Rounding up poor, brown people in front of their churches probably isn't the most inspiring tactic in the long run

So, the biggest news of this morning seems to be the story of an illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son and has been subsequently deported to Mexico . . . And if you agree with this kind of cruel and divisive action then you're probably not going to be convinced by anything I write . . . However, the talk which promotes this kind of thing reveals that ultimately anti-immigrant forces are doomed. Why? Well, in the long run most people just don't support snatching folks up in front of their houses of worship and sending them away . . . Rejecting someone who is desperately searching for sanctuary. In a word, it just seems Un-American. And to say that enforcing the borders/laws/screwed up immigration codes this way is representative of Republican thinking is unfair . . . This kind of action and the people who would promote it aren't Republicans, they're reactionaries. Maybe McCain doesn't stand a chance to be President but just as Reagan did with everything, there is an opportunity to approach the "problem" of immigration with optimism rather than the fear and intolerance that most anti-immigrant forces fall into . . . Consider this: There are more Latino voters than ever and they're having more babies but the "line in the sand" rhetoric spouted by the anti-Latino crowd simply ignores a "demographic of one of America's largest business-minded, faith-based, culturally-conservative entities."

Really, if you're not hard line against everything Latino then you might want to read Los Republicanos by Leslie Sanchez.

As for rounding brown people up in front of church and the mental midgets like Krazy Kris Kobach who would probably support this kind of thing along with other similarly reactionary measures the best thing to do is let them spout their nonsense unabated and see how their positions are continually ruled unconstitutional, how they turn off less reactionary allies and ultimately lose one election after the next.

If you really look at something like this in a historical context, there are now clear parallels between the struggle for immigrant rights and the Civil Rights movement even if a great many Black people reject the comparison.

More importantly, dragging some poor woman away in front of a church just looks bad. In the end, it's hard to inspire a real crackdown on religious people instead of violent criminals along with efforts to depict a community of MILLIONS as if they were all some kind of invading horde rather than the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY who are every bit as willing to contribute to this country and economy as anyone else.

In KC, there's an effort to connect the efforts of immigrant rights advocates to a conspiracy among Unions, "La Raza" and the Democrats but the people who spout this kind of garbage only reveal they don't know anything about KC's Latino Community or groups like "The Sons and Daughters of Immigrants" who are primarily comprised of congregations of Churches and other religious organizations.

With every clumsy attempt by the anti-immigrant crowd to steer away from any talk of Comprehensive Immigration Reform and only promote strong-arm tactics . . . They only make their cause seem like an anti-Latino vendetta and a crackdown on people of faith as they celebrate the hardships of one or a few folks being deported while MILLIONS more attempt to make a life in the midst a populace that has seemingly forgotten its immigrant roots.