nation of immigrants
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):
Questions for Michelle Obama about immigration - 06/18/14
Taking a break from her many other tasks, Michelle Obama spoke [1] at a naturalization ceremony earlier today and, as many other past and present political figures have done, used the opportunity to promote comprehensive immigration reform.
Aaron Schock's treacherous, out-of-touch immigration comments - 04/22/14
On the video below, Rep. Aaron Schock (GOP of Illinois) makes immigration comments that are nearly as treacherous as some George W Bush made. But, the hallmark of Schock's comments is not so much how un-American they are, but how out-of-touch they are.
Nancy Pelosi: just being here illegally "is not reason for deportation"; cheers George Bush on immigration - 12/16/13
Rep. Nancy Pelosi appeared on Telemundo yesterday and showed that she has little use for our immigration laws.
Michael Barone's shallow, 2470-word logical fallacy ("A Nation Built for Immigrants", WSJ) - 09/22/13
In the Wall Street Journal, Michael Barone offers "A Nation Built for Immigrants" [1], a 2470-word article designed to make elites feel good about the mass immigration they support. The entire article is a logical fallacy: it claims that current immigration will work out just like former immigration did. That claim is hardly certain because the U.S.
Catholic College Presidents promote bad, immoral immigration policy (ACCU letter to Congress) - 07/19/13
Yesterday 93 presidents of Catholic colleges and universities sent a letter to all members of Congress demanding that they support comprehensive immigration reform (see the link for the downsides of that plan).
I'll quote the letter and then briefly describe how it deceives and promotes bad policy. From the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities ("ACCU") letter [1]:
Questions for Kelly Ayotte about comprehensive immigration reform (amnesty, New Hampshire) - 06/09/13
New Hampshire senator Kelly Ayotte comes out for comprehensive immigration reform (aka amnesty) in an OpEd entitled "Why I'm backing legislation to fix our broken immigration system" [1].
Obama undercuts the concept of citizenship ("My American Story", Immigration Nation, "nation of immigrants") - 05/09/13
Barack Obama has launched yet another campaign to push comprehensive immigration reform called "My American Story".
This latest campaign undercuts one of the most fundamental American concepts of all, that of citizenship. The Whitehouse page for the campaign [1] starts with this quote from Obama:
Democratic Party 2012 platform on immigration: why it's wrong - 09/04/12
The section about immigration in the Democratic Party 2012 platform is below. It only has broad outlines and countless Democratic leaders have repeated these same things many times before.
They were wrong then, and the platform is wrong now (see each link for the details):
Paul Ryan is bad on immigration, find out how much (Mitt Romney VP pick) - 08/11/12
Paul Ryan - Mitt Romney's choice for running mate - is on the wrong side of the immigration issue. Not only would he harm middle- and working-class Americans and help the wealthy in direct economic ways, but he'd do the same on the immigration front as well.
Obama misleads on immigration at Facebook; Zuckerberg and incompetent/corrupt GOP, Teaparty leaders help - 04/21/11
Barack Obama spoke live over Facebook yesterday at an event sponsored by that company. He misled about immigration and promoted an anti-American bill. He got direct help with his attempt to mislead from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and he got indirect help from corrupt or incompetent GOP and Teaparty leaders:
Another Youtube/Obama scam: ask State of the Union questions - 01/26/11
[UPDATE: Make sure and see this too]
Youtube and Barack Obama are conducting yet another scam, soliciting questions for Obama based on the State of the Union that he'll answer on Thursday, January 27. Other users vote up or down submitted questions, and then Obama will answer the top vote-getters.
The questions that get the most votes will invariably not be the best questions, the ones that Obama should be pressed on. In fact, they're likely to be some of the weakest questions of all. Obama and all other politicians should be "cross-examined" over their policies, and this latest scam will not...
Obama thinks illegal aliens are Americans; forgets about massive unemployment; promotes massive immigration - 09/29/10
Yesterday, Barack Obama was asked about immigration in Albuquerque, New Mexico and:
1. He referred to illegal aliens as "us"; he's given them citizenship in his own mind or he's confused about basic American concepts...
2. He seemed not to remember that millions of Americans are unemployed...
3. And, he generally promoted massive immigration. He did that with a series of canards and at one point sounded just like George W Bush.
Video of the appearance is at peekURL.com/v26f71b and for the first, here's what he said [1]:
Now, unfortunately, right now this is getting demagogued. A lot of folks...
Obama immigration speech, July 1, 2010 - 07/01/10
On Thursday, July 1, 2010, Barack Obama gave a speech in support of comprehensive immigration reform and his remarks are at whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-comprehensive-immigration-reform
In recent days, the issue of immigration has become once more a source of fresh contention in our country, with the passage of a controversial law in Arizona and the heated reactions we’ve seen across America. Some have rallied behind this new policy. Others have protested and launched boycotts of the state. And everywhere, people have expressed frustration with a system that seems...
Obama asked stock question about immigration, gives stock, uneconomic reply (smears e-Verify; Orange County) - 03/18/09
Earlier today, Barack Obama held a townhall in Orange County, CA and the full transcript, including the audience questions and his answers, is here. Maybe some time before the decade's over someone will get around to actually taking my advice and asking him a tough question, but that didn't happen in this case.
As soon as I found out about the event, I posted here and at FreeRepublic urging people to go get tickets in an attempt to have someone ask him this question, without luck. Whether the questioners were hand-picked or not (and, since one of them was a union official, all or some of...
NCLR, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO, SVREP send letter to John McCain about immigration - 09/02/08
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 - 08/18/08
Speaking at a high school in New Mexico, Barack Obama was asked about immigration and, according to this liveblog of the 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."
Barack Obama proud of attending immigration march (LULAC, Mexican government) - 07/08/08
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" - 06/20/08
If you want examples of political corruption, illegal immigration is where you should look. The latest example is a resolution proposed by three west coast mayors at this year's Conference of Mayors meeting: they don't want ICE to conduct immigration raids of "responsible employers". Instead, they want them to only raid those companies that are abusing employees and the like.
Scott Aust/Rapid City Journal helps Obama hide behind kid to support illegal immigration - 06/01/08
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 - 04/15/08
But, you already knew that. Barack Obama offers an editorial entitled "Enforce tighter border, employer verifications" (link):
While I understand the passions -- and legitimate differences -- on both sides of this difficult issue, we must restore civility and reason to the conversation.
Translation: "my opponents are gun-toting anti-immigrant racists". And, "as irrational as it seems, what I propose is the rational approach."
First, we must reinforce our borders to deter the more than 2,000 immigrants who cross them illegally each day. Most of these aspiring laborers risk death in the desert...
Brian Williams/Tim Russert/MSNBC puffball Democratic debate (1/15/08 edition) - 01/16/08
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, with the first not being necessary at all.
Nick Miroff promotes 9500Liberty pro-illegal immigration documentary (Eric Byler) - 11/03/07
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. However, a glance at the videos casts a great deal of doubt on that, and Miroff admits that both Byler and Park volunteered for the James Webb campaign. In fact:
"Watching George Allen look into the camera and point and say...
Diane Sawyer/Good Morning America in Mexico on Columbus Day - 10/05/07
On Monday, October 8 (Columbus Day), Diane Sawyer from Good Morning America (newsbusters.org/node/14050) will be "reporting" from Mexico on immigration. Why, the segment practically writes itself. While I don't watch the show and won't be tuning in, I expect 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) - 09/25/07
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!
Sleazy Robert Novak on "immigrant-bashing" and "anti-immigration" - 05/24/07
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 - 03/29/07
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. And, it allows the far-left illegal immigration supporters (see the Kevin Appleby quote below) and racial power groups to portray the Bush administration as a bunch of meanies, which doesn't seem to square with their supposed play for the "...
STRIVEing for amnesty: the Flake/Guitierrez "Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy" Act - 03/22/07
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". Please contact your representatives and stress your opposition to the scheme, and if you find anyone promoting it do your best to discredit them.
The far-lefties have anticipated the bill, with the Asian American Justice Center "encouraged" and, not to be outdone, the American Immigration Lawyers Association "enthusiastically welcomes" it.
Turning to...
September 1 Chicago march - 02/26/07
A small group of illegal immigration supporters walked the 42 to 50 miles (reports vary) from Chicago's Chinatown (meant to symbolize that we're a nation of immigrants) to Dennis Hastert's office in Batavia, Illinois. It took them four days, starting [[September 1, 2006]] and finishing [[September 4, 2006]]. Only "around 3000" showed up for the final rally. AKA the "Immigrant Workers Justice Walk".
Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007: S9 - 01/17/07
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! - 01/15/07
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 the Constitution and make it happen anyway.
They inform us that past fears no longer apply:
...t
Swift packing immigration raid conducted; send Bush a cookie! - 12/13/06
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.
Immigrant march en route to Hastert's digs - 10/07/06
suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/top/3_1_EL02_A1MARCH_S10902.htm
Don Babwin / Associated Press
As with other immigration reform marches in the metro area this year, Friday's [9/1/06] featured plenty of Mexican flags and signs with slogans written in Spanish. But there also were flags from the Philippines and people like Sally Chung holding signs in Korean...
Democrats vs. assimilation - 10/06/06
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" - 09/30/06
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 Latino Families".
Propaganda Watch: It's bad all over, don't be a racist, accept your fate - 09/26/06
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 "satir
NYT's Rachel Swarns spews Dem talking points at BYU - 09/23/06
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) - 08/20/06
Dear ____________:
What an interesting discussion of
Hazleton sued by far-left illegal immigration supporters - 07/14/06
Hazelton PA has passed a local ordinance that tries to prevent illegal immigration flourishing in their city.