The crackdown on illegal immigration continues to spread. First Prince William County… then Loudoun County… now Culpeper County.
Meanwhile, Hispanics aren’t taking the Prince William resolution — which “instill[s] in the Latino community an atmosphere of terror, desperation and a feeling of discrimination” — sitting down. A coalition of Hispanic organizations are preparing business boycotts on non-Hispanic businesses, work stoppages and a massive rally in protest. Writes Dan Genz in Examiner.com:
Hispanic immigrant groups are hoping a strong show of financial muscle can help shape public opinion. “This will show what it would be like without us,” said Francisco Vargas, the owner of Blanca’s Gift Shop in Manassas.
Let’s see if I get this straight. As a way to protest the crackdown on illegal immigrants, militant Hispanics are planning to target the very people who give them work and cater to their needs — in other words, their friends and supporters in the Anglo community. Here’s some unsolicited advice: You’re targeting the wrong people! For the most part, the middle-class citizens who have spearheaded the resolutions don’t have enough money to hire maids, landscapers and day laborers. They may own businesses, but I can assure you, they aren’t selling lottery tickets and Western Union wire transfer services.
Here’s some more unsolicited insight. Middle-class Virginians are sick and tired and they aren’t going to take it anymore. The state has hiked their taxes, local governments have hiked their taxes and, thanks to inflation, bracket creep and the Alternative Minimum Tax, the federal government has hiked their taxes. Meanwhile, they’re paying more and more and getting less and less for medical care. They have a problem with illegals who slip into the country, work for cash, don’t pay income taxes and proceed to avail themselves of free public schools and emergency room care.
If Hispanics want to call that sentiment racist, they’re totally missing the point. Indeed, crying “racism, racism” is self defeating. People know it’s a bogus charge, and it makes them angry. Just like it makes them angry that the Hispanic activists never acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, there’s a teeny-weeny bit of truth to the concern that illegals increase the tax burden on others? Just like, while they’re loudly demanding that others show understanding for their point of view, they show zero understanding for the concerns of others.
I know a lot of immigrants, some legal and some illegal. I like them as individuals, and I help them when I can. I’m sympathetic to their desire to better their lives and become American citizens. But there is nothing, I mean nothing, that infuriates me more than when a group of people come into this country — a country that welcomes those who come here legally — prosper here, and then turn around and embrace the cult of victimhood, hurling accusations of racism and bigotry at those with whom they disagree. It makes my blood boil.
Fortunately, I am quite certain that the activist Hispanic groups don’t represent the sentiments of all Hispanics. Many of the Hispanics that I know believe that everyone, including other Hispanics, need to play by the rules. I recall with some amusement talking to a Mexican bus driver in Jackson Hole this summer who confided that the country has “too many Mexicans.” I wonder if the activist groups would call him racist, too.