Ahem, they are illegal immigrants, not immigrant workers
The Dark Knight Movie Review
Agriprocessors Inc.,
Illegal Immigration,
liberal bias in the news,
Postville
I've never done a post on illegal immigration before… at least not that I can remember. Last Sunday there was a rally in Postville, IA to protest the treatment of the illegal immigrants who worked at Agriprocessors, Inc. They spoke out against poor working conditions, and to call for the legislation that would give legal status to illegal immigrants. This facility was raided back in May by ICE with 389 workers arrested.
When I saw the article regarding the rally in Monday's Des Moines Register something immediately jumped out at me:
More than 1,000 people from around the Midwest converged on this small town Sunday to show disdain for the treatment of immigrant workers arrested during a massive raid here in May (emphasis mine).
Immigrant workers… hmmmm could there be some editorializing going on in a news story? No way! The Register would never do that! The New York Times coverage was a little different:
The march was called to protest working conditions in the plant, owned by Agriprocessors Inc., and to call for Congressional legislation to give legal status to illegal immigrants. The four rabbis, from Minnesota and Wisconsin, attended the march to publicize proposals to revise kosher food certification to include standards of corporate ethics and treatment of workers (emphasis mine).
I think it is interesting that the New York Times would get this right, and the Des Moines Register wouldn't. It shows how slanted to the left the Register has become. I also found the make up of the protesters interesting:
The Tony Leys of the Des Moines Register reported:
More than 1,000 people from around the Midwest converged on this small town Sunday to show disdain for the treatment of immigrant workers arrested during a massive raid here in May.
The demonstrators included hundreds of people bused in from the Chicago and Minneapolis areas.
They carried signs reading, "Love thy neighbor" and "Build sense, not a fence." They chanted, "We are all immigrants" and "Si, se puede — Yes, we can." (obviously Obama backers, LOL) And they listened to religious leaders pray in English, Spanish and Hebrew.
Julia Preston of the New York Times wrote:
About 1,000 people, including Hispanic immigrants, Catholic clergy members, rabbis and activists, marched through the center of this farm town on Sunday and held a rally at the entrance to a kosher meatpacking plant that was raided in May by immigration authorities.
First off… how many was it? Again could it be that the New York Times was more accurate than the Register? Interesting. I also find it interesting that they had to ship the majority of people from out of state. Perhaps it is because Iowans know what a burden illegal immigrants have been on our economy? These people do not represent mainstream America by any means.
"Love thy neighbor." That is manipulative. To want the law to be enforced is not an act of hate. I agree with the group when they protest how these illegal immigrants were mistreated. That is deplorable, and we should stand against that. I also don't think it's helpful to protest ICE doing its job. Those arrested broke the law. Until the law is changed their status is illegal, and ICE was well within its rights to do what it did. I also feel that companies that break the law should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If companies wouldn't hire illegal immigrants there would be less incentive for them to come.
"Build sense, not a fence." I'm sorry, but that is stupid. So let's welcome the drug trafficking too? How about terrorists who want to come into the U.S. through our porous southern border? The border must be secured before any meaningful immigration reform can take place.
Then we can talk about visas. A path to citizenship for some, not all. I don't think it is fair to those immigrants who are here legally for amnesty to be given for all. Perhaps we need to look at quotas from different countries as well. Another thing too, I think the status of the children of illegal immigrants who are born on U.S. soil needs to be addressed.
The 14th Amendment was not seen to apply to children of aliens until the Supreme Court decided that should be the case in the 1898 Wong Ark Can decision. Since children born by illegal immigrants on U.S. soil are considered citizens this provides further motivation to come here illegally.
So I believe that with increased border control, punishing companies who break the law, and addressing the status of children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. (which I'm not sure would take a Constitutional Amendment or not) we should see, I believe, a drop in illegal immigration. Then we also need to make sure our legal immigration process is fair and fast, because it is part of our heritage and we need to honor it as such.
DinT says:
This is one of the most common sense blogs I've read to date. Thank you!
Would they dare write:
"About 1,000 people, including illegal immigrants, Hispanic immigrants, Catholic clergy members, rabbis and activists, marched through the center of this farm town on Sunday and held a rally at the entrance to a kosher meatpacking plant that was raided in May by immigration authorities."
IT'S TIME TO PUT A STOP TO THIS ILLEGAL INVASION NIGHTMARE!
CHUCK BALDWIN-www.baldwin2008.com.
"There will be no "path to citizenship" given to any illegal alien. That means no amnesty. Not in any shape, manner, or form. I would not allow tax dollars to be used to pay for illegal aliens' education, social services, or medical care. As President, I would end birthright citizenship for illegal aliens. There would be no "anchor babies" during my administration.'
"A Baldwin Administration will support our U.S. Border Patrol, not with meaningless words, but with action. And I guarantee you this: The day before my inauguration as President will be the last day the that Mr. Ramos and Mr. Campean will have to spend in prison. They will be released from prison on the first day that I that I am President and be returned to their jobs with the US Border Patrol if they still want them. Their persecution by the Bush Administration has been a disgrace and a nightmare for these gentlemen and their families. The nightmare ends the day I become President!"
This is a well-done piece. The NYT has been burned so much in the past 10 years about poor journalism and exposed for promoting the liberal agenda so often (see Hugh Hewitt's book "Blog" for indepth treatment of some of these scandals) that perhaps it's working to regain trust?
Foxfier says:
Other suggested stories:
Unofficial Pharmacists Protest Work Conditions. (drug dealers don't want to be arrested)
Freelance Pleasure Providers Demand Health Coverage (hookers for gov't health care)
Grass-Root Socialization Group Demands Protection (Theft ring doesn't want to go to jail)
Foxfiers last blog post..My Mom-
DinT – thanks for the endorsement of Chuck Baldwin. Who is he?
Jeff, you are probably right about the NY Times, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Foxfier – nice 🙂 I especially like the "Unofficial Pharmacists".
Agent of Chaos says:
Actually, they're not illegal immigrants, they are illegal aliens.
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