<em>WSJ </em> News Side on Immigration
09/07/2006
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There's a wall between the Wall Street Journal's News Department, and their Editorial Page, which means that you might get some actual journalism on the subject of immigration in the news department. I'm not sure this effort by June Kronholz is it, though. However, she does manage to quote both sides, rather than quoting one side and sneering at the other as the Editorial Page types would.[ Immigration Stalemate Congress's Failure to Resolve Issue Feeds Ire of Activists on Both Sides [September 6, 2006,(should be a free link, if not, try here.]

You can read the whole thing if you like, but one point here is that various peope are blaming Congress's "failure" to pass an immigration bill for anti-immigrant sentiment and activism. And the only kind of bill they mean is an amnesty bill—if an enforcement bill had been passed, they'd blame Congress's success.

By raising illegal immigration as a political and national-security issue — and then doing nothing about it — Congress has given new life to an anti-immigrant movement that had long been relegated to the political fringes, say some policy watchers and think tanks.

"The conduct of members of Congress has given it license and credibility," Rev. Rivera says. With a national election around the corner, and control of Congress at stake, "nobody from Washington wants to respond to these words being hammered against us."

First, Congress hasn't failed; Republicans in Congress have succeeded in blocking passage of a horrible Senate bill, and should take credit for doing so.

Second, the people who are really raising the issue are the illegals, by coming across the border in their millions—they are already illegal, felonious, and deportable without any further action by Congress.

Third, the real failure here is in the Executive Branch, which won't either guard the border, or deport illegals once they've been caught.

The other point is by Representative Peter King. The reporter quotes him as an example of an unsubtle appeal to anti-immigrant sentiment:

Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa regularly accuses illegal immigrants of committing sex crimes against "eight little girls" a day as part of "a slow-motion terrorist attack."

A " slow-motion terrorist attack" is a good way of putting it. Criminal violence by immigrants will never kill as many people in one day as terrorism did in 2001, but it may kill the same number per year, and that's a lot of unnecessary deaths, as well as the sexual assaults King is talking about. Perhaps the War on Immigrant Crime should get more funding from Congress.

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