Immigration Protests Come to Local High School

My daughter called on her cell phone at lunch so I could listen in to the scene developing on the quad at her high school. Students were "demonstrating" and chanting with Mexican flags. In response, other students brought American flags out of classrooms and began cheering the United States. The pro-Mexico and pro-United States groups competed in attempts to drown each other out. School administrators intervened and removed the flags before things became more heated.

That, in a nutshell, is a big part of the problem we have. Many of those who want to make illegal immigrants legal are practicing divisive anti-American national separatism. They demand to be legal on their terms and question the legitimacy of the United States' borders. I don't think that would automatically go away and everyone would happily co-exist as American citizens if everyone were to be legalized overnight.

Power Line (linked above) points the way to a warning at Big Lizards which threatens that if we don't go forward with a "guest worker" legalization program, the Republicans may lose the House and then we'll really be in trouble. On the other hand, Mickey Kaus at Kaus Files thinks the GOP has found its winning issue for 2006.

Meanwhile, Cal Thomas asks "Whose Country Is This?" and Thomas Lifson writes at The American Thinker:

"Perhaps we need a two-tier solution. Maybe those whose identity and ultimate allegiance lies elsewhere can be offered temporary residence permits once they have made good on the back taxes they owe, have passed a background check for criminality, and agree not to burden our social welfare system with their needs. But if they do not buy into the entire package of citizenship, responsibilites and all, they do not deserve its rewards.

"Citizenship should be reserved for those who understand and are committed to American fundamental values, and who stand ready to follow in the footsteps of patriots. Anything less diminishes us and our precious gift of citizenship."

Michelle Malkin has a thought-provoking brief post on "jobs Americans won't do."

Update: Rush Limbaugh had some interesting comments today. In response to those who say it's impossible to enforce the law and deport those who are currently here illegally, Rush asks "What would happen if 40 or 50 million of us just stopped paying taxes?" Good point.

Rush also warned that the political parties are potentially ignoring the opinions of the vast majority of Americans on how to handle illegal immigration, in order to court the illegal alien voting bloc, "with the assumption it will vote monolithically." He said that while coveting the votes of illegal immigrants, politicians face the potential ire of voters.

Late Update: My daughter eats lunch with a very ethnically diverse group of students whose parents are recent immigrants from a variety of countries, including India, Korea, and Vietnam. She reports that her friends were uniformly angry at the pro illegal immigration demonstrators on campus today, because her friends' parents all followed the law, even when it meant family members being separated for a period of time before they could all enter the country legally. I think the point of view of those who have worked so hard to come here legally is an interesting angle which deserves more media coverage.