order to profit from the money that illegal aliens in the U.S.

Obama immigration interview: he'd make situation far worse (Kevin Johnson/UC Davis) - 9/25/2007

Professors Kevin Johnson (lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration), Jennifer Chacon, and Bill Hing of UC Davis have scored a true coup for the blogosphere: an interview about immigration with Barack Obama! Of course, it probably helped that all three of them "have served as members of an Immigration Policy Group for the Obama campaign". Another help was that the questions are complete puff...

Sleazy Robert Novak on "immigrant-bashing" and "anti-immigration" - 5/24/2007

Robert Novak offers "Immigration trap for GOP candidates/Immigrant-bashing divides rather than unites Republicans": Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia were booed at their respective state party conventions Sunday for supporting a compromise immigration bill.

White House TWP illegal alien amnesty PowerPoint presentation - 3/29/2007

U.S. News has uploaded a PowerPoint presentation the White House has regarding their new illegal alien amnesty scheme in this PDF file. Even by the abysmally low standard of other Bush administration plans, this is idiotic. Most of the provisions in there would not appeal to even the most cravenly corrupt Democrat, so this isn't a good bargaining ploy.

STRIVEing for amnesty: the Flake/Guitierrez "Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy" Act - 3/22/2007

We're seemingly moments away from the release of the Jeff Flake/Luis Guitierrez "STRIVE Act", a massive amnesty for illegal aliens. "STRIVE" stands for the Orwellian-named "Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy".

Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007: S9 - 1/17/2007

Via this and this we learn that Harry Reid has introduced Senate Bill 9 (S.9, S9), the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007".

Schwarzenegger, Fabian Nunez, and Andres Martinez for President! - 1/15/2007

Andres Martinez is the editor of the Los Angeles Times editorial board, and I believe he is the author of the unsigned editorial "Left out in '08: Arnold Schwarzenegger can't run for president because the founding fathers didn't want a foreign king." While there's no real burning need to allow naturalized citizens to serve as president, the LAT wants to tinker with th...

Swift packing immigration raid conducted; send Bush a cookie! - 12/13/2006

Yesterday ICE conducted the latest in a series of what are most likely show immigration raids, this time of Swift & Co.'s meatpacking plants in various cities. A roundup is here.

Democrats vs. assimilation - 10/06/2006

Yesterday, Arnold Schwarzenegger issued yet another "controversial" statement, this one about Mexican immigrants assimilating. I had two initial thoughts: a) I'm not carrying Arnold's water anymore, and b) few could quibble with his pro-American comments that are similar to ones stated by leading academics.

Democrats offer "A New Direction for Latino Families" - 9/30/2006

The Democrats have various plans for different races: "A New Direction for __African-American____ Families", "A New Direction for ____Asian-Pacific Islander-American__ Families", "A New Direction for ___European-American__ Families", er, scratch the last one. Their latest race-based plan is called "Compromiso Democrata con el Pueblo Latino: A New Direction for La...

Propaganda Watch: It's bad all over, don't be a racist, accept your fate - 9/26/2006

A rather obscure form of pro-illegal immigration propaganda involves the claim that it's bad all over and encourages those complaining about the effects of massive legal and/or illegal immigration to stop being racist scapegoaters of immigrants and just accept their fate. In keeping with that obscurity, here it is from two obscure sources. England's "Cambs Times" offers a...

NYT's Rachel Swarns spews Dem talking points at BYU - 9/23/2006

On Thursday, Rachel Swarns of the New York Times spoke about immigration in a lecture at Brigham Young University.

Pat Buchanan: 'State of Emergency' (a reply to his critics) - 8/20/2006

Dear ____________: What an interesting discussion of

Hazleton sued by far-left illegal immigration supporters - 7/14/2006

Hazelton PA has passed a local ordinance that tries to prevent illegal immigration flourishing in their city.

Live-blogging Bush's immigration speech - 5/15/2006

Is he insane? This is the same speech he's delivered countless times. Does he expect a different result? Is he intentionally trying to drive his popularity down to 20%? For decades, the United States has not been in complete control of its borders... First, the United States must secure its borders. This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign Nation. Bush has had over five years to secure t...

Fareed Zakaria's wonderful, heartwarming, misleading essay on immigration - 4/03/2006

The TV pundit offers a wonderful, heartwarming, and misleading essay in "To Become an American". 1. He downplays the issue of illegal immigration, and might give the uninformed reader the mistaken idea that there's little difference between the legal and illegal variety. 2. By doing the first, he might give uninformed readers the mistaken idea that the question is about whether to a...

Tamar Jacoby and Grover Norquist don't speak for 75% of Americans - 12/22/2005

Tamar Jacoby and Grover Norquist offer "Hard-liners don't speak for GOP". As anyone who's familiar with them might be able to predict, it's like entering bizarro world, in which those who want to reduce illegal immigration are "hard-liners".

"Immigration's not-so-hidden costs hurt American workers" - 5/19/2005

... Page informs us: "We are a nation of immigrants," Kennedy said in announcing the new bill. "And we always will be, and our laws must be true to that proud heritage." I agree with that. But I also know that the nation can have too much of a good thing, especially those who have entered the workforce illegally. Controlled and orderly immigration is enriching for our country.

Is the Illinois GOP making sense? - 8/03/2004

The Illinois GOP is continuing their fervent search for a competitor to Barack Obama. At post time, they have not yet considered my suggestion that they consider Chitown institution Bozo, but give them time. Meanwhile, the latest desperate plan from the Illinois GOP is to convince one-time presidential candidate and two-time senatorial candidate Alan Keyes to move from Maryland to Illinois and run...

Templates, patterns, and selling massive illegal immigration - 7/05/2004

You read enough newspaper reports about immigration, and you start noticing certain patterns. For instance, I've read several articles that have all or most of the following characteristics: They're all designed to make massive illegal immigration acceptable. They're all based on one or two sympathetic illegal aliens. Those aliens are only identified by first name, because the ille...

A "Conservative" Statement of Principles on Immigration - 2/09/2004

... available here: [America is a nation of immigrants, heart-warming platitudes, etc.

The Letter to Bush and Hastert Warning about the President's Immigration Plan - 1/28/2004

... of our nation upheld. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws. Respect for the rule of law is a core conservative value. Mr. Speaker, it is our hope that you will recognize the problems the Administration's proposal has created for our constituents. We would be more than willing to work with you to craft a solution to America's immigration crisis that is more...

"Bush plan may help drive for immigrant licenses" - 1/16/2004

From the San Jose Mercury News: Proposed legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses in California may have received an unexpected political boost this week when President Bush announced a sweeping plan for immigration reform. In the Bay Area and across the state, supporters of the driver's license effort believe that the president's plan will h...

Bush admits: "I was wrong about amnesty." - 1/10/2004

In a shock admission just released by the White House, President Bush announced that he had changed his mind completely on his recent proposal that would give amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. "After much deliberation, I've decided to change my mind about my recent proposal," Bush stated. "I realize that the United States is a country of laws, and I refuse to support and e...

"Note to conservatives: Most immigrants aren't terrorists" - 2/19/2003

The Reasononline article "Guilty by Association: Note to conservatives: Most immigrants arendz

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