Are immigrants bringing disease to the US, destroying culture and overwhelming whites? You might be shocked by the racist beliefs of those running certain anti-immigrant groups.

Are young, lazy people causing the big demand for undocumented workers? One commentator seems to think so.

I disagree. I’ll not put it on young adults. I see a lot of college kids and they work hard, long hours between school and their jobs. I think that it’s demographically driven that we need more service workers because we got these Baby Boomers who are aging and there are a whole lot of them. The support apparatus for them must come from somewhere. The problem is not one of supply but one of excess demand.

First, it was pastors. Now, it’s Boy George.

Boy George’s summer tour has been canceled over visa issues. I agree that he’s had a history of drug use and now there’s a strange accusation from a male model about being detained against his will. Yet, Boy George did get put on trash detail last time that he broke the law in the US.

Should we really fear this man?

The US government wants to deport pastors.

Minutemen, formerly known as those guys who brought you the posses against the US government (Posse Comitatus, for example) and private militias (the birthplace of Oklahoma City bomber, remember), again want to put a measure on the ballot in Washington state forcing the citizens of Washington to use their state and local tax dollars to subsidize federal immigration enforcement.

I’m not alone in my observation about the Minutemen’s origins.

Should Latin American countries disrupt oil exports to the European Union in the face of anti-immigrant measures? Will the EU sit idly by? Is the threat empty? An oil disruption at this point in time could have disastrous consequences in the United States or Western Europe.

Alternet article

One of the things overlooked in this age of removals is the detour of local and state law enforcement from crime solving to being subisidizers (and thus forcing state and local taxpayers to subsidize the federal government) of things that should be left to the federal government.

LA Times story

Special Order 40 was one of the targets of their march. It’s a rule set out by former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates to limit inquiries into the immigration status of those persons who come into contact with police officers. Chief Gates, who served from 1978 to 1972, was no pushover. He generally favored uses of force but wisely realized that at times force needed to be tempered with diplomacy. Special Order 40 allows illegal as well as legal immigrants of crimes to report them without fear of repercussions to their immigrant status.

The LA Times says anti-immigrant groups don’t have a presidential candidate.

EXACTLY.

The anti-immigrant groups have had more than a few elections to prove their point with the voters. The overwhelming pattern that’s come out for them is a pattern of losses whether one considers presidential primaries and caucuses or state and local elections. There are always exceptions but the voters pretty much everywhere tend to think there are more important issues.

One hopes that after the coming election that Pres. Bush can take the freedom of a lame duck presidency and a lame duck Congress and push through a meaningful reform that addresses fairness to immigrants, protection of U.S. workers and national security. A major consideration that needs to be reviewed is the continued viability of Social Security without allowing sufficient immigrant growth to keep it solvent while the Baby Boomers age into the system.