If patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel in 18th century Britain, as writer Samuel Johnson seemed to believe, then the modern-day sanctuary-at least, in contemporary America-is open borders advocacy disguised as anti-racism. An emblematic representative of this tawdry defense mechanism can be found in the form of Darlene Kataan, the spokeswoman for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who finds Senator David Vitter’s use of the completely accurate, purely descriptive term “illegal alien” offensive.
So offensive, in fact, that she resorts to the favorite epithet directed at anyone who believes our southern border should be secured. That’s right, according to Ms. Kataan Senator Vitter’s newest campaign commercial critiquing his Democratic opponent on policy grounds is “racist.”
There are so many aspects of this story that are mind-boggling, not the least of them being Ms. Kataan’s completely false assertion that the majority of illegal aliens are “not Latinos.” If by Latino she means people who come here from Latin American nations, then she’s not only wrong but spectacularly ignorant. Although gathering statistical data about people who are in this country illegally is always a dicey proposition, the folks at the Pew Hispanic Center seem to think most illegal aliens are Mexicans, to the tune of 57 percent! Yes, that means that without even including any Central, South American, or predominantly Spanish-speaking Caribbean nations we already have disproved Ms. Kataan’s rather imperious assertion.
But what should be even more disquieting than her breezy use of the R word-which everyone in the immigration enforcement movement has come to expect by this point-is her clear alliance with foreign nationals-although apparently not those that are blond, blue-eyed, or from Eastern Europe-who break our laws! Though her odd, not very Hispanic-sounding surname might mean she is an alien of some sort, it’s more than likely that she is an American citizen. Yet in the interview above she declares her affiliation not with the Louisianans who were displaced by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and who subsequently were shut out of potentially lucrative reconstruction jobs taken by illegal aliens, nor with Americans who were victimized by some of the criminal aliens described in Ames Holbrook’s fantastic memoir, which outlines his former career as a deportation officer based in New Orleans, but with the interests of Mexican nationals seeking to profit from the opportunities we offer them.
This is the sad state of affairs we’ve arrived at in 2010. Here we have an American citizen disparaging other Americans while extolling the virtues of non-Americans whose first encounter with this country involved breaking the law. It’s not hard to see why Senator Vitter is so popular among the American portion of the electorate.
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