This\u00a0is my recent online exchange with D.A. King, founder of The American Resistance Foundation, a national coalition of citizens actively opposed to illegal immigration.\u00a0 Mr. King spends lots of his own money as he travels and speaks and takes part in rallies and debates all comers.<\/p>\n
George Thomas Clark –\u00a0Don’t you think the Bush administration, and politicians in general, consider it in the interest of the United States to allow significant numbers of undocumented immigrants into the country every year?\u00a0 After all, if the very conservative and defense-minded Republican\u00a0administration considered immigration a grievous\u00a0threat to national security, wouldn’t it station many times more than eleven thousand Border Patrol agents along the border with Mexico?<\/p>\n
D.A. King – I think that the Bush administration sees America as a market place, while most of the American people are still stuck on the concept of a nation of law, with secure borders and a common language.<\/em><\/p>\n Calling the present administration and the GOP “very conservative” is quite a stretch. Calling them defense minded, when we allow what Senator McCain reports to be 10,000 illegal aliens a day to enter our nation, is nonsense.<\/em><\/p>\n They are tied to the campaign donations of the very people that profit from the presence of 20 million illegals.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n The President is in violation of his oath of office because of his unapologetic refusal to secure the borders and enforce the immigration and employment laws. Bill Clinton was impeached for far less.<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – Are you calling for the impeachment of President George W. Bush?<\/em><\/p>\n DAK –\u00a0I think that it must be held as a possibility…no one is above the law, not the illegals who come here, not the employers who hire them and by doing so contribute to our national unemployment, and certainly not the President of the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n Personally, I think Bush smirks at the law the same way, and for the same reasons, that my local landscaper does. The almighty “bottom line.”<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – You said the United States should have the same strict requirements for driver’s licenses as in Mexico. (At least age 18, proof\u00a0applicant can read and write, a current health certificate, proof of residency, pass a written and road test, provide photo ID.)<\/p>\n Are you saying: “Deny driver’s licenses to undocumented workers?”<\/p>\n DAK – Very definitely – yes, I am. <\/em><\/p>\n GTC – It\u2019s in every motorist’s interest to be on the road with qualified drivers.\u00a0 We endanger ourselves by denying people driver’s licenses.\u00a0 Undocumented workers are going to drive.\u00a0 That’s a given.\u00a0 They should be well trained.\u00a0 The paradox of legally certifying a driver who’s here illegally is here noted.\u00a0 This is a road safety issue first. <\/em><\/p>\n DAK – It is in every motorist’s interest to be on the road with qualified drivers; many of the illegals here have never driven on an expressway. So what? It is in every account holder’s interest to be in a safe banking environment…but there is no movement to license robbers. Their point is, we cannot look at the problem of allowing continued illegal immigration with the question of how to make life easier for them.<\/em><\/p>\n The driver’s license in our country is the de facto national ID…like it or not. You mentioned Mexico’s law [one that is enforced] that governs their driver’s license. I think we should be at least as secure as that nation.<\/em><\/p>\n You may get an argument from Al Qaida.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n GTC – Rather than offering a regular driver’s license, there could be a different license for foreign residents and workers.\u00a0 We’re not only trying to “make life easier for them.”\u00a0 We’re trying to make life safer for ourselves.\u00a0 Furthermore, it doesn’t matter if someone has driven on an “expressway” in his country; if he drives in this country, he’ll certainly be on the freeway.\u00a0 And the less training he has, the faster he’s likely to drive.<\/em><\/p>\n DAK \u2013\u00a0No.\u00a0 Giving them a “certificate” of driving has been tried…it is a baby step to a normal driver’s license. Tennessee tried it.\u00a0 Before the “certificate” law even went into effect after being signed, the illegal alien lobby\u00a0[LA RAZA] was in court howling “discrimination.”<\/em><\/p>\n Make life safer for Americans by enforcing the law and deporting the illegals. Why is that such a difficult remedy to comprehend?<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – It’s a remedy the citizens of this nation are not sufficiently motivated to\u00a0force through.\u00a0 The reason: despite occasional groans, there is a general understanding that “illegals” are providing services we need.\u00a0 Let’s move on.<\/p>\n One of the several articles that you sent me, via links, is called “Illegal Aliens and American Medicine.”\u00a0 In this article it is stated that many hospitals have closed because of illegals and a long list of diseases – including TB, Chagas disease, leprosy, dengue fever, polio, and malaria – are being brought in.<\/p>\n For 14 years\u00a0I’ve had close daily contact\u00a0with these supposedly disease-ridden people, and I’m never sick.\u00a0 And\u00a0most of my many teaching colleagues are also rarely sick.\u00a0 I think health dangers are being exaggerated, and that race is one of the reasons.<\/p>\n DAK –\u00a0Race has nothing to do with it.\u00a0 Is there a race that is immune to the diseases you list?\u00a0 Usually I find that when there is no basis for rational reaction to the concept that we should secure our borders and enforce our laws, the loser of the argument will interject…race.<\/em><\/p>\n Ending 2 years ago, I smoked more than a pack of Marlboro lights every day…for 30 years. I do not have lung cancer. Many others who smoke do. I fail to see the useful logic in your question as it is framed…are you disputing that uninspected illegal aliens from the third world\u00a0bring in diseases formerly conquered in our nation?<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – No, I simply cited my real life experiences and those of many people I know and work with.\u00a0\u00a0I’m not disputing that uninspected aliens “could” be dangerous.\u00a0 That’s another reason why the “legal” number of temporary workers should be increased: so they can be inspected and monitored and won’t have to hide.<\/em><\/p>\n And let’s concede that\u00a0race isn’t an issue with you, but I guarantee it’s an issue with many who are most vocal about sealing the border.\u00a0 I’ve recently received mail from people asserting, “They don’t have our ways… They could never learn our ways… They only want to take…\u00a0 They only want to\u00a0live the lives they’ve always lived… They want to establish a Little Mexico… They are trying to overpopulate the Southwest by excessively high birth rates… Don’t drag this country down to the level of Mexico.”<\/em><\/p>\n I haven’t lost an argument; I’ve proved that race is as relevant as I’d contended.\u00a0 Regarding the drivel from letter writers above,\u00a0I am personally assuring you that Mexican immigrants are very interested in\u00a0adopting many of\u00a0our ways.\u00a0 That’s why they came here.\u00a0 They not only work hard here, they go to movies, eat at McDonald’s, shop at the malls, listen to American music as well as their own, and their kids grow up to be football, basketball, and baseball fans.\u00a0 They become as American as you or I.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n They don’t want to cling to a so called Little Mexico style of life.\u00a0 On the contrary, they want to be – and are becoming – part of the great American middle class.\u00a0 Immigrants have always worked to improve themselves, and they’ve always succeeded.<\/p>\n DAK –\u00a0Again…we are talking about illegal immigration.\u00a0 You again try to label them as immigrants as if they came here according to the rules. They did not.<\/em><\/p>\n As far as them assimilating…have you been to Los Angeles or Gwinnet County Georgia recently? Your statement of fact that they want to be American is disputed by Hector Flores, who is the head of LULAC…his words: we refuse to give up our language or our culture.\u00a0 Sounds like the “nation within a nation” that the militant Latino separatists preach to me.\u00a0 I give you Angel Gutierrez [if it comes to it, we must kill the gringo]…Mario Obledo [If they don’t like California becoming a Hispanic state….they should go back to Europe.”\u00a0\u00a0 Racism anyone?\u00a0 See\u00a0our “Race Industry” page for audio of this and more.<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – I’ve been to Los Angeles a few hundred times, and that includes numerous trips in recent years.\u00a0 Let me guarantee you that the Los Angeles area has the largest English as a Second Language program for adults in the world.\u00a0 Countless Spanish speakers – in fact speakers of every language in the world – are clamoring to get into schools.\u00a0 They want to learn English.\u00a0\u00a0I teach ESL for adults not far from Los Angeles.\u00a0 I know the people from Mexico as well as from countries around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n I don’t care what a handful of self-serving pseudo-political leaders say.\u00a0 People from foreign lands unequivocally do want to learn English.\u00a0 When Hector Lopez says, “We refuse to give up our language (and) our culture,” he doesn’t mean people aren’t going to\u00a0become part of this country’s society.\u00a0 They came here to be part of the American Dream,\u00a0and they know they will not be able to earn a good living until they learn English.\u00a0 Historically, looking at many Europeans\u00a0and Asians who’ve come here,\u00a0the first generation, arriving as adults, does often have trouble becoming fully assimilated.\u00a0 But the second generation – their children – is thoroughly American.<\/p>\n Militant bigmouths\u00a0do not represent the aspirations of anyone but themselves.\u00a0 I don’t know who Angel Gutierrez is, and I don’t care.\u00a0 If he kills a gringo or anyone else, his ass is going to jail.\u00a0 Period.<\/p>\n I’ve already\u00a0listened to the audio of your “Race Industry” page.\u00a0 Excluding\u00a0a\u00a0few\u00a0loudmouths, I heard duly elected\u00a0Latino politicians giving partisan speeches to their core constituents.\u00a0\u00a0That’s politics in a democracy.<\/p>\n If you really fear an uprising, rest easy.\u00a0 It ain’t gonna happen.<\/p>\n I\u2019’d like to talk about Bear Stearns.\u00a0 This investment firm\u00a0published a magnum opus called “The Underground Labor Force Is Rising to the Surface.”\u00a0 Though this article was designed to make underground labor sound bad, it often did the opposite.<\/p>\n Twelve to 15 million illegals are working.\u00a0 That certainly means they aren’t loafing and gobbling up welfare benefits.\u00a0 They are in fact invigorating the powerful U.S. economy.\u00a0 Cheap labor is an asset that the political and economic powers of this country crave.<\/p>\n DAK – There is no such thing as cheap labor…it is taxpayer subsidized labor…and in a nation of law, all crime is “bad”…Or do you have other “good crimes”? (Also,) if you read the Bear Stearns and Cosman’s\u00a0reports and somehow derived that illegal labor is good for America…we need to agree to disagree. The tax gap [30 billion a year]\u00a0to the IRS alone that is outlined in the Bear Steans study ends that irrational point. Come on.<\/em><\/p>\n GTC –\u00a0W<\/em>hen talking about “crime,” it’s time to be realistic and acknowledge there is a de facto legalization of roughly the current level of undocumented immigration.\u00a0 You can technically call it a crime, but the United States government really doesn’t perceive it as\u00a0a crime.\u00a0 Many people support this influx, and many who\u00a0say they don’t are only theoretically opposed.<\/p>\n Financially,\u00a0it is certainly rational to assert that “illegal labor is good for America.”\u00a0 Those performing that labor spend billions of dollars every\u00a0year in this country.\u00a0 I’m surprised\u00a0some people\u00a0don’t understand\u00a0how much that helps this country. <\/em><\/p>\n DAK – The “government\u201d is us…it is a crime because it is illegal…label it a pumpkin if you want, but violating the law is still a crime here in Georgia.\u00a0 Another crime is not following the law when you are sworn to uphold it. Ignoring the law is not changing the law. Or shouldn’t be.<\/em><\/p>\n Twelve to\u00a015 million\u00a0illegals are indeed working, but for about half of the wage that 12-15 million real, legal immigrants or citizens would earn.\u00a0 These workers have for our entire history been the basis of our middle class, which is disappearing before our eyes. There is no middle class to speak of in Mexico.<\/p>\n GTC –\u00a0First, I want to stress that I see no signs of a “disappearing” American middle class.\u00a0 The United States is an economic powerhouse, unequalled in history.\u00a0 We’re not a weak and declining nation; we’re a strong and vibrant nation.<\/p>\n Regarding Mexico, I just spent a week in Morelia, in the heart of\u00a0the country about\u00a0two hundred miles west of Mexico City.\u00a0 I recommend a trip like this for you.\u00a0 If you go, you’ll see a growing\u00a0middle class.\u00a0 Morelia, the state capital with a population of about a million, has three malls, one anchored by Sears.\u00a0 And in another mall I bought a digital alarm clock at Radio Shack.\u00a0 If I’d wanted, I could’ve eaten at Burger King or McDonalds.\u00a0 There’s poverty in Mexico, yes.\u00a0 But there’s a middle class, too.\u00a0 In fact, housing prices in Morelia now are about what they were in Bakersfield, California two or three years ago.\u00a0 Mexico is definitely progressing.<\/p>\n DAK –\u00a0Eating at McDonalds does not a middle class make…I wish Mexico and Mexicans all the best, but they cannot have my country.\u00a0 And I disagree with you that the U.S. is on the upswing.\u00a0 Have you seen the national debt, budget deficit this year?<\/p>\n If Mexico is so strong, why is (Mexican President) Fox sending so many “national heroes” to “El Norte\u201d?<\/p>\n GTC – We have an enormous national debt because the Republicans, who inherited an unprecedentedly large budget surplus, slashed taxes and raised spending.<\/p>\n I didn’t say Mexico was “so strong.”\u00a0 I said it “is definitely progressing.”<\/p>\n The $13 billion sent to Mexico in 2003\u00a0– combined with revenue from past and future years – will\u00a0help that nation develop.\u00a0 That\u00a0money is hard-earned here and well-used there.<\/p>\n DAK – Last year that figure went to 16 billion. Are you saying that 16 billion could not have been “hard-earned and well-used ” here?\u00a0 Fox depends on those remittances as part of his budget. Why can’t we?<\/em><\/p>\n Sixteen billion here, 30 billion there…soon, it will add up to real money. But not for the gated community elite crowd. They do not care about the future of the nation, only this quarter\u2019s bottom line. Oh, and re-election money.<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – Trillions of dollars flow into the United States from all around the world.\u00a0 It’s called investment.\u00a0 We live in a global community.\u00a0 Sometimes the money flows from here to other countries.\u00a0 That is healthy and natural interaction.<\/em><\/p>\n DAK – This money is not sent here by criminal labor.\u00a0 Is that your point, that illegal immigration is just another industry? If it is, I may sadly agree with you, an industry of organized crime.<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – Many of the elites, the Enron boys and others, are indeed not interested in anything but increasing their wealth.\u00a0 People across the political spectrum are keeping an eye on them.<\/em><\/p>\n DAK – HA!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Who is keeping an eye on the watchers? \u00a0Bush? \u00a0Corporate America? <\/em><\/p>\n GTC \u2013\u00a0Another point from the Bear Stearns report – housing permits are way up.\u00a0 That’s certainly a plus.\u00a0 Builders are building, and employing lots of people from this country, too – carpenters, roofers, plumbers, electricians,\u00a0etc.<\/p>\n DA – Who built our homes 15 years ago?<\/em><\/p>\n The house I am sitting in was built in 1984…I watched every step of the process…all of the workers were those pesky Americans who were under the impression that it was their right to earn a living wage in their own country. Do you measure everything by the dollar and race?<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – No.\u00a0 I’ve already clarified the racial issue above.\u00a0 Regarding the dollar, it’s essential to emphasize that workers here are adding to this country, not taking from it. <\/em><\/p>\n DAK \u2013 Again, if you have truly read the Bear Stearns and Cosman report and want to disregard all of the data, and continue to parrot that illegal immigration is good for America…go ahead. The people like myself who are demanding that we return to their rule of law are starting to win.\u00a0 So I assume we are bad for America?<\/em><\/p>\n GTC – No, people like you certainly aren’t bad for America.\u00a0 You’re an important part of our political equilibrium.<\/p>\n Back to economics a moment – banks are opening hundreds of new accounts every business day.\u00a0 That means more money invested here.\u00a0 And that creates more jobs in the banking and related industries.\u00a0 Another\u00a0plus from immigration, documented or not.<\/p>\n DAK – Nice try…the topic is illegal immigration… Let’s stay with that. We as a nation allow more legal immigration than is\u00a0the total of all other nations on the planet. The bankers I am sure will agree with you\u2026Hey!\u00a0 We can make money from illegal aliens! \u00a0Let’s do! \u00a0Keep ’em coming!\u00a0 Again…which other laws do we ignore next in the name of profit?<\/em><\/p>\n