"A Day Without Immigrants"

I have a big problem with this movement. While I am not not a politician and don't know what is politically, I nonetheless think this group is hurting itself.

First, this movement is not about immigration. It is about eliminating the border in Mexico. The only people I saw marching were Latinos and their far-left Caucasian sympathizers.

Second, I don't think there is another nation in this world that is more accepting of immigrants culture. After all, yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, which is celebrated all over this country. In Portland, we have a festival at the waterfront with rides, music, games and food. I can't imagine Europe, for example, celebrating the cultures of their immigrants quite like we do.

Third, like it or not, the organizers of these protests are not really Latino community leaders. The are left-wing extremists from the likes of ANSWR (the anti-war group affiliated with the anti-globalization crowd) who are trying to adopt an immigration platform to draw more participants to their other protests. While I believe this strategy will backfire on groups like ANSWR, it will also backfire on Latino groups. While it is not the position of most politicians, a growing number of disenfranchised whites (30% by what I have heard) support building a fence along the border and deporting the 12 million or so illegal immigrants immediately. This is a problem for these Latino groups.

Finally, none of the proposals that are floating around that I have heard will help to solve the illegal immigrant problem. Like anything else, you can only affect supply or demand. So long as there are poor countries and the United States is rich, you will have a difficult time curbing supply. The only thing you really can do is to affect demand by requiring that employers verify the status of their propsective employees, instead of just verifying that they have documents. Once this is put into place, you can significantly fine employers who hire illegal aliens. This will pit the business interests versus the liberal interests and may have a difficult political journey, but a groudswell of popular opinion could push this forward.

There is, of course, one other option: completely open the border. I don't believe this will be acceptable to the voting masses in this country, but it would solve the immigration problem.