Contemptible Nativist Video Agitation Against Legal Immigration by FAIR

It's not enough that Republican presidential hopefuls are peddling fantasies about making things so bad in the United States that illegal immigrants will "self-deport." Now the anti-immigration and population control advocacy group Federation for American Immigration Reform is running a disturbing new video spot that targets legal immigration. See below.

This is classic us-against-them fearmongering and an appeal to basest of tribal instincts. See Reason's October 2008 issue for several insightful articles on the manifold horrors of our immigration bureaucracy. Go here for a list of Reason's extensive coverage of the insanity of our immigration laws.

Comments

[Brandybuck]

The invaders will wipe out your culture. Just ask the Picts and the Celts.

[fried wylie]

what culture?

[Monty Crisco]

Hot dogs, pizza, cornbread, football, baseball, basketball, guns in every fucking household, and HAMBURGERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

America! FUCK YEAH!!

[fried wylie]

cornbread?

[wef]

Who is underwriting FAIR? What rent-sucking interest groups might benefit from agitating thus? It is difficult to believe that Republican presidential hopefuls would gain much from this, but who knows?

[Cthorm]

The UAW? SEIU?

[Gojira]

There's nary a stranger "baptist and bootlegger" coalition than xenophobic conservatives and old-time labor union dems desperate to limit competition.

[juris imprudent]

FAIR: we must protect our white women.

[Playa Manhattan]

If this was in CA, it would be obviously directed at hispanic immigrants, but who are they targeting in Ohio? Canadians?

[kilroy]

Beaners took our union jerbs!

[d]

Ever been to Ohio? There's more than just corn...er...well, that's Indiana's schtik, but you catch my drift.

There are a ton of Somalis in Columbus (second only to Minneapolis, I think), plenty of Hispanics, etc. Not as many 'ferners' as CA, mind you, but still plenty for the redneck union pipe fitters and carpenters to get all riled up about.

[Former Ohioan]

Indians and Pakistanis - and yes, some Mexicans too.

[11bravo]

With 20 million illegals; 90% mexican, there are plenty to go around.
Legal is legal is LEGAL!

[Realist]

What is the point of more immigration??? We have a shit pot of useless assholes doing nothing now....some write for Reason.

[HeroicMulatto]

I'd be willing to trade you for a Chinese/Indian engineering prodigy/entrepreneur.

[pmains]

Oh no! Realist can't imagine what good use immigrants can be put to! Well, I guess everybody better just stay home until Realist can give them detailed marching orders which serve his vision of the common good.

[Realist]

You didn't answer my question....but no surprise.

[Sean Healy]

Yeah, we have enough people. Stop having babies everyone. Economic growth has nothing - NOTHING! - to do with, er, growth.

[Cthorm]

The pretty face costume isn't doing anything for The Butcher. The Butcher has so much more credibility wielding a meat cleaver while looking like Daniel Day Lewis. They should really consider getting Daniel Day Lewis as a spokesman.

[Just Dropping By]

But I've been repeatedly assured by commenters here and on various other sites that nobody has any problems with legal immigration and that they're purely concerned with hypertechnical observation of legal formalities!

[Untermensch]

??? I seriously doubt it that anyone here has told you that "nobody" has problems with legal immigration.

[Just Dropping By]

F***ing hyperbole, how does it work?

[Janloc]

Yeah, they always start slim until the get people riled up, then they drop a word or two or three. Just like the repubs were all about dismantling PUBLIC unions, now it is ANY union. Funny how that happens.

[kinnath]

The bottom line is that native-born Americans are not producing enough worker-bees to fund my retirement. So we're going to need to start importing young workers to pay payroll taxes so that I can retire before I am 80.

[Michael Hamilton]

New might be misleading.

[Monty Crisco]

This is LITERALLY the stupidest argument I have ever heard on an economic level. This is stupider than arguments for the minimum wage...

[MikeP]

This video may be "contemptible" and "disturbing", but it is not at all surprising. It is, after all, the First Principle of FAIR's notion of True Comprehensive Immigration Reform:

First Principle: Cut the Numbers

Any level of illegal immigration is unacceptable, and current legal immigrant admissions of about one million persons each year are entirely too many.
Any measure that increases either illegal or legal immigration violates this principle. Immigration is a discretionary public policy. Its primary purpose, since our founding, is to advance the interests and security of the nation.

[MikeP]

Of course, their About page is replete with their philosophy of slowing legal immigration. But I did find it interesting what their criteria for immigrant selection are:

that three criteria should guide selection of immigrants: (1) our fair share of refugees, with ultimate resettlement a key part of the program (2) our national manpower policy, and (3) concerns for reunification of nuclear families;

that the United States should not contribute to a brain drain that entices away the skilled and talented who are desperately needed in their homelands; we should meet our need for skilled professionals by training and retraining our own;

They are the extreme of the extreme, not even considering skilled immigrants helpful to the US.

[????? ??????]

Thanks