The immigration bill that just failed to pass the Congress was not all that great if we are honest about it. I would like to see a much better bill come up soon.
Also, it does seem that the Republican business community does want a bill and does want the workers here and that is the reason Reagan and Bush are pro immigrant. Bush had a lot to say about how much the Republican Radio Blowhards were raining on his Immigrant Parade last month, and whatever the guy's motives {childhood friends, current self serving realities} he will sign the bill that gets to his desk. The politicians are only one election away from enlightenment on the immigration issue, so the main idea is GOTV-- Get Out The Vote. That means everything now. While you are at KOS, please talk that one up. Remember also that the immigrants from the south are not only Mexican and not only brown!
On the other hand, large numbers of US citizens of all hyphenations {Irish American, African American, Armenian American, Puritan American, even Native American} are moving to Mexico and many other places where their dollar allows them to retire with a better standard of living than in the US. Although the dollar is falling, so that may end soon!
And there is where I think we have missed an opportunity. Those who are doing that {expat retirees} should be demanding of the US government that they tie liberalized entry to the US by citizens of that country {any south of Texas} to be balanced by liberalized requirements of bank accounts and other funding by the US emigrants wanting to go to the southern country. Rules in these countries keep a lot of US citizens out now because they are not upper middle class.
I think the US doesn't really want these emigrants to leave, but so what.
Soon, southern citizens will be moving north and northern citizens will be moving south. Soon after that, maybe we can have real NAFTA, CAFTA and whatever afta.
Let everyone go wherever the hell they want. Can someone give me a good reason why not? End the tyranny of nationality.

well said, RC. a lot of things to consider.

yes, i know that not all immigrants are Mexican! thanks for the reminder. sorry. that just happens to be my bloodline, and what i think of, and what partially fueled my entire current political action and awareness. you make an important point. i dont mean to lump anyone in or ignore them. and no, not all immigrants are brown. but while i definitely feel the irish and such need to receive the same fair treatment, they are not being harmed as much by the current rhetoric as Latino/brown immigrants (and citizens!) are. lou dobbs aint calling them lepers, they are not being beat up in parks or deported by accident because they look brown, or killed behind this current mania of racism/xenophobia. and i'm sure they have their own spokespeople/advocates.

i said the same thing as you about the bill. i'm not sure it should have passed. but i do hope we can get somethign in place because people are being exploited in horrible ways and its time to end the ghost slave class of U.S. (non)citizen.

As long as there is a imbalance between the U.S. and its neighbors in economic and political terms, the immigration wave will not stop.

About the xenophobia, the brown and browner do the suffering now, no argument. But it is also true that for almost a hundred years in the US {1840 to 1940} the Irish were the object of xenophobia too, being Catholic, poor, having large families, and beholden to the Pope, not to mention issues with alcohol. There is a long list of immigrants to the US that were abused, I happen to be descended from many of them. But that doesn't mean it's a tradition we should continue for any grade of immigrant melanin.
I think you are aware that Lou Dobbs' wife is Mexican, and he lives in NJ with her and her parents, all of whom seem rather brown in photos. Lou seems kind of shiny pink. You can see that on the Aztlan site. Unless that is a hoax. Just another of those Cosmic Mind Twists I guess. Like Hitler was a vegetarian and the Dali Lama isn't. Reality is so complicated.

yes, reality is complicated. and lou has done some nifty synapse detouring to maintain his ugly views. but the Brown™ are under fire today. that is my primary concern. yes, i do have others.

Nez;

I sent you an e-mail a little while ago; please, let me know if you got it as it was going to some other folks as well and I don't want to send it twice if it's already arrived. Thanks.

Kyl is undoubtedly being pressured by AZ corporate interests to keep the labor market in turmoil. Having a ready source of cheap, if illegal, labor available enables them to keep wages for all workers lower. I spent eight years in the IBEW and for all its shortcomings it did do some good things. The national office's stance on the situation is that Bush and the rest of the world's leaders (and I use that term with some reservations) need to work at raising all workers' wages and benefits to levels that will enable them to have a reasonable standard of living. The corporatists and Bushco want to have it both ways: allow lax enough enforcement of immigration laws, vis-a-vis raids and fines on employers (letting them enjoy a net gain in the process) while, at the same time, demonizing the immigrants as somehow being less human.

I spent almost six years working in Boston and saw Irish immigrants working all over town without being harassed by INS. The so called "South Coast" area is home to many recently arrived Irish immigrants, most legal, some not. No one I ever talked to, felt threatened by them (full disclosure: most of my forebears were Irish). People do seem to feel threatened by dark or non-english speaking immigrants (the influx of Russians to Lynn, MA for instance--it's been nicknamed "Little Odessa").

The restaurant, hotel and other service businesses are thrilled to have a source of willing and able employees who will work for somewhat less than the local, native population (and often to much higher standards). SEIU has made unionizing the Boston hospitality industry a priority and has had some success.

I think I've just started rambling, so I'll get off, but I want to say, I would like to see the standard of living in places like Mexico raised to the point where people are not forced, by the lack of opportunity, to leave their homes and families and emigrate. I kinda go for the idea of everybody visiting places they like and living in the place they love.

That "alien" graphic is really great!

Some interesting libertarian (forgot his name, sorry) on C-Span a few years ago, offered the opinion that if this interminable war continued, the USA would use immigrants to fight our wars, and that military service would become a condition of citizenship.

Riffing on Springsteen, I can easily imagine a situation in the near-future, wherein they routinely round up people at the border and offer them the choice to go back to Mexico or fight in Iraq. (Or wherever empire expands next.)

Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man

But this time, Born in Mexico, not Born in the USA.

I absolutely believe it will happen.

god how horrible a vision. and mostly because it seems so plausible...

It's kind of hard when someone starts supporting (and I'm not sure if what Kyl did really counts as supporting) your cause when you're pretty sure they're doing it out of their own self interest rather than genuine conviction. Kyl was under attack by the Democrats in the last election, I think they wanted to unseat him, so maybe he's just shrewder than most, and sees where the wind is blowing? Still as you point out, he's a lot better than some of the alternatives. And in the face of the rhetoric out there, maybe a self serving friend is better than nothing.

I'm kind of jealous in some ways. Asian Americans, and Asian immigrants are still so invisible, especially as a political force. You guys haven't arrived yet, but you're a lot closer to arriving than we are right now.

you are right, lovelesscynic. i have actually thought about this. that despite the violence and hate and invective that Mexican Americans/Mexicans are facing, it is our time to break through this wall. and that is exciting.

i have thought about your people specifically. yes, still so invisible. so odd. the Asian peoples and their histories are amazing in so many ways, and that's just the little i know/feel/have seen....you are not invisible to all.

but i feel you on this. one by one, we face the fire, here in this land of the melting pot.