Once More Immigration: Bush Bows to Xenophobia
    By Max J. Castro
    Progreso Weekly

    18-24 May 2006 Issue

    Caught between the rock of economic and demographic reality (demand for immigrant labor, the aging of the U.S. population, a sharp increase in Latino voters) and the hard place of widespread xenophobia in the Republican Party, George W. Bush showed his hand. Torn between selling his party to the growing Latino electorate and responding to fierce anti-immigration sentiment among hard core Republicans, Bush made his choice: He went with the immigration hardliners.

    Deploying thousands of National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border sends a clear message to the Minutemen and their brethren. It is a demagogic, desperate message sent by a President whose popularity is sinking like a rock. The latest polls show fewer than one in three Americans approve of Bush's job performance. Most disturbing to Republicans who fear losing control of Congress in the November election is the political erosion that polls have indicated is taking place among rank-and-file right-wingers. This is the sector that has remained most loyal to the Republican Party, ensuring victory in many close elections.

    The President's action in sending the National Guard to the Mexican border is designed to placate anti-immigration forces and to shore up the last bastions of support for George W. Bush, namely the most reactionary, racist sector of the GOP. Lately, this faction threatens to desert the Republicans because of frustration over the President's unwillingness to adopt a draconian policy to "stop illegal immigration" and "secure the border."

    The rhetoric of securing the border comes wrapped in the flag of national security and represents the latest instance of the right's manipulation of 9-11. As usual with the Bush administration, the facts don't support the policy, which is based on pure ideology. In an excellent piece, Washington Post columnist Peter Beinart ("The Wrong Place to Stop Terrorists,' May 4, 2006) lays out the real story:

Using newspaper reports and government documents, Robert S. Leiken and Steven Brooke of the Nixon Center have painstakingly compiled a database of 373 known or suspected terrorists in North America or Western Europe since 1993. In a forthcoming essay in the journal Terrorism and Political Violence, they disclose their findings: Not one terrorist has entered the United States from Mexico. And they're not the only ones who have reached that conclusion. As a recent paper published by Syracuse University's Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism notes, "it does not appear that authorities have apprehended even a single terrorist trying to cross over the southern border into the United States."

    In contrast, as Beinert notes, Leiken and Brooke identified three terrorists who crossed into the United States through the Canadian border, including one who planned to blow up Los Angeles International Airport. That is not surprising given that Islamic fundamentalists are much more numerous north of the border than south of the Rio Grande. Why is Bush not deploying the National Guard to the Canadian border?

    The answer is that national security, like weapons of mass destruction, is a bogus justification for a policy undertaken for other reasons, in this case the need to placate lots of Republicans who are upset about the brown hordes invading the country.

    The official story is not likely to fool anyone in the Latino community. As of this writing; "We Are America," a coalition of over forty immigrant rights organizations that emerged from mass protests earlier this year, is set to respond to the President's speech ordering elements of the National Guard to the southern border. The coalition will conduct a massive lobbying campaign through personal visits and calls to members of Congress.

    Also not amused by Bush's move, Mexican President Vicente Fox, one of Bush's few remaining friends among Latin American leaders. Fox called Bush to express concern about the militarization of the border. Bush said the deployment is temporary and the United States considers Mexico a friend. National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley denied that the National Guard deployment represents a militarization of the border. The truth is that there has been a creeping, virtual militarization of the border since the Clinton administration. Bush's actions now represent a qualitative leap in a trend under way for more than a decade.

    As Republican Senator Chuck Hagel recently stated, at a time when the U.S. military is stretched to the breaking point, sending the National Guard to the border makes no sense. The National Guard is not trained in immigration enforcement. Moreover, the National Guard is heavily engaged in Iraq, where its units have absorbed tremendous casualties. When National Guard troops were needed for rescue and relief efforts following Hurricane Katrina last year, there were not enough of them. Now, as the 2006 hurricane season looms, Bush decides to send thousands of National Guard troops to the Mexican border.

    Once more, Bush pretends to be the protector of U.S. national security. The truth is that this is all about politics and right-wing xenophobic ideology and that the Republicans are running so scared they can't see past their dismal poll numbers and the next election. At the ballot box, the Latino electorate will remind the Republicans of their choice for much longer than that.