Likely to backfire, says Peter Brown:

If the folks who want to allow illegal immigrants to become legal residents and eventually citizens are lucky, the planned May 1 general strike to pressure Congress in their direction will be a bust.

That's because even more than mass demonstrations, the work, school and shopping boycott is likely to backfire -- pushing public opinion toward stricter border security without making it possible for such immigrants to remain in the United States legally.

Of course, some immigrant-rights activists understand the potential backlash, which is why there has been division within that community over the wisdom of the May 1 protest.

But for many within their movement, the symbolism of trying to show Congress just how powerful illegal immigrants are by trying to closing down the U.S. economy for a day is too much to pass up.

In a very real sense, I pity these poor people - they have essentially been shoved up here into America by their own government in order that they, by the sweat of their brow, may support a corrupt and inefficient oligarchy in Mexico...they then get propagandised by native-born leftwing anti-Americans into thinking they (a) have a right to be here and (b) have a right to a say in the political governance of this nation. They really don't seem to see just how bad the backlash has already become against immigration - and the more the make themselves noticable, the larger the backlash will be. Illegal immigration is tolerated as long as it is out of the public mind...front and center the issue, and the immediate demand is that the laws be enforced.

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.gopbloggers.org/mt/majority.cgi/3548