Yet another horrific shipwreck has occurred off the coast of the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, which has become ground zero in the ongoing invasion of Europe by refugees from North Africa and the Middle East. You can view the harrowing rescue of some survivors here. The human tragedy-experienced both by the foreigners surging over the periphery of Europe and the inhabitants of the European islands which are involuntarily hosting them-is magnified by shortsighted foreign policies pursued by Western nations, including the United States, which have devastated countries like Libya and Syria, the source of many of the migrants seeking, and being granted, sanctuary.  

You don’t have to be an open borders dogmatist, or want to turn the developed world into a gigantic hostel for third world immigrants, to be anguished by the tableaux from southern Europe we’ve been witness to over the past few days. Horror, as well as disgust, are natural reactions to such abhorrent circumstances. Whether this most recent tragedy leads countries like the U.S. and United Kingdom to reexamine their invade the world, invite the world policies, or a nasty African dictatorship to reconsider its views on military conscription, i.e. slavery, remains to be seen. Regardless of what broader impact these latest deaths have, they should at the very least serve to illustrate the magnitude of the problem faced by Europe, and by extension, America.

The Camp of the Saints is no longer a dystopian fantasy, but an uncomfortable reality.

The breadth of support enjoyed by BALA in its March for Jobs and equitable treatment of American workers can be seen in the lengths to which so many patriotic citizens traveled in order to attend this rally. From South Central  Los Angeles to the tip of New England, angry Americans of divergent ideologies and different races joined hands in order to stand up for the besieged workers of this nation.

One group represented was the indefatigable New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement, whose members can be seen marching towards Freedom Plaza in the photo above. Joanna Marzullo, President of NY ICE, gives her impression of the rally below the fold.

July 15, 2013, Washington, DC.  NY ICE Members joined national groups and individuals opposed to amnesty for those illegally in the U.S. at the DC March for Jobs.  This video and these photos are from the event.  The video is 2 minutes long and very inspiring and worthwhile.  

Particularly noteworthy in the video is Steve King’s statement, when referring to the extreme heat on that day, that “I think it’s altogether fitting and proper that we should sweat here today as we stand up for the American worker”.

The emphasis of this march was on the detriment of the illegal alien stampede to the American worker, and it was organized by black Americans. Black Americans were there to say that illegals undercut the wages of jobs that have often employed the black American worker, stealing jobs from the black American worker and their families.

But illegals only want to frame their story in terms of their families, and never mention the harm the net drain of their illegal alien presence does the black American (or any other American!) family.  They never concede that the U.S. is supposed to be a sovereign country.

NY ICE has long maintained that there are no jobs that Americans won’t do, only wages that Americans will not work for.  When illegal aliens trespass into the U.S. and illegally obtain jobs (let us not forget that it is illegal for an illegal alien trespasser to even have a job, as well as it is illegal for the employer to hire them), they undercut the wages for those jobs.  Illegals are often working in the cash economy, so employers can often pay them whatever they want, and this, of course, is unreported and untaxed income.  

This is an amenable situation for the illegal alien because they are often sending the money back to their home countries, where the American dollar goes further, and many plan to “live like kings” upon their return.  

Illegal alien trespassers have no sympathy for the American and legal immigrant families that they are undercutting and the U.S. resources that they are draining.

Americans owe illegal aliens nothing.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think Marco Rubio has any ideological qualms about further enfeebling the Republican Party. In fact, some have suggested a change of enrollment and independent candidacy-like his old friend Charlie Crist-lie in his future. Even if he remains in the GOP, opposition to Rubio will maintain its intensity; the notion that this man has enough public credibility to retain the support of  genuine conservatives, let alone launch a plausible presidential candidacy, strains credulity. The fact that his press flack-who, along with Cesar Conda, is a full-fledged member of the treason lobby-regurgitates the same specious arguments on behalf of expanding the supply of cheap, foreign labor, merely serves to illustrate how far removed Senator Rubio is from the concerns and struggles of attentive, patriotic Americans.

Kudos to Ann Coulter for calling out the Chuck Schumer Republicans who are selling us up the river, as well as their unofficial spokesmen working under the auspices of the Fox News Channel. The veil has been ripped off, and the potentially catastrophic consequences of this bill-should it be enacted into law-revealed. This is not the time to indulge Potemkin conservatives or the  insipid pablum their handlers ask them to repeat.

Just say no!

One of the few bright spots in the recent immigration debate-such as it is- has been Senator Ted Cruz, of Texas. Unlike the spineless Republican leadership-which has been shepherding the Gang of Eight scheme through the Senate-he has resolutely stood against any attempt at legalizing the 10-20 million illegal aliens granted amnesty under the terms of this bill.

Tomorrow afternoon he’ll be traveling to New York City and will most likely be greeted by an antagonistic open borders mob. NY ICE, on the other hand, is planning to stage a show of support for one of the few members of the U.S. Senate worth more than a bucket of warm spit. You can find details explaining how to join them below.

Hi NY ICers,

The report-backs from today’s counter protest are trickling in, and I will post them on NY ICE’s website here when I get them all, but,  from the initial report-backs, it sounds like a handful of NY ICers made a very successful counter protest of the D.R.E.A.M. amnesty that shook things up!

NY ICE will be having another counter protest tommorow, which is Wednesday, May 29th.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who has been on our side, will be in NYC tomorrow, and the other side is planning on protesting his appearance.

Here are the details:

WHAT:  NY ICE Counter Protest of amnesty-Seekers who are protesting Senator Ted Cruz’s appearance in NYC

When: Tomorrow (Wednesday) May 29, 2013, at 5:30 PM

Where: Grand Hyatt Hotel, 109 East 42 St., between Lexington and Vanderbilt

As always, bring cameras and signs, which should be simple and bold-faced. Signs specific to supporting Senator Ted Cruz are encourage. For example, “Thank you, Ted Cruz, for defending U.S. Sovereignty. 

Contact: Joanna Marzullo at progressrose@yahoo to let her know you are coming. 

P.S. Those of you living or working in the D.C./Metro Area might be interested in listening to a genuinely bipartisan discussion of immigration reform, which is slated to take place tomorrow morning at the Bipartisan Policy Center. You can find details about how to attend on their website. 

It’s not being done by our captive press corps, which continues to manipulate and distort in order to achieve its preferred legislative outcomes. And it’s not being done by the craven members of Congress, who are quietly looking to eviscerate E-Verify even as they reward illegal aliens with benefits above and beyond what they’ve already received from the unconstitutional and very likely illegal memorandum known as DACA. That’s why we should be thankful that there are still members of the United States Senate like Jeff Sessions, who has meticulously exposed perhaps the single worst aspect of the current amnesty proposal. Namely, the way in which it will drastically expand chain migration.

The critical response of Senator Sessions to the markup of this bill is worth watching because it’s a foretaste of what’s to come if the Gang of Eight has its way. Let’s ensure that does not happen.

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One of the most frustrating aspects of the debate over illegal immigration is the inescapable sense that we’re watching the performance of an ever-recurring, yet interminable and tedious, play. The proponents of amnesty regurgitate a series of formulaic talking points that we’ve become inured to, beginning with the specious assertion that “we’re not going to deport 11 people,” and usually concluding with the declaration that we need to grant all of these illegal aliens American citizenship. Opponents feel compelled to respond with well-reasoned, amply documented rebuttals that are blithely dismissed by open borders advocates, if they’re considered at all.

Mark Krikorian has noted the groundhog day-like quality to these discussions, and Mickey Kaus has explored on more than one occasion the intellectual incoherence-or insincerity-of amnesty advocates who purportedly believe that we should begin enforcing immigration laws after the latest batch of illegal aliens is legalized and enfranchised. It worked swimmingly the last time it was tried, if I’m not mistaken.

Our good friend Anthony Bialy has a fantastic piece which explains once again why an old, bad idea remains a bad idea, even repackaged. I highly recommend reading it in its entirety.

h/t Anthony Bialy.

One of the themes we’ve tried to impress upon our audience over the past three years is the multidimensional nature of immigration. It’s not simply a single issue among a panoply of issues that animate the cut and thrust of politics. It encompasses everything from economics to culture, including crime, education, health care, terrorism, and the budget-as the states which are buckling under the costs of caring for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens and immigrants can attest to-as well as first principles.

Who are we as a country? For what purpose(s) does our government exist? Who decides what immigrants become Americans? Should we discard or modify our principles in order to adapt to the mores and culture of newcomers, or should they adapt to American values as a precondition of settlement? These are some of the questions addressed by our friend Michael Cutler in a fantastic speech to the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition earlier this month. I urge you to listen to it in its entirety.

With the resignation of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, it’s instructive to take a brief look over the Obama administration’s  labor policy priorities these past four years. Although the prime objectives of organized labor, such as the enactment of card check legislation, never saw the light of day during President Obama’s first term, labor unions did achieve some significant administrative victories. What’s more, the battle over labor regulations and law-both executive and legislative-was a focal point of national political discussion leading up to the 2012 presidential election.

What did not attract as much notice, unfortunately, was the systemic dismantling of immigration enforcement, especially during the last two years of Barack Obama’s first term, which arguably will have a significant impact upon the American economy in the years ahead. Even though I continue to believe that the negative consequences of mass immigration-especially of the largely unskilled sort we’ve seen since the 1965 Immigration Act-can’t be reduced to mere economic concerns, the cumulative cost of this wave includes a significant economic impact.

In addition to taxing already overburdened social welfare programs-to say nothing of the public education, criminal justice and health care distribution systems-the hundreds of thousands of low skilled immigrants we accept every year often displace the most economically insecure Americans, including some of the President’s most reliable political supporters.

Barack Obama’s immigration and labor policies seem designed to exacerbate the latter problem, a view confirmed by looking at recent job gains, which seem to have accrued solely to the benefit of immigrant workers. The tenure of Secretary Solis dovetailed nicely with this agenda, which included international agreements protecting the labor rights of illegal aliens from Latin American nations. While ensuring that workers are paid a wage rate consonant with the laws of the land is an admirable stance, one wonders why this administration did not deem it worthy of its ambition to deport these  workers, who-like their employers-are breaking the law.

It’s not as if these individuals are unknown to federal immigration officials. After all, Solis visited illegal day laborers in this very borough in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. However, holding illegal aliens accountable for their actions seems to be inimical to the political needs of the President and his political machine, which has expanded the vast administrative amnesty that has existed for the past two years to encompass everyone he or Janet Napolitano deems to be non-threatening, including virtually everyone who can feign interest in being a student and those who’ve committed multiple misdemeanors, i.e. criminals.

Like the highly politicized distribution of economic stimulus funds, this administration’s labor and immigration policies are not designed with the interests of Americans in mind so much as the best results for itself and its political and financial benefactors. Although Hilda Solis set a pretty low bar to clear, if past is prologue don’t expect her successor to be much of an improvement.

One of the themes we’ve emphasized on American Rattlesnake this year is the damage inflicted upon American society by ill-conceived policies of refugee resettlement carried out by the federal government. Unlike past generations of refugees who came here from nations behind the Iron Curtain, Cuba, or other Communist states, the ones transplanted to the United States now are not educated, white collar elites or aspiring middle class professionals who have been dispossessed of their property and wealth by tyrannical despots. Unlike the much-maligned Polish plumbers who have migrated to the United Kingdom in order to increase their earnings before returning home, they are also not temporary visitors. To the contrary, many of them have little-and some have no-formal education, and thus are encouraged to exploit our generous welfare programs by self-interested parties known as VOLAGs. Like the Kurdish refugees in Tennessee described by Don Barnett in his speech to the Penn Club earlier this year, immigrants from Somalia have had extreme difficulty adapting to life in the United States. Although some have prospered and contributed to the enrichment of American culture, more often than not we associate them with undesirable activities such as inspiring or carrying out suicide bomb attacks against their native countrymen.

Although that horrific act is anomalous, it is by no means unique. As the testimony of Abdirizak Bihi before the House of Representatives made clear, the divided identity experienced by many Somali Americans serves as a fertile recruiting ground for pan-Islamic jihadist organizations like Al Qaeda and its affiliates. What’s more, the much more widespread problems of drug abuse, violence-especially the type linked to organized crime-and welfare exploitation are endemic to large swathes of these communities. The dichotomous nature of this group of refugees and their children is epitomized by Fathia Absie, a freelance writer, journalist, and filmmaker born in Somalia who has lived nearly her entire adult life in the United States.

Although her American experience is the type of success story advocates of mass immigration love to cite on behalf of this country’s questionable refugee resettlement policies, the new lives of her immediate family and distant relatives is of a completely different hue. In fact, their stories are prime illustrations of why the sort of chain migration facilitated by the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act has been such a monumental public policy error. The story of Fathia’s  sister-very similar to that of Haweya, the emotionally disturbed sister of iconoclastic writer, dissident and women’s rights activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose tragic life ended prematurely-is of particular interest, because it illustrates the problem with the prevailing misconception that every refugee will adjust to life in his or her adopted country swimmingly.

I urge you all to listen to this touching story, told during the Moth Radio Hour, which raises a number of troubling questions about the wisdom of this country’s policy of resettling entire families of refugees from strife-ridden, pre-industrial third world nations into the American heartland. My Sister’s Keeper is worth hearing not only because it is a riveting human interest story, but because it demonstrates in a concrete way the problem with assuming that every refugee who arrives on our shores is going to become the model immigrant extolled by advocates of open borders.