Americans are concerned about terrorism and our fragmented nation. But how can these problems be solved if we continue our current immigration policy?
The terrorists of the Sept. 11 attack are all foreign born, with some entering this country legally. Conducting background checks of visa applicants, and tracking and deporting illegal and criminal aliens requires an enormous amount of time and resources. The Immigration and Naturalization Service is already overwhelmed with its current backlogs! How can the INS, our ports of entry and our consular offices be effective if they are continually burdened with over 700,000 applications for permanent residency annually, in addition to hundreds of thousands of “temporary” working visas and student visas and millions of tourist visas to process every year?
While this nation focuses on fighting Muslim terrorists, Americans should be aware of the serious political repercussions of the amnesty talks for millions of illegal Mexicans which are being actively pursued between high-level U.S. and Mexican officials. A case in point: Prize-winning Mexican novelist Elena Poniatowska was quoted by WorldNetDaily.com on Aug. 15, 2001, as saying: “Mexico is recovering the territories yielded to the United States by means of migratory tactics.” She has taught at Ivy League universities such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Le Nouvel Observateur, a well respected French weekly news magazine, also carried a news article this past August entitled: “Californie: La reconquista des Latinos.” A recent article by the New California Media reported that Mexico “continues to mourn the loss of half of its territory to the U.S. in the 19th century.”
Furthermore, many Mexican-American leaders have publicly made it known in recent years that it is only a matter of time before Latinos control California, the Southwest, and eventually, the entire U.S. For example, Mario Obledo, former California secretary of Health and Welfare, said in 1998: “Eventually, we are going to take over all the political institutions of California.” He also stated that those who don’t like Mexicans “should go back to Europe.” Henry Cisneros, former secretary of Housing and Urban Development said in 1995: “As goes the Latino population will go the state of California, and as goes California will go the United States of America … the stakes are big, this is a fight worth making.”
In fact, if the United States population continues to grow the way it did in the last decade – as shown in the 2000 Census – mathematically, people with Mexican origins will be the majority in California by 2025 and in the entire U.S. by 2070. In recent years, Hispanic activists have vigorously pushed legislation in many states and in Congress that would grant benefits to illegal immigrants. Those measures will encourage high illegal immigration, which in turn generate more voters in the future. Redistricting, voter fraud and high fertility rates of Mexican immigrants will further increase the numbers of individuals with an extremist agenda elected to political offices.
As we know, President Bush won the election in Florida by only a few hundred votes. But if the U.S. grants amnesty to millions of illegal Mexicans, many newly naturalized citizens will be voting in future U.S. elections who could be mobilized by people like Poniatowska, Obledo or Cisneros. In addition, naturalized citizens can also petition for extended family members to immigrate to this country. U.S.-born children born of all newcomers, including guest workers, are American citizens and can become voters when they reach 18. Is this what the then-Mexican President Zedillo had in mind when he affirmed in Chicago in 1997 that “the Mexican nation extends beyond its territory enclosed by its borders and that Mexican migrants are an important, a very important part of it”?
Professor Samuel P. Huntington, chairman of the Harvard Academy for International Area Studies and a former White House coordinator of Security Planing for the National Security Council, recently wrote: “Mexican immigration is a unique, disturbing and looming challenge to our cultural integrity, our national identity and potentially to our future as a country.” In 1998, President Clinton warned: “Unless we handle this well, immigration of this sweep and scope will destroy the bonds of our Union.”
Indeed, because of bilingual education, an explosion of ethnic media, multilingual ballots, progress in telecommunications and transportation and the continued massive influx of foreign born, assimilation of most immigrants coming from over 100 countries is becoming next to impossible. Sadly, the United States is becoming a de facto bilingual country because many large institutions offer Spanish as the alternative to English.
For the sake of our public safety and national unity, concerned Americans should urge President Bush and their representatives in Congress to support HR 2712 introduced by Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. A temporary freeze and reduction of most categories of visas, coupled with measures to combat illegal immigration and terrorism, are crucial to ensure the survival of this nation.
Yeh Ling-Ling has extensive prior legal experience helping people immigrate to the U.S. She is the executive director of Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America based in Oakland, Calif.
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