Immigration March- Unclear on The Concept

There was a big march here in LA. It was about some potential immigration reforms.

"LOS ANGELES Mar 26, 2006 (AP)— Immigration rights advocates more than 500,000 strong marched in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday, demanding that Congress abandon attempts to make illegal immigration a felony and to build more walls along the border.

The massive demonstration, by far the biggest of several around the nation in recent days, came as President Bush prodded Republican congressional leaders to give some illegal immigrants a chance to work legally in the U.S. under certain conditions.

Wearing white shirts to symbolize peace, marchers chanted "Mexico!" "USA!" and "Si se puede," an old Mexican-American civil rights shout that means "Yes, we can." They waved the flags of the U.S., Mexico and other countries, and some wore them as capes."

I am a little confused about the purpose of the Mexican flags. Why would you wave them at a demonstration about immigration rights in the US. Something is a little off kilter there.

3 comments:

Jack Steiner said...

Their flag has no place in this discussion. It just doesn't.

I understand the desire for a better life and appreciate that. But I don't follow the thinking that says that if they come here illegally they can assume that there are no consequences.

And I say that without taking a position on the new bill. The reality is that when you break the law you have to accept that there may be consequences. It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with the law.

Robbie said...

Yeah - it's just that we've helped them break the law, and if they were to stop, our country would collapse...

Jack Steiner said...

I don't buy the argument that our country would collapse. It is a scare tactic and I don't buy that they do the work that Americans won't do.

They do the work for far less pay. If they were not doing it we would have to pay more for those services.

As for helping them break the law, well that is a statement that we'd have to delve into further to come to consensus on.

I have a number of issues here. One, I am not upset or angry with people coming here to improve their lives.

However, I think that there are some things that are important. For better or for worse the country is at war. We need to know who is coming in and out. That can be done without turning this into a police state.

Second, I think that immigrants who want be a part of American society and speak out on American issues need to understand that waving the flag of a foreign nation creates feelings of discontent.

You can be an American and be proud of where you came from. You can be an American and maintain some cultural identity. They do not have to be mutually exclusive, but this flag waving is not a part of that.

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