Open Borders Advocate Plays the Race-Baiting Game

Michael Gerson, writing in the Washington Post, pulls one of the old tricks of the left in his Op-Ed: Letting Fear Rule: Nativism Is a Recipe for Long-Term GOP Losses

In 1882, Congress passed and President Chester Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act. Today we don't name laws as bluntly as we used to. But anti-immigrant sentiments are very much alive, this time expressed in opposition to the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.

So opposition to illegal immigration is the same thing as racism. Never mind the fact that we who oppse the amnesty proposals are concerned about illegal immigration, not legal immigration. I have yet to hear anyone say that Latinos should be excluded from legal immigration.

For a certain kind of conservative, any attempt to grant a legal status to illegal immigrants is as welcome as salsa on their apple pie. One conservative commentator claims that the law is "going to erase America" -- an ambition even beyond Ted Kennedy's considerable powers. Another laments that "white America is in flight" -- and presumably not just to Jackson Hole or Nantucket for the summer.

It is true that most illegal aliens are Latinos, due to the fact that we share a common border with a Latin American nation that long ago implemented socialist policies of the type that the left here in the USA favor. Therefore, we are automatically racists because we oppose law-breaking by a group of people who just so happen to be Latinos.

So, if I were to say that Frank Costello and Lucky Luciano were mafia hoods, does it follow that I am prejudiced against Italians? Or if I said that OJ Simpson is a murderer that I am racist towards blacks?

What if I said that Bill Clinton is a pathological liar? Am I therefore prejudiced against my own race?

The Christian faith teaches that our common humanity is more important than our nationality. That all of us, ultimately, are strangers in this world and brothers to the bone; and all in need of amnesty. This belief does not dictate certain policies in a piece of legislation, but it does forbid rage and national chauvinism. And this is worth a reminder as well.

May I be so bold as to remind you of something, Michael? We who oppose illegal immigration are concerned about crime and lawbreakers. Every single person who has entered this country illegally has broken the law and violated our sovereignty. To grant them amnesty would be to invite 10 million or more people who do not respect our laws to live here permanently. How can we be sure they will obey our other laws?

Update: I just read from Powerline that Gerson was one of Bush's aides. This is not surprising. Bush has made some good appointments (Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Roberts, Alito, etc.) and some terrible ones (Mineta, Gonzales, etc). It is clear that Bush is getting some terrible advice on this issue.