President Bill Clinton once told a joint session of Congress, “Americans … are rightly disturbed by the large number of illegal aliens entering our country. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of immigrants to permit that type of abuse of our immigration laws. Clinton received a standing ovation.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer once said, “When we use phrases like ‘undocumented workers,’ we convey a message to the American people that their government is not serious about combating illegal immigration … people who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens, and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who entered the U.S. legally.” These liberal icons could not have made their positions clearer, yet controlling the border seems to be the last thing on the minds of the left these days.
What changed?
Libertarian Tucker Carlson uses the example of Cesar Chavez to illustrate how far the left has moved on this issue. Rewind to the late 1960s when Cesar Chavez, an itinerant farmworker of Mexican ancestry became an American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers union.
Chavez is a California icon; even his rallying cry “Si, se puede!” (“Yes, we can”) was appropriated by candidate Barack Obama for his campaign in 2008. Chavez’ name appears on six libraries, eleven parks, a half-dozen major roads, dozens of student centers and academic buildings and at least 25 public schools in California.
Chavez understood the problems associated with illegal immigration, from the cost to taxpayers to its detrimental effect on our schools; but most of all he witnessed the negative impact it had on his union’s workers. And in 1969 Chavez gained fame when he led a march down the agricultural spine of California to protest the hiring of illegal alien workers by California’s growers.
His disdain for illegal aliens was legion and often referred to them as wetbacks. There’s no place in civil society for derogatory terms like wetback, but I mention this to illustrate how Chavez was a scathing critic of illegal immigration yet at the same time was lionized by the left.
Recommended Stories For You
In fact, in 2014 President Obama proclaimed Cesar Chavez Day as a U.S Federal Commemorative holiday. But today we see a Democratic Party 180 degrees at odds with Chavez’ position. For evidence, look no further than party leaders who now refer to anyone expressing even a modicum of support for a border wall a racist.
Words carry weight
Clinton and Schumer were fine using the term illegal aliens. Schumer even made a point of illustrating the folly in using the made-up term “undocumented immigrants.”
Words carry meaning and there’s a reason the left no longer uses the legal term “illegal alien.” They would have us believe it’s because the term is dehumanizing — nonsense! Laws are written using specific terms for a reason, and when dealing with legal matters it’s usually wise to use legal language unless, of course, it doesn’t fit one’s political agenda.
The reality is that the term “undocumented immigrant” is a blatant cover to obfuscate the fact that these people have violated U.S. immigration law. And using this made-up term is also the first step towards legitimizing not only their illegal actions, but it’s also a precursor to opening our borders to as much illegal immigration as possible.
Meanwhile, the Pew Research Center found that in the most recent U.S. congressional races last November 69 percent of Latinos voted for the Democratic candidate while 29 percent backed the Republican candidate; a more than two-to-one advantage for Democrats, according to National Election Pool exit poll data.
One has to wonder if those numbers were reversed if Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer would be as opposed to a border wall as they are today?
Quote of the day: “Better to be known as a sinner than a hypocrite.” — Old proverb
Butch Mazzuca, of Edwards, writes biweekly for the Vail Daily. He can be reached at bmazz68@comcast.net.