The other side of illegal immigration

I oppose illegal immigration. I truly do. I dismiss illegal immigration advocates' claims that opponents like me are racists. I believe that an illegal immigrant, whether he or she comes from Canada or Mexico or elsewhere, is committing a crime regardless of his or her race. So I'm just as likely to oppose a Canadian illegal immigrant as I am a Mexican illegal immigrant. I don't oppose immigration itself. Immigrants are great, just come here legally.

Unfortunately, right-wingers are using this debate as a platform for their broader xenophobic views. Curbing immigration in general gets swept under the same banner as curbing illegal immigration. For example, the Federation for American Immigration Reform is against illegal immigration but at the same time also advocates "a temporary moratorium on all immigration except spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and a limited number of refugees." While it has been around for over 25 years, it didn't become well known and didn't come out in the media much until around 2001. Illegal immigration was becoming a hot topic, so why not bring regular immigration into this and campaign against both? It's like killing two birds with one stone. I guess there are really 3 sides you can take on illegal immigration then. Be against both kinds of immigration, be against illegal immigration only, or support all immigration. Organizations like FAIR are gradually erasing the middle group.

The Minuteman Project sounds like a good idea. And their site says they're 25% non-white and 55% women, so the stereotypes aren't entirely true. What bugs me about them is they don't seem to read their "Hate Mail." A section of the website is devoted to "email, articles, and comments sent to The Minuteman Project [that] are filled with loathing for Americans and our culture." The majority of the emails go along these lines: "[EXPLETIVE] YOU [EXPLETIVE]-ING RACISTS!!" But there are some that make valid points, or at least offer good, honest questions that deserve good, honest answers. For example, Linda Christine Darian wrote:

"I would like to know why you do not spend your time stalking the owners of companies that hire the illegal immigrants instead? Why don't you hang outside their offices and call the police on them when they are using illegal workers.
I live in Mexico and your group is just another attempt of trying to show off your American muscle. Why not go after your own people, or would that be un-American? Of course it would be..."

I hope they did reply to this lady. She does go on to call them racists but I don't think this qualifies as hate mail. It doesn't seem like she loathes Americans and American culture. It just seems like she has some questions she would like answered.

Looking over this post, it just looks like a bunch of unrelated thoughts. That's all it is, I suppose. All they have in common is they look at the illegal immigration debate from the other side.