from abc’s new eli stone show:

“it would have been easier to go through the naturalization process, instead they doused themselves with water so they wouldn’t dehydrate when they were crammed into a hidden compartment of a pick up truck… and they didn’t do it, so they could come and pick strawberries, they did it because they believed in america. 

in russia, iraq, afghanistan, we’re seeing, first hand, the seeds of democracy… they don’t grow on every patch of earth.  the freedom we have here is unique, it’s special.  they were willing to risk their lives for it.  i’m not saying that citizenship should be a prize for making it over the border.  i’m not saying that immigration isn’t a major issue facing this country.  but they’re not a policy, they’re people… and if this truly is the home of the brave, then they’re just as american as anyone in this country.”

the other night, i caught a part of a show on… the history channel? ...concerning the history of marijuana legislation.  i was previously unaware of the racist nature of the prohibition effort.  the term “marihuana” being used to further emphasize the corollation between mexicans and ~drugs~.  that it coincided with a time that the us was attempting to rid itself of those pesky mexicans wasn’t just a coincidence. 

the topic itself was interesting, but even more interesting was how much of the rhetoric used then is being used now in the current “debate” on immigration: “newly arrived foreigners were blamed for the sprawling urban slums, depressed paychecks, and labor unrest"… sound familiar?

read on for further snippets.  and stop by http://www.justiceforimmigrants.com for the debunking of several myths in relation to immigration.

read on...

so i’m strolling through the houston chronicle (which i’m interested to see has now added comment-ability to their news stories - woot!  way to make it easier to pass misinformation!) and i come across this story:

April 27, 2007, 11:34PM
Perry’s border comments questioned
He tells paper in Pittsburgh some who came to Texas had al-Qaida ties and were arrested

By PEGGY FIKAC
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

AUSTIN — With the Texas House poised to consider a border security bill and state budget writers deciding how much to spend on the effort, Gov. Rick Perry told a Pittsburgh newspaper that some border-crossers with al-Qaida ties have been apprehended.

“The information that we have is that there have been individuals who have crossed, and some that have been apprehended, that have ties back to the al-Qaida network,” Perry told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on a trip to the city to speak at a Boy Scouts dinner.

“I don’t get confused that with the lack of manpower and the lack of resources that the federal government has made available that you can cross the border, and you can cross the border with enough frequency and with enough items to create a lot of havoc,” he said.

[read the rest here]

and all i could think was “wow.  just wow.” this man is our governor

and a comment left states:

“It’s a well-known fact (garnered from a CIA report issued in - I believe late 2005/early 2006) that Al-Quida is using the Mexican border as a port of entry, and attempting to pass themselves off as Mexicans. One Al-Quida member was arrested at around that time.”

where do they get this information?!  if you try to do a google search on “terror border us mexico”, the only stories which support that statement come from right-wing, generally anti-immigrant sites.  there is nothing to back up the claim that “some individuals with al aqaeda ties have been apprehended crossing the mexican border”.  at least, not that i can find.  i *can* find information such as:

A study by the conservative Nixon Center, a Washington, D.C.-based foreign policy think tank, found that of 373 suspected or convicted terrorists with links to al-Qaida who resided or crossed borders in Western Europe or North America since 1993, none had entered North America from Mexico. In contrast, the center found that 26 had used Canada as a host country.

[read the rest here]

you just have to wonder about these “cia reports”, etc.  that no one can point to specifically.