Hispanic and black groups opposed to illegal immigration ramped up their activism this week to coincide with the Senate revival of a comprehensive immigration-reform bill.
“For many who are pushing this amnesty — especially the man in the White House — this bill is about doing the bidding of business interests who have decided they no longer have any use for middle-class workers in America,” retired Col. Albert Rodriguez, chairman of You Don’t Speak for Me, said yesterday at the National Press Club.
Mr. Rodriguez said that for months, Congress and President Bush have ignored the demand of the American people that the government secure the borders.
Renewed efforts in the Senate to reach a deal on immigration reform that allows for a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship is the wrong step, added members of the Los Angeles-based Choose Black America.
“As Hispanic and black Americans, we are keenly aware that, more often than not, the faces of those who are most affected by illegal aliens are brown and black,” member Terrance Lang said.
Homeless activist and Choose Black America chairman Ted Hayes said their issues with immigration are not based on racism as their critics claim.
“National Council of La Raza and other groups have made it about race, … [but] it is illegal for people to go into someone else’s country without” permission, Mr. Hayes said. “There is plenty of room for all of us, and we can be the best of friends as neighbors, but that doesn’t give me the right to jump over your fence, go into your house and get into your refrigerator.”
The immigration debate and the marches in Los Angeles and elsewhere last year sparked strong opposition from numerous Hispanic groups. The marches have also sparked other groups all over the country to march in solidarity for education and health services for illegal aliens.
The Fair Immigration Reform Movement marched on the White House yesterday to give Mr. Bush a Father’s Day card to highlight the need for family unification.
“Every day that goes by without the reform, more people die at the border trying to get here and more and more families are being broken and torn apart,” said group member Christina Lopez, who added that her group wants the Senate to continue to rework the bill.
“We think the new point system is America at its worst. This nation is built on unified families; that is the cornerstone of the American immigration system and it should continue,” she said.
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