Undocumented immigrants have a lower crime rate than US citizens

Today we celebrate the event in which undocumented immigrants arrived in this land and were welcomed and fed by the native peoples. We all know what the immigrants did next. 

 

I am grateful that today's undocumented immigrants act with more respect toward folks already here than those who arrived 400 years ago.

Hillary Clinton passes the buck

"When I give food to the poor, I'm called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I'm called a communist." -Archbishop Dom Helder Camara.

In an interview with the UK Guardian, Hillary Clinton claims that immigration "lit the flame" of right wing extremism in Europe.

Fascism always rises when the ruling elite is revealed as corrupt and dangerously out of touch.

Yes, sometimes the arrival of immigrants who are fleeing violence or seeking a better life for their families serves as the perfect scapegoat to "light the flame". The Other is always the most popular villain. But it only works if there is kindling to light.

Western Europe is governed mostly by centrists, like Mrs. Clinton herself. Many large countries are run by grand coalitions that cannot or will not make tough decisions for fear of the government falling.

Europe could've found a way to accommodate the migrants in a way that respected international law without undermining national societies. But this coordination required the leadership that Europe's centrist coalitions were lacking.

It's no surprise that as Europe's non-leaders dithered, the far right seized power in places like Poland and Hungary and is rapidly expanding in places like Sweden and Germany. Politics abhors a vacuum.

And that's how the far right seized power in the US. The ruling elite was revealed as corrupt and out of touch and a charismatic demagogue filled the void. Who was the standard bearer of the ruling class when this happened? Centrist Hillary Clinton.

Much of what African migrants are fleeing to Europe about are economic morasses and wars created or exacerbated in large part by European neo-colonialism. Just like much of what migrants are fleeing from in Mexico and Central America are similar collapses caused by American neo-colonialism... including those helped by Barack Obama's first secretary of state.

Hillary Clinton giving a nod to xenophobia is really just her making excuses for her own role in the rise of the US far right. The fascists needed a shady, out of touch ruling class member to vilify and the DNC obliged them. Hillary Clinton was hardly unique in that but just happened to be in that role at the wrong time. But it does make her supremely unqualified to lecture others about how to combat right wing extremism.

Border Patrol: worse than Arizona

The state of Arizona has come under immense criticism for passing a law essentially requiring all citizens and residents to carry proof of citizenship or legal residency with them at all times.

However, this report from North Country Public Radio points out that the Border Patrol is doing very much same thing.


Basically, if you live within 100 miles of the border, you need to carry your passport or green card with you at all times or else risk being detained. Remember that next time you drive to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk.

In many ways, this is worse than the Arizona law. While the controversial situation in the southwest was implemented by the normal legislative process, the Border Patrol did this by nebulous and unaccountable "policy."

Additionally, at least the Arizona law forces authorities to fake some sort of pretext. The Border Patrol can demand proof of citizenship from anyone or search their laptops or whatever for no reason far away from the border.

This story evokes memories of my time living in West Africa, where I needed to carry my documents with me at all times in case I ran into a military checkpoint.

So you think if you're here legally, you have nothing to worry about? Not quite.
Since 90% of all New Yorkers and 2/3 of all Americans live within 100 miles of the border, the 4th Amendment apparently doesn't apply in most of the country.

Periodic Twitter update

Note: This is a series highlighting selected stories from the Twitter feeds for my blogs Musings of a (Fairly) Young Contrarian and Black Star Journal. The Twitter feed contains not only links to original pieces from my blogs but also links ("re-tweets") to diverse stories from other media outlets. 103 people presently get their updates this way. Those interested are encouraged to subscribe the Twitter feed to get all stories by going to Twitter.com/mofycbsj and clicking 'follow'.

-Boaters, don't pollute lakes and rivers (NYS DEC)

-Amnesty: Powerful Governments 'Stand Above the Law' on Human Rights (VOA Africa)

-The opposition is the restraining force on government. Obama in power means we must look to the GOP to restrain militarism... (Wikileaks)

-Green Party Nominates Clark and Lawrence for US Senate and 2010 Candidates of Green Party NY (GPNY)

-Guinea headed for free election, analysts say (AP)

-Sexual violence against men (Forced Migration Online)

-What a 'Peace Corps' of Africans Is Doing for Cajuns and Creoles (Wall Street Journal)

-Six myths about immigration that just won't die (Alternet)

-Children working on farms at younger ages, report says (PBS Need to Know)

-Despite Legislation, Misleading RNC ‘Census’ Mailers Continue (Pro Publica)

Hispanics cause shortage of ESL teachers

In the highly charged debate over immigration, one of the common refrains is that someone is going to come live in this country, they should learn English.

Strictly speaking, I agree with this sentiment.

When I lived in two French-speaking countries, I knew some French before I got there but was constantly trying to figure out how to speak and write it better. It would be awful presumptuous of me to move to Costa Rica or Austria or Japan and not bother to learn how to speak Spanish, German or Japanese and just expect them to speak English. I don't feel comfortable even being a temporary tourist in a country where I don't speak the language at all.

I think when you're in another culture, you ought to respect the prevailing norms of that culture as much as possible, including language. Many Americans don't do this when they travel abroad, which is how the 'ugly American' stereotype has become so prevalent. But it's something we should do when we're abroad and something others should do while they're here. It's simply a question of courtesy and respect.

Diversity's extremely important and I'd never argue that immigrants should give up their mother tongue. My grandparents and great-grandparents certainly never stopped speaking Italian at home or other family gatherings. Quite the opposite, I think more Americans should learn foreign languages. But especially in a diverse country like ours, there needs to be a few common reference points.

Nevertheless, what bothers me about the common refrain I talked about above is that it's premised on the assumption that most immigrants are lazy and have no desire to learn English.

I know many immigrants, predominantly colleagues from Latin America. And while some speak English better than others, they all speak some and the ones that don't speak it that well want to get better at it. I have no reason to think my acquaintances are unique.

Since most Americans are unfortunately unilingual, they have no clue about the process of learning a foreign language, especially as an adult. You can't just snap your fingers. listen to a few cassette tapes and become fluent in a language. It takes time. A lot of time. It takes time when you're doing nothing but studying that language. It takes longer when you can only study the language interimittently because you're laboring for 12 hours a day milking cows..

(Incidentally, if you call someone a leech when they're busting their butt as a dairy farm laborer, you have absolutely no clue hard this job is)

So I was interested to listen to this story from North Country Public Radio which talked about the desperate shortage of English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers.

The skyrocketing demand for ESL programs in the North Country is particularly noteworthy given the significant increase in recent years of Latin Americans working on the dairy farms of northern New York.

Maybe the Hispanic immigrants to this country are little less lazy than popular stereotypes give them credit for.