Dems mock border wall: Platform takes a swipe at GOP support for plan to stop illegal immigration
FORT WORTH - Striking a markedly different posture from Republicans, the Texas Democratic Party on Saturday endorsed an immigration policy encouraging assimilation over wall-building. The party, many of whose voters, candidates and officeholders are Hispanic, has traditionally been supportive of immigration. But a new platform adopted by delegates to the party’s state convention included language specifically striking back at GOP-led attempts to tighten up the border with Mexico without helping immigrants become citizens. Texas Democrats also continued to poke fun at the proposed border wall, which Texas Republicans have endorsed.
Despite the lack of coverage accorded, the Texas Democratic Party is having their convetion in Fort Worth this weekend. Given Texas’ status as one of the reddest of the red states, I suppose it’s understandable (though hardly justifiable) that the state’s major media outlets seem to be giving a collective cold shoulder to Democrats. That’s too bad, because they might learn a thing or two.
They might learn, for instance, that not all Americans are willing to use immigration as a wedge issue. Texas Democrats, f’rinstance, are interested in dealing with the immigration issue, but we’re much more interested in assimilation over building walls. We recognize that the economic realities of why immigrants risk their necks coming to this country. We also understand that as long as their is a demand for cheap labor that Americans will not perform, Brown People will continue to come north in search of opportunities unavailable back home- whether we care to admit that or not.
“Before we start building a fence, all of us need to know two things: how much it’s going to cost and then who’s going to build it,” said state Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, whose father was born in Spain and mother emigrated from Mexico.
“The reality is, we probably will need more undocumented workers to build that fence than we have currently in the United States,” he added.
The reality that Republicans seem to be so conveniently forgetting is that the vast majority of Americans are descended from immigrants, illegal or otherwise. Our ancestors came, by and large, looking for opportunities that were not available in the Old World. Now that we’re here, it seems that a lot of us now want to close the doors to people coming to America for their same reasons our ancestors did.
Republicans seem completely hung up on immigration status, all while they ignore the humanitarian aspect of why people come to this country. Yes, immigration should be done legally, but our current system provides the perfect double standard for Republicans: they can rail against Illegal immigration while continuing to expoit their cheap labor. This, without a doubt, is the very definition of craven hypocrisy- not that Republicans seem to have a problem with that.
It would have been nice to have been able to be in Ft. Worth this weekend. I would have enjoyed being part of a group trying to bring humanity and reasonableness back into government. After all, what, really, is building a wall going to accomplish?
