Countess Jodhaa Bai
New member
San Diego, California (CNN) -- 'Tis the season of peace on Earth and good will toward men. Yet you wouldn't know it from the screed from the conservative radio talk show host who recently charged into the immigration debate with gums flapping.
He called for a crackdown on illegal immigration but also a wholesale tightening of immigration policy so we admit fewer legal immigrants as well.
The radio talker was half-right. Americans must get serious about stopping illegal immigration, mostly by doing something we never seem to do with much enthusiasm: punish employers. But legal immigration shouldn't be dragged into the mix.
Legal immigrants -- with their energy, passion and optimism -- have always been this country's most valuable import. Even in bad economic times, we need more of them and not less.
Still, the worst part was the wildly inappropriate language the host used to justify his position. He was dangerously out-of-bounds in framing the issue as one of protecting society from the latest wave of immigrants, most of whom come from Mexico and Latin America. Unless something was done to curb the flow, he said, these foreigners would continue to "alter our demographics, erode our culture, and threaten our language."
Demographics. Culture. Language.
And people wonder why accusations of racism and ethnocentrism keep surfacing in the immigration debate. It's because of ugly, alarmist and bigoted statements like these -- the sort of poison that has a familiar ring to it.
He called for a crackdown on illegal immigration but also a wholesale tightening of immigration policy so we admit fewer legal immigrants as well.
The radio talker was half-right. Americans must get serious about stopping illegal immigration, mostly by doing something we never seem to do with much enthusiasm: punish employers. But legal immigration shouldn't be dragged into the mix.
Legal immigrants -- with their energy, passion and optimism -- have always been this country's most valuable import. Even in bad economic times, we need more of them and not less.
Still, the worst part was the wildly inappropriate language the host used to justify his position. He was dangerously out-of-bounds in framing the issue as one of protecting society from the latest wave of immigrants, most of whom come from Mexico and Latin America. Unless something was done to curb the flow, he said, these foreigners would continue to "alter our demographics, erode our culture, and threaten our language."
Demographics. Culture. Language.
And people wonder why accusations of racism and ethnocentrism keep surfacing in the immigration debate. It's because of ugly, alarmist and bigoted statements like these -- the sort of poison that has a familiar ring to it.