Irving police are dealing with two opposing protest groups, planning to stage rallies Saturday, at almost the same time. The two competing sides will come face-to-face at Irving City Hall.
The city plaza is expected to be packed with people who have opposing views on illegal immigration.
Hah hah! There's no "plaza" in Irving! There's a grassy sward on one side of city hall and a parking lot on the other! If these rallies draw a few thousand people, there's going to be some seriously trampled grass tomorrow!
To be completely serious, I really hate that this is happening in Irving. For a long time, this has been a pleasnt city, despite the fact that the old fuddy-duddies insist on people not being able to buy alcohol in Irving even though they all drink. But I blame most of this friction on people who resent the "Mexicanization" of their city. You wait two generations and all that'll be left of the Mexico-town is a couple of restaurants and a mural. But no, they can't wait. We can't assimilate this culture like we have every other! They're a threat to our way of life! We have to get rid of them and get rid of them now!
I think it's stupid when people say, "I blame both sides" and proceed to tell you why they're on some higher ground where they don't have take a stance and risk being called wrong (or worse) by one side or the other. However, to be sure, there is some blame to go around on both sides. Originally this whole issue was simply whether or not Irving was targeting Hispanics (which would be wrong, unethical, and illegal). However, the Hispanic advocates seem to have lost their focus on that issue and have let this become a referendum on illegal immigration. Carlos Quintanilla said that he has a problem with them deporting non-violent offenders as well as violent offenders. But the law is the law; they're all illegal. There's nothing that's really improper about all of them getting deported. What might be improper is why they got arrested in the first place. But instead of focusing on that, here we are with people protesting each other over the status of illegal immigrants. And why do these people come out of the woodwork to protest illegals when this issue isn't about illegals but rather simply the possibility of discriminatory enforcement?
I'm not Hispanic, but I do know some Hispanic people in the city and they're scared and uncomfortable. That means that the city is failing to do its job. And it's not the job of the city to enforce immigration law. That's so unimportant I don't know why the city hasn't already compromised by saying that they'll only subject violent criminals to immigration screening. Why not compromise and let this whole thing blow away? It's only going to hurt the city, whether the immigration screening program comes through intact or whether it's halted.
1 comment:
Oh boy...that should get some good press.
I'm really irritated that national Hispanic organizations are not picking up this story more effectively. There are many people in Irving who would support this effort-and the under-handed efforts that we've illustrated on this blog-but there are just as many who are against them, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, and I don't feel like they're really running with the story yet.
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