Large Immigration Protest In Omaha

Thousands marched in protest of immigration "reforms" proposed by Congress today in Omaha. It is encouraging to me to see so many people with passion and ready to be active. A lot of them are young. A large number of them are American citizens - born to immigrants in this country. Every time a conservative says that illegal immigrants have no right to use our schools, I remind them that many of the children of immigrants were born in this country. They are citizens. And the opposition to immigration thrown out by the right wing in the past month isn't about national security. It isn't about open borders. How many right wing conservatives are you hearing complain about the open Canadian border? It's about race. Nothing makes this more apparent than the controversy surrounding the Mexican flag at protests such as this one. Pundits and politicians alike don't believe that people have a right to celebrate their heritage. My family has been American for a few generations, and I don't feel a strong sense of identity for any other country, mainly because I have many different European ancestries. But I understand the importance of culture. You can't forget your roots, and it's ludicrous to say that someone can't be an American and a Mexican.

What's even more worrisome to me, though, is reading around the blogosphere. We have many self-proclaimed liberals who are very much anti-immigration. They make some legitimate arguments, but eventually those run out, and they resort to xenophobia. It's not exclusive to the Republican Party, in other words, and it's a huge concern to the Democrats for two reasons: 1) The obvious electoral concern. In a generation, the children of illegal immigrants will be legal, voting adults. Some of them already are. If the Democrats side with the Republicans on this issue, they will lose Hispanic Americans as a key voting bloc. 2) The moral obligation. The Democrats have been and should be about protecting those who are less fortunate. Many illegal workers are treated like slave labor. It's economic slavery, and it's wrong.

There's not an easy solution, but the root causes don't have anything to do with our borders or what happens when they get here. It's about our country's policies in Mexico, and the Mexican government's poor treatment of workers. That needs to be solved. Because nothing else will help both countries.