Civil Rights and the War on Terror

Immigration reform is a touchy subject. Ever since the topic came up before the midterm elections last year, I’ve wanted to voice an opinion I am very passionate about. Therefore, in honor of the Martin Luther King holiday and how entangled immigration reform has become with civil rights, I see no better time.

For those of you that live in Dallas, you’ll remember the half-million Mexican-Americans that marched on downtown in April of 2006 in the name of civil rights. It was an impressive demonstration, not only for its sheer size (the mass of humanity was unreal) but for the peaceful message it was trying to portray in a Cesar Chavez fashion – the right of the immigrant worker.

Most of you know that I’m a Republican through and through. Most of my beliefs connect with Republican ideals. On foreign policy I’m as hawkish as the next conservative Republican, but when it comes to a handful of domestic issues, I have found myself very much a moderate (a surprise to some of you, I’m sure). For example, I believe in a woman’s right to choose and I would like to see stem-cell research go forward.

Immigration reform is no exception.

Immigration was the topic one day last week on Sean Hannity’s radio show (which is what finally brought me to write about this subject almost a year after the civil rights marches of last year). The discussion was centered on illegal immigration through our southern boarder and how porous it can be. Hannity discussed the national security risk it posses, which is true, but the majority of these people are Latin American (11 million plus to put a number on it last I heard). He even went as far as to use the War on Terror as an excuse to expel our country of all illegal immigrants (which to use the war as cover for deportation made me extremely upset).

Now, let me be frank for a moment. The purpose of this blog is to point out that not all illegal immigrants are terrorists, especially in the southern boarder’s case. About 75% of all illegal immigrants in this country are Mexican or from Latin America, and to put all them under the umbrella of terrorism as Hannity did is beyond outrageous.

Let me be even more frank. When was the last time a Mexican immigrant flew a plane into an American building? When was the last time a hard working Latino farm or construction worker here in the United States murdered innocent women and children on a bus or train on the way to work in the name of Allah. I hate to say this (and not too sure who to quote, for I’ve heard it from many different pundits), not all Muslims are terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslims. It’s unfortunate, but painfully true. It’s the reality of terrorism.

President Bush’s view on immigration reform (which isn’t very popular with the extreme right of the Republican party) is a plan that can work and a plan that I personally agree with.

In this recent struggle of civil rights, I hope we don’t lose sight of the rights these aspiring American immigrants have. While we need to be self aware of terrorism in this country, we don’t need to have fear or place a label on an immigrant coming here, legal or not. Not every immigrant has an ulterior motive and to use terror as a catch-all for all immigrants is a farce and a slippery slop this country needs to stay away from.

I obviously use Mexican-American families as a point in this blog, but my point applies to all ethnic backgrounds. If we are going to deport any illegal immigrants that are already here, let’s not lump them together and classify them all as enemies of the state. To do so would play on a fear that true terrorist are trying to instill in us and at the same time would isolate us further from the world than what we already are.

Civil rights and liberties are something that we need to keep a constant vigil on to maintain. It’s the price we have to pay in our grand Republic we live in. Once we allow ourselves to use the War on Terror and fear to dictate our freedoms, the vigilance is lost to the present moment which can easily snowball out of control.

ER

Note: The subject of civil rights and the War on Terror obviously transcends and is not localized to the subject of immigration reform. Immigration is just the subject I have chosen.

Update (01-17-06): Interesting development in Terrorist Surveillance Program.