Saturday, June 16, 2007

Canadian immigrants

People who think immigrants are ruining our country and advocate stricter border security often claim that these are not racist or xenophobic concerns. But their focus on our border with Mexico, rather than the much less defended Canadian border, as the place where security needs to be tightened and their descriptions of non-English speaking immigrants as the ones whose lack of assimilation is changing America in undesirable ways seems mighty suspicious. Surely if you were concerned about immigrants not assimilating into America in a non-racist and non-xenophobic way you would be just as concerned about the possibility of an English-speaking Canadian immigrant still being a Canadian in her/his heart, waving the Maple Leaf and celebrating Canadian holidays as you are about Mexican immigrants waving the Mexican flag and celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

Why is no one concerned about America being infilitrated by Canadians? Why isn’t this story getting more media play?

The California Republican Party has decided no American is qualified to take one of its most crucial positions -- state deputy political director -- and has hired a Canadian for the job through a coveted H-1B visa, a program favored by Silicon Valley tech firms that is under fire for displacing skilled American workers.

Christopher Matthews, 35, a Canadian citizen, has worked for the state GOP as a campaign consultant since 2004. But he recently was hired as full-time deputy political director, with responsibility for handling campaign operations and information technology for the country's largest state Republican Party operation, California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring confirmed in a telephone interview this week.

In the nation's most populous state -- which has produced a roster of nationally known veteran political consultants -- "it's insulting but also embarrassing ... to bring people from the outside who don't know the difference between Lodi and Lancaster ... and who can't even vote," said Karen Hanretty, a political commentator and former state GOP party spokeswoman.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are right, the main concern is indeed the Mexican border - because this is where the majority of people are coming across. And the people that are coming across are thumbing their noses at us in the process - and, yes, their arogance is pissing Americans off.

They have no desire to assimilate into our Country (even the discussion of English as a primary language is called racist).

If one is concerned with security, you are correct - control all borders. If one is concerned with 'right' and 'fair' and 'equitable' then you deal with the Mexican border as this is where the issue is the greatest - and where the long-term impact lies.

Dave Barrett said...

Anonymous,
You have no objective evidence that the people crossing the Mexican border are more arrogant than those coming across the Canadian border. You have no objective evidence that those coming across the Mexican border have less desire to assimilate than those crossing the Canadian border. You view the Canadian immigrants as less of a threat and as more desirable only because they look and sound more like you. In the absence of any objective facts supporting your beliefs they must arise from prejudice. The fact that there are a lot of people who agree with you only shows how much racism still exits.

Anonymous said...

Come on Dave, Canadian illegal immigrants are (1) very few and (2) are not holding rallies.

OF COURSE THEY ARE MORE ARROGANT!

Why do liberals throw out the 'racist' term everytime they try to justify a stupid statement?

Dave Barrett said...

anonymous,
How do you know how many illegal immigrants there are from Canada? Don't you really mean that you are not much bothered by illegal immigrants from Canada and therefore they are a small problem compared to problem of illegal Hispanic immigrants, which bother you a lot? This says a lot about you but not very much about objective reality.

So you define arrogant as participating in demonstrations? Are you defining arrogant as meaning behavior that you find annoying? If so, then that means when you call someone arrogant this says very little about about the state of mind and motivations of the people you are labeling but does reveal a lot about you.

I think the readers of these comments will be amused by the difference between whose comments you find "stupid" and which ones they do.