The Face of Anti-Immigration

One of the many amusements about writing on immigration politics is that any time you use the phrase "anti-illegal-immigration," people will immediately accuse you of accusing them of being "anti-immigrant." (They will also spasmodically defend themselves against non-existent charges of racism.) It is true, as they point out, that some anti-illegal-immigration activists are not anti-immigrant. And it is also true that some of the close-the-borders crowd -- including some of its leaders -- are. The following are excerpts from an Insight interview with anti-immigration hero Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), published today by FrontPageMagazine.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing their jobs to immigrants, both legal and illegal […]

The vast majority of immigrants are low-skill, low-wage earners, and are a drain on this nation […]

We are creating linguistic ghettos where millions of immigrants speak no English while replicating living standards such as those found in Haiti, Calcutta and poor nations […]

Insight reports: "He likewise is concerned about the number of people - between 6 million and 10 million - in the United States with dual citizenship. What does this mean for America's sovereignty and the future of the country?" What, indeed? Perhaps that we are confident enough in our "sovereignty" to allow children of bi-national couples to keep two passports? At one point in the interview, when Tancredo was talking about the Mexican government being happy that there were Mexico-friendly immigrants in the country, Insight jumped in:

Q: That sounds very much like a Fifth Column.

A: Yes!

To sum up: Tancredo considers legal immigrants a "drain on this nation," slanders their neighborhoods with inaccurate comparisons to Third World hellholes, and suggests that millions of those with American citizenship might well be active traitors. Not only is this anti-immigrant, it's hysterical.