Geraldo To Chertoff: No Mas Immigration Raids!

May 28, 2008 · Filed Under Immigration, Opinion, Uncategorized

Geraldo Rivera wrote a slightly shrill piece for the Huffington Post calling on Homeland Security Chief, Michael Chertoff, to stop ordering immigration raids.

Geraldo refers to the estimated 12 million undocumented workers as “technically illegal” and calls raids by law enforcement as more appropriate for targeting Al-Qaeda than illegal immigrants.

He repeats a now discredited claim that during a raid in early March of 2007 in Massachusetts, “nursing mothers” were separated from their children.

At the time of the raid, liberal news organizations wrote hysterical stories claiming that nursing babies were torn from their mother’s teet and shipped back to Mexico.

Those claims were later discredited after an investigation and I’m almost certain Geraldo is aware of that.

Probably the most sensational charge in the piece is when Geraldo states that any latino who votes against “rational immigration reform” is an “Uncle Tom.”

I have previously written in His Panic, Why Americans Fear Hispanics in the U.S. that, “any Latino who votes for a Republican or a Democrat who opposes rational immigration reform is an Uncle Tom.”

It’s easy to give Geraldo grief about his immigration views, but I too am generally sympathetic to the illegal immigrants. If it weren’t for the terrorism issue, I really wouldn’t care about the illegal immigration thing. It’s not the thousands of Mexicans that pour over the border at will that really bother me. It’s the one Middle Eastern terrorist piggy-backing into the U.S. along with the thousands of Mexicans that worries me.

That hasn’t happened yet that we know of, but can you think of a better way for terrorists to enter the U.S.? I also agree with Geraldo that racism is playing a part in the immigration debate. That is certainly not anywhere near the main reason, but there’s definitely a small percentage of people who just don’t like Mexicans.

All that said, if we are a nation of laws then we should enforce those laws. If we as a country decide that we really don’t care about securing the border, then we should change the laws. No other country on earth allows people to just enter unannounced through the back door.

I believe the now defunct “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” package that President Bush and John McCain supported was the right idea.

Geraldo is dead wrong about the immigration raids. ICE has a responsibility to enforce Federal immigration laws, and they should continue to do so.

-Chris Jones