Now American Flags Are Banned

Students threatened with suspension and arrest if they do not surrender their American flags. . .
Three videos on the subject, including the main news story, but also two additional videos, including a lengthy interview with students upset about the denial of their ability to display, carry, or wear American flags, plus some bloviating by the principal trying to justify the ban.

More video coverage here, including an interview with a student suspended for two days for displaying the flag.

Another story here, that disputes the claim of an “permanent” ban.

It does not get any crazier than this:

LONGMONT, Colo. — More than two dozen students walked out of Skyline High School Friday morning to protest what they say is a ban that doesn’t allow the American flag to be flown on school grounds.

The principal said that the ban isn’t just on American flags — it’s on all flags.

Several students who walked out of class Friday said that they were upset that Mexican flags can be waved around but that American flags couldn’t. They said that school officials confiscated their American flags because they have become inflammatory because of recent immigration issues.

“When the immigration laws came out we noticed that a lot of Hispanics were waving Mexican flags and what we were thinking to ourselves is like, isn’t the immigration law to stay in the country? You want to stay in America, correct? So I said, for every Mexican flag, you should have an American flag right next to it. So a few people went out and started waving American flags, and that’s where everything bridged out,” said Skyline student R.J. Fogal. “That’s when they started telling us that we can’t wave American flags, there’s going to be no flags today, or everyone is going to be suspended — whoever carries a flag.”

Uppity students wanting to show American pride and fly the country’s flag? Can’t have that now, can we?

“What we want to know is since when was it against the rules to have an American flag on a car, in a car, in your hands in a school?” said student William Cassity.

Since the left declared American flags to be contentious symbols of imperialism, racism, and unbridled capitalism.

Skyline Principal Tom Stumpf said that the school enacted a ban this week that prohibits students to display, wear or fly any flag — American or Mexican.

“The (policy) evolved because the flags were being used, not as a symbol of cultural heritage, but the flags were being used as symbols of bigotry, a symbol of hostility. They were being used to inflame different groups and we’re simply not going to tolerate that at Skyline High School,” Stumpf said.

Not quite sure if he means that both sides were doing this, but from what other protests have shown, bigotry and hostility were not evident when American flags were flown, but where Mexican flags were displayed prominently.

“My paramount obligation, my solemn obligation at Skyline High School, is to provide a safe and secure environment and with the flags being used as a catalyst to stir up the students, to stir up the environment, I cannot condone that … One flag was thrown into the face of another group and another flag was being brandished in front of another group and it was done to raise emotions, and we don’t want that. We want respect — that’s our main goal at Skyline High School,” he said.

Now comes the safety and security reason for blocking freedom of speech and expression, as these might create “tensions” and endanger a “safe and secure environment”, while “stirring” up students. Students are apparently a threat if they “brandish” a flag?

The school has a diverse population and some students say there have been tensions between different ethnic groups because of the national immigration debate.

“I think our whole society is on different sides of the immigration issue and I can’t control that. All I’m asking from our students is respect — respect for one another, treating each other as they themselves want to be treated, treating each other decently, civilly,” Stumpf said.

He said the students have a right to rally and those who walked out of class on Friday would not be punished.

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Stop The ACLU Weekend Linkfest

Previous:
More Photos From The Protests
FAQs on Illegal Immigration Answered
Mexican Flags Dominate Protests
Salazar’s Bloviations On Immigration
Colorado Politicians Weigh In On Immigration
Colorado Immigration Bills, Debate
Tancredo Weighs In On Senate Collapse
Immigration Round 1
Illegal Immigrants And Supporters Rally In Denver

More Photos From The Protests

More photos to get your blood boiling here.

Of course, what would a protest be without El Che?

Previous:
FAQs on Illegal Immigration Answered
Mexican Flags Dominate Protests
Salazar’s Bloviations On Immigration
Colorado Politicians Weigh In On Immigration
Colorado Immigration Bills, Debate
Tancredo Weighs In On Senate Collapse
Immigration Round 1
Illegal Immigrants And Supporters Rally In Denver

FAQs on Illegal Immigration Answered

Right Wing News elaborates on thirteen key questions.

French Job Law Constitutional

Apparently, all that rioting in France was for nothing.

Local Islamic Scholars Disagree With Afghan Apostasy Charges

They believe that Islamic injunctions against apostasy are historically rooted, and should be illegal under current conditions.

Pro-Life Britney Statue With Bear-skin Rug

I’m sure the PETA people aren’t happy about this either.

Britney Spears is an interesting choice as a pro-life model (not that she is necessarily pro-life, but the artist’s intent clearly is), and the statue is doubtlessly ticking off the usual abortion suspects–NOW, NARAL, etc.

Words fail, though, even as someone who majored in art history. I don’t even know where to begin. . .bear-skin rug? Not to mention the, um, position Britney seems to have taken. . .

Quick Hits 3/31

Colorado unemployment rate drops to 4.3 percent, half a percent lower than the national average.

Study fails to show healing power of prayer.

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Denmark may move Little Mermaid to protect it from vandals.

Poland seeks Auschwitz renaming, to clarify the Nazi origins of the infamous concentration camp.

Italian PM Berlusconi warns against multiculturalism:

ROME – Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he does not want Italy to become a multiethnic, multicultural country, drawing plaudits from a right-wing ally and criticism from center-left opponents.

Berlusconi, a conservative, faces a stiff challenge in next month’s national election, with opinion polls putting him behind his opponent, former premier Romano Prodi.

The poor economy, a main worry for voters in this election, has fed concerns about immigration by right-wing parties in Berlusconi’s coalition, although the kind of work usually done by immigrants is shunned by many Italians. Surveys show that some Italians also perceive immigrants as being linked to crime.

“We don’t want Italy to become a multiethnic, multicultural country. We are proud of our traditions,” Berlusconi said Monday on state-run radio.

Berlusconi’s government has put in place a tough immigration policy, including legislation cracking down on illegal immigration. The 2002 law allows only immigrants with job contracts to obtain residency permit.

“We want to open (our borders) to foreigners who flee countries where their lives or liberties are at risk,” said Berlusconi, adding those who come to Italy to work also are welcome. “We don’t want to welcome all those who come here to bring about damage and danger to Italian citizens.”

PM Tony Blair gone by Christmas?

Mexican Flags Dominate Protests

As elsewhere across the country, American flags have been outnumbered by Mexican flags in Colorado protests:

Recent immigration rallies in Denver and elsewhere have displayed more green, white and red than red, white and blue.

The prominence of Mexican and other foreign flags at the demonstrations has in turn created a backlash among supporters of tougher immigration laws.

Demonstrators say they carry flags from their native countries to show pride in their heritage and unity with fellow immigrants.

But those calling for a crackdown on illegal immigrants see the flags as a symbol of aggression and evidence supporting their claim that foreigners are taking over the country.

Many in Denver are familiar with the gratuitous display of Mexican flags every Cinco De Mayo. It is one thing to celebrate one’s heritage, as other ethnic groups do, but most of them fly the American flag simultaneously, and in the appropriate primary position.

State Rep. Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, a vocal proponent of deporting illegal immigrants, called the use of Mexican flags at the demonstrations “disrespectful to our country.”

“It angers me and it makes me more resolved to fight this issue,” he said. “I don’t like in-your-face rebellion.

“We’re not Mexico and we don’t fly Mexican flags in this country. We fly American flags.”

The story points out that among the protesters, some believe opposition to Mexican flags stems from racism, while others note that America deserves respect and understand why the flying of foreign flags rankles the average American:

Disc jockeys at local Spanish-language radio stations, including La Buena Onda (1150 AM), encouraged listeners to wear white as a symbol of peace and to bring a U.S. flag along with their native country banners.

“We need to respect this country,” said Yeshabet Quesada.

Station owner Heberto Limas-Villers said, “We want Hispanics to become integral members of this society. We don’t want to create two Americas.”

This statements sums up the feeling of many of those Americans who view the flying of Mexican flags with contempt:

Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates reduced immigration, said his organization has received a large number of e-mails and phone calls from people angered by the foreign flags.

“Americans want people to come to this country as immigrants . . . to love this country . . . and to have exclusive allegiance,” Stein said. “They’re not into this idea that Mexico apparently believes that they send people here, who become U.S. citizens and keep allegiance to Mexico.”

It is not contempt for the national origin of immigrants, their religious affiliation, their native language, or the standard ad hominem attack of racism that is at the basis of American opposition to illegal immigration in general, or the flying of Mexican flags in particular. It offends because if we accept the argument that most immigrants are here with only good intentions to work and make a life for themselves, they should buy into the system that creates the jobs and embrace the culture of the country they make their new home.

If by “ownership society” one means that new immigrants take possession of the American ideal, support the Constitution, and participate in America as a political entity, then most Americans have no problem making room for the newest members of the American family. However, shunning American culture by refusing to learn at least basic English, maintaining allegiance to a country that has obviously failed them economically, while insisting on being given jobs, receiving benefits in the form of healthcare, housing, and education and still prominently displaying the flag of another country, is deeply offensive. This would be true if the immigrants were flying the flag of any other country as well. This is not an attack on Mexico, as not all illegal immigrants are even from that country.

Of course, some groups have an entirely different agenda altogether.

As always, Michael Ramirez’s brilliant cartoon says it all:

Salazar’s Bloviations On Immigration

Full text of Salazar’s Senate speech here.

Some highlights:

I believe that comprehensive immigration reform legislation must be:

TOUGH at the border and on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants,

FAIR to those who agree to pay taxes and commit no crimes, and

PRACTICAL by providing solutions to today’s illegal immigration problems and addressing our future workforce needs. . .

No dispute there, amigo. No one would dispute any of those rather bland statements. But there are so many different points of contention that muddle up any thought of consensus on this issue for either side. Americans welcome immigrants from all over the world with open arms, provided they are here legally.

. . . I have also spoken with President Bush, and several Members of his Cabinet, about the need for changes to our immigration laws.

I share his belief that:

“Ours is a nation of law and ours is a nation of immigrants, we believe that we can have rational, important immigration policy that’s based upon law and reflects our deep desire to be a compassionate and decent nation.”

Immigration is a vital component of our nation’s history. Our country has always been seen as a land of opportunity for immigrants who are willing to work hard for a chance at the American dream for their families.

Indeed, without the important contributions immigrants have made to our country, the United States would not exist as we know it today.

In my home state of Colorado, the first non-natives to explore our lands were the Spanish. They arrived nearly 500 years ago, and left their mark on the American Southwest and Colorado. Their presence is reflected in the names of my state and its cities, rivers, and mountains, and even in the food we eat.

More recently, immigrants came to Colorado to farm and ranch, to mine our state’s abundant natural resources, build the railroads, and forge steel. They came, and continue to come, out of desperation, but also out of hope—the hope of America.

In a recent local newspaper column, Bill Burnett, a former councilman of the little Colorado town of Minturn, summed up the sentiments of many Coloradans: “Without immigrants, we never would’ve built this place.” The sentiment is echoed by many all across this great country of ours.

It can also be heard through the words of Emma Lazarus’ great poem, “The New Colossus,” inscribed at the foot of the Statue Liberty,

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Yes, this country was built by immigrants, yearning to share a slice of the American dream, of being their own master, having control over their own lives, choosing their own religions, and living in peace. But these immigrants came with the intention of becoming American, of enjoying the American ideal, even at a time when certain immigrants were banned outright (Chinese) or suffered discrimination (Jews, Catholics, Southern and Eastern Europeans, etc.) To contemporary eyes, they received a raw deal, but compared to where they had come from, fleeing religious or political persecution, such slights must have seemed tolerable–an argument made to me by my grandparents to explain their own discrimination stories, when being Italian and Catholic might mean a visit from the Ku Klux Klan, who had quite a presence in 1920s Colorado. Other immigrants came for work, made money and then went back home. Those who stayed learned English, assimilated into the cultural stew that makes America great, and after nearly a century, like my family, still enjoy their cultural roots. But we are Americans first.

. . . But there is no question that our immigration laws are not working. We have broken borders in America today. We must fix the problem for the sake of the national security of our nation.

The level of illegal immigration on our borders is unacceptable and has to change. Our borders are undermanned and overwhelmed. We must get far better control of the border.

In the past decade, we have seen the number of undocumented immigrants residing in our country rise from 4 million in 1986 to 12 million in 2006.

While the vast majority of these individuals have come to our country to work and provide for their families, the fact that we have permitted millions to cross our borders illegally is unacceptable.

Enforcement of our immigration laws has certainly not kept pace with the flow of both legal and illegal immigration, and the laws that deal with those who crossed the border are enforced so rarely in recent years that they might as well not exist. .

Thanks Captain Obvious. I wonder why Salazar keeps flipping back and forth between “illegal immigration” and “undocumented immigrants”. Having documents does not prove one’s legal status, as many illegal immigrants have “documents”, as Michelle Malkin demonstrates. Possessing forged documents and phony IDs simply means you are illegal and possessing illegal paper. Only legally issued documents proving one’s legal status as a resident alien, citizen, or tourist (or any other official status) removes the “illegal” from “immigrant”.

. . .Solving our nation’s illegal immigration problems is a matter of national security. . .

Democrats wishing to appear “tough” on immigration and national security will talk a great game, but there is little of substance to their message.

. . . Some would have preferred that we wall off our country along our southern border. To the proponents of building a wall, I ask—what would Ronald Reagan say? We should not repeat the example of the Berlin Wall, one of the most shameful symbols of anti-freedom and oppression ever designed by man, designed solely to keep people from opportunity, hope and freedom. It was President Reagan who told the Soviet leader, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. . .”

Salazar makes the same erroneous historical reference that columnist George Will makes here. The Berlin Wall was built to keep people in, not prevent people from coming over to East Germany. The only people denied “opportunity, hope and freedom” were the East Germans suffering under the political oppression of Communism.

. . . I am pleased that the Judiciary Committee bill does not call for the construction of a massive wall along our border and does not make criminals out of millions of Americans who come into contact with undocumented immigrants.

But these security and enforcement efforts alone cannot be our sole means to confront this challenge.

In the past, Congress has focused exclusively on this critical component. Over the last decade, we have tripled the number of Border Patrol agents who spend eight times as many hours patrolling the border.

During this same period, the undocumented population was doubled in size, and the per-apprehension costs have skyrocketed nearly 500%.

The reality is regardless of how much money we dedicate to border and interior enforcement; there are economic forces that spur immigration.

Our country’s current workforce is continuing to age and our newer workers have become more educated and less interested in taking important jobs that our growing economy keeps creating. . .

At least Salazar acknowledges that the Democrats’ canard about President Bush about losing jobs and ruining the economy is nothing but garbage. If the economy stank, there would be no jobs to risk life and limb, and suffer the economic depredations of the trafficking “coyotes”. Too bad liberals despise the “McJobs” that our economy creates, attacking companies like Wal-Mart for providing substandard employment opportunities.

. . . Instead, I believe the way we deal with these realities is to create an orderly system requiring illegal immigrants to come forward, register, and pay a fine for their illegal conduct– just as citizens are fined for unlawful activity.

In exchange for coming forward, these individuals will be given a temporary and conditional visa. After six years, if they meet numerous requirements, including proving they are integrating into our country by learning English, U.S. history and government, pay back taxes, commit no crimes, and pay more fines, they can get to the back of the line behind those who are currently waiting to become U.S. citizens.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, if our economy continues to grow by 3 percent, the economic growth will increase the number of U.S. jobs by 14.6 percent between 2002 and 2012. Moreover, because of turnover and retirement, BLS projects there will be 56 million job openings during this same time. There will be many Americans who are ready and willing to fill these jobs. Immigrants will play a critical role in bridging the gap between our labor force needs and available American workers.

The Judiciary Committee bill also establishes a new program that will provide our economy with an orderly and limited supply of worker visas. Under the bill’s provisions, businesses cannot hire foreign workers through this program unless they can prove to the U.S. Department of Labor that they actively recruited American workers and advertised jobs at fair wages, but still found no American workers. These “temporary workers” would have to undergo security checks before they would be allowed into the county. . .

Once again, Salazar notes the growing economy, and the projected job creations over the next decade. The citizenship requirements, including learning English and learning basic U. S. history and civics, should be mandatory. Unfortunately the plan still calls for basically amnesty with a catch, a waiting period and unenforceable fines. No doubt many illegal immigrants will hesitate to come forward, or simply deem it not worth the hassle, instead banking on some future Congressional amnesty under the Democrats.

. . . I want to today, in this period of morning business as we enter into this debate, to simply read from one of my favorite prayers from a person who understood importance of immigration especially in the context of this debate. That is Cesar Chavez.

He wrote this prayer and it’s something that I think that all of us in this chamber should keep in mind as we move forward in this debate:

Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So I will know my people’s plight.
Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person.

Help me take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.

Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.

Give me honesty and patience;
So that I can work with others workers.

Bring forth song and celebration;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world.

Interesting that Salazar would quote Chavez, considering he protested using illegal immigrants to replace native farm workers in the late 1960s.

Salazar’s Bloviations On Immigration

Full text of Salazar’s Senate speech here.

Some highlights:

I believe that comprehensive immigration reform legislation must be:

TOUGH at the border and on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants,

FAIR to those who agree to pay taxes and commit no crimes, and

PRACTICAL by providing solutions to today’s illegal immigration problems and addressing our future workforce needs. . .

No dispute there, amigo. No one would dispute any of those rather bland statements. But there are so many different points of contention that muddle up any thought of consensus on this issue for either side. Americans welcome immigrants from all over the world with open arms, provided they are here legally.

. . . I have also spoken with President Bush, and several Members of his Cabinet, about the need for changes to our immigration laws.

I share his belief that:

“Ours is a nation of law and ours is a nation of immigrants, we believe that we can have rational, important immigration policy that’s based upon law and reflects our deep desire to be a compassionate and decent nation.”

Immigration is a vital component of our nation’s history. Our country has always been seen as a land of opportunity for immigrants who are willing to work hard for a chance at the American dream for their families.

Indeed, without the important contributions immigrants have made to our country, the United States would not exist as we know it today.

In my home state of Colorado, the first non-natives to explore our lands were the Spanish. They arrived nearly 500 years ago, and left their mark on the American Southwest and Colorado. Their presence is reflected in the names of my state and its cities, rivers, and mountains, and even in the food we eat.

More recently, immigrants came to Colorado to farm and ranch, to mine our state’s abundant natural resources, build the railroads, and forge steel. They came, and continue to come, out of desperation, but also out of hope—the hope of America.

In a recent local newspaper column, Bill Burnett, a former councilman of the little Colorado town of Minturn, summed up the sentiments of many Coloradans: “Without immigrants, we never would’ve built this place.” The sentiment is echoed by many all across this great country of ours.

It can also be heard through the words of Emma Lazarus’ great poem, “The New Colossus,” inscribed at the foot of the Statue Liberty,

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Yes, this country was built by immigrants, yearning to share a slice of the American dream, of being their own master, having control over their own lives, choosing their own religions, and living in peace. But these immigrants came with the intention of becoming American, of enjoying the American ideal, even at a time when certain immigrants were banned outright (Chinese) or suffered discrimination (Jews, Catholics, Southern and Eastern Europeans, etc.) To contemporary eyes, they received a raw deal, but compared to where they had come from, fleeing religious or political persecution, such slights must have seemed tolerable–an argument made to me by my grandparents to explain their own discrimination stories, when being Italian and Catholic might mean a visit from the Ku Klux Klan, who had quite a presence in 1920s Colorado. Other immigrants came for work, made money and then went back home. Those who stayed learned English, assimilated into the cultural stew that makes America great, and after nearly a century, like my family, still enjoy their cultural roots. But we are Americans first.

. . . But there is no question that our immigration laws are not working. We have broken borders in America today. We must fix the problem for the sake of the national security of our nation.

The level of illegal immigration on our borders is unacceptable and has to change. Our borders are undermanned and overwhelmed. We must get far better control of the border.

In the past decade, we have seen the number of undocumented immigrants residing in our country rise from 4 million in 1986 to 12 million in 2006.

While the vast majority of these individuals have come to our country to work and provide for their families, the fact that we have permitted millions to cross our borders illegally is unacceptable.

Enforcement of our immigration laws has certainly not kept pace with the flow of both legal and illegal immigration, and the laws that deal with those who crossed the border are enforced so rarely in recent years that they might as well not exist. .

Thanks Captain Obvious. I wonder why Salazar keeps flipping back and forth between “illegal immigration” and “undocumented immigrants”. Having documents does not prove one’s legal status, as many illegal immigrants have “documents”, as Michelle Malkin demonstrates. Possessing forged documents and phony IDs simply means you are illegal and possessing illegal paper. Only legally issued documents proving one’s legal status as a resident alien, citizen, or tourist (or any other official status) removes the “illegal” from “immigrant”.

. . .Solving our nation’s illegal immigration problems is a matter of national security. . .

Democrats wishing to appear “tough” on immigration and national security will talk a great game, but there is little of substance to their message.

. . . Some would have preferred that we wall off our country along our southern border. To the proponents of building a wall, I ask—what would Ronald Reagan say? We should not repeat the example of the Berlin Wall, one of the most shameful symbols of anti-freedom and oppression ever designed by man, designed solely to keep people from opportunity, hope and freedom. It was President Reagan who told the Soviet leader, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. . .”

Salazar makes the same erroneous historical reference that columnist George Will makes here. The Berlin Wall was built to keep people in, not prevent people from coming over to East Germany. The only people denied “opportunity, hope and freedom” were the East Germans suffering under the political oppression of Communism.

. . . I am pleased that the Judiciary Committee bill does not call for the construction of a massive wall along our border and does not make criminals out of millions of Americans who come into contact with undocumented immigrants.

But these security and enforcement efforts alone cannot be our sole means to confront this challenge.

In the past, Congress has focused exclusively on this critical component. Over the last decade, we have tripled the number of Border Patrol agents who spend eight times as many hours patrolling the border.

During this same period, the undocumented population was doubled in size, and the per-apprehension costs have skyrocketed nearly 500%.

The reality is regardless of how much money we dedicate to border and interior enforcement; there are economic forces that spur immigration.

Our country’s current workforce is continuing to age and our newer workers have become more educated and less interested in taking important jobs that our growing economy keeps creating. . .

At least Salazar acknowledges that the Democrats’ canard about President Bush about losing jobs and ruining the economy is nothing but garbage. If the economy stank, there would be no jobs to risk life and limb, and suffer the economic depredations of the trafficking “coyotes”. Too bad liberals despise the “McJobs” that our economy creates, attacking companies like Wal-Mart for providing substandard employment opportunities.

. . . Instead, I believe the way we deal with these realities is to create an orderly system requiring illegal immigrants to come forward, register, and pay a fine for their illegal conduct– just as citizens are fined for unlawful activity.

In exchange for coming forward, these individuals will be given a temporary and conditional visa. After six years, if they meet numerous requirements, including proving they are integrating into our country by learning English, U.S. history and government, pay back taxes, commit no crimes, and pay more fines, they can get to the back of the line behind those who are currently waiting to become U.S. citizens.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, if our economy continues to grow by 3 percent, the economic growth will increase the number of U.S. jobs by 14.6 percent between 2002 and 2012. Moreover, because of turnover and retirement, BLS projects there will be 56 million job openings during this same time. There will be many Americans who are ready and willing to fill these jobs. Immigrants will play a critical role in bridging the gap between our labor force needs and available American workers.

The Judiciary Committee bill also establishes a new program that will provide our economy with an orderly and limited supply of worker visas. Under the bill’s provisions, businesses cannot hire foreign workers through this program unless they can prove to the U.S. Department of Labor that they actively recruited American workers and advertised jobs at fair wages, but still found no American workers. These “temporary workers” would have to undergo security checks before they would be allowed into the county. . .

Once again, Salazar notes the growing economy, and the projected job creations over the next decade. The citizenship requirements, including learning English and learning basic U. S. history and civics, should be mandatory. Unfortunately the plan still calls for basically amnesty with a catch, a waiting period and unenforceable fines. No doubt many illegal immigrants will hesitate to come forward, or simply deem it not worth the hassle, instead banking on some future Congressional amnesty under the Democrats.

. . . I want to today, in this period of morning business as we enter into this debate, to simply read from one of my favorite prayers from a person who understood importance of immigration especially in the context of this debate. That is Cesar Chavez.

He wrote this prayer and it’s something that I think that all of us in this chamber should keep in mind as we move forward in this debate:

Show me the suffering of the most miserable;
So I will know my people’s plight.
Free me to pray for others;
For you are present in every person.

Help me take responsibility for my own life;
So that I can be free at last.

Grant me courage to serve others;
For in service there is true life.

Give me honesty and patience;
So that I can work with others workers.

Bring forth song and celebration;
So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow;
So that we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice;
For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us;
So we can change the world.

Interesting that Salazar would quote Chavez, considering he protested using illegal immigrants to replace native farm workers in the late 1960s.