Knowing that Ruben Navarrette is a left wing activist, I seldom read any of his articles in the VMS.
True to form, Mr Navarrette plays the “race card” in his, “It’s no surprise when racists claim the name Trump” commentary in the 1/3/2018 VMS.
From the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on immigration, 6/15/1994: Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-CA, “The impact on California caused by illegal immigrants is great.
Estimates now range that there are between 1.6 million and 2.3 million illegal immigrants in California.
The Governor of California believes the cost to our state has reached $3 billion a year … his is an expense Californians can no longer afford to bear.
And sheer numbers of illegal immigrants are having an impact on classroom size, the jobs place and in housing availability.
The inability to enforce our borders and “stop” illegal immigration is resulting in rising tension and increasing resentment against both legal and illegal immigrants.
And it is the responsibility of this Congress to act.”
Keep in mind, Sen. Feinstein made those statements over 20 years ago.
Bill Clinton made similar statements in his 1995 State of the Union Address.
The illegal immigrant population in America has likely increased by tens of millions in those 20 plus years.
So tell us Mr. Navarrette, do you consider Sen. Feinstein and Bill Clinton as being racists for speaking the truth back then?
Personally, I consider border wall opponents like Mr. Navarrette, Filemon Vela, as well as all Democrat and GOPe politicians as being anti-America.
The reason being these people’s political views and rhetoric make them adversaries of working class Americans.
Mr. Navarrette and all other opponents of enforcement of immigration laws as well as a border wall, have to know that working class Americans, especially Hispanic and African-American working class, have long been the biggest losers in the illegal immigration fiasco.
There are multiple reasons leftists prefer to keep the southern border porous as a seive.
One is how the huge number of illegals has changed demographics in America.
In 1970 the population of Los Angeles was 2.8 million. The demographic make-up was 61.1% white; 17.1% Hispanic and 17.9% black.
By 2010 LA’s population had increased to 3.8 million. And the demographics flipped; Hispanics made up 48.5% of LA’s population,whites 28.7% and blacks 9.6%.
It’s been about the same thing here in the Valley. From 1970 to 2016, the RGV’s population increased by about one million.
The result: from krgv.com, 9/26/2016-”Number of RGV residents living in poverty: 45.9% of the people in Cameron County live in poverty.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 443,890 (RGV residents) are considered to be at or below the poverty line”.
But all that matters to leftists like Rueben Navarrette and Filemon Vela, who prefer a porous border, is that Hispanics (and blacks) overwhelmingly, and blindly, vote Democrat.
N. Rodriguez, Harlingen
