A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

May 1 marked the nationwide protest dubbed “A Day Without Immigrants“. At the center of the protest is a pending bill in Congress which will criminalize anyone helping illegal immigrants — even those in the charity and members of the clergy. As a show of strength, immigrants decided to call everyone sympathetic to leave work and march. For each person who participated in those rallies, there’s a story of why they came to the US. In LA, where the biggest turn-out was recorded, there’s a million immigrant stories waiting to be told.

Did the Statue of Liberty just walked into the Atlantic?

I would say it’s a huge success. It not only showed how entrenched immigrants are in this country and their contribution to the economy, it also showed that racism is a huge part in the “immigrant debate”. I caught a news report on how the drug-addled brain of conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh commented on his show how the march were late to start because the participants woke up late. Or that how some people would like to call 911 and not have to choose between Spanish and English (nevermind if Spanish — yes along with English — is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world). They’re not even talking about the issue: should it be a felony to help another human being even if he or she is an illegal immigrant? Mostly the rhetoric is how immigrants (not even distinguishing those who are and aren’t here illegally) are not embracing the culture of the US or that they are taking jobs from Americans (whose ancestors probably came on the Mayflower, fleeing England and happening upon…whoops…Native-Americans whose language and culture they did not also share).

Sure I think translating the Star-Spangled Banner to Spanish is pushing it. But the issue at hand is whether to support the bill criminalizing helping illegal immigrants. IMHO, if the bill passes, it doesn’t address the problem of illegal immigrants. If they couldn’t deport the 12M illegals in the US before the bill, how can they enforce that bill once the illegals go further underground?

The immigration issue is of course tied to labor issues, world-trade agreements, poverty, out-sourcing, and education. For all the rhetoric, it’s not a simple cut and dried issue. For now though people who have the means and the inclination should not be punished for helping a fellow human being.

Flickr photos of rallies. Boing Boing coverage of rallies in:
LA, LA 2, Seattle, Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, New York City and
Tampa. Metafilter discussion.