The Shot Heard Across Southern California

This past Wednesday there was a skirmish over immigration in Escondido, a small city just a bit north of San Diego. Three of the five city council members voted to pass a law prohibiting landlords from renting to illegal aliens. Although it is a small and local victory we can only hope it's effect will reverberate nationally much as Hazleton already has.

For those who don't live along a major invasion artery this might give you some idea what the situation will shortly be like for you:

ESCONDIDO – The immigration debate raging here and across the nation seems to attract metaphors about rushing water – flood, deluge, awash, rising tide – to describe the numbers of people flowing illegally across the border.

City Councilman Sam Abed prefers precise figures to metaphorical references. Abed's numbers are startling: One Escondido resident in four, he contends, is an illegal immigrant.

Emphasis mine. Chew on it a moment.

Would you believe there are some who quibble over the numbers? And at any rate they have a problem with local government getting involved.

(Escondido Mayor Lori Holt) Pfeiler doesn't see it that way. Illegal immigration, she said, is a federal issue.

“If you want to stop the flow of illegal immigrants, you have to stop it at the border and on the job,” she said. “This whole debate about quality of life – how do you measure that? How do you define it?

“If the figures here really were 25 percent, what would happen if we removed 25 percent of our workers, 25 percent of our renters, 25 percent of our customers, in one fell swoop? It would be fascinating to do that and see what would happen.

Fascinating, yes. Is this a trick question? What would happen is there would be 25% less people. Less production and less consumption. Less load on the infrastructure. Less impact on the environment. Less crowded classrooms and hospitals and jails. Lower taxes. In fact, because the group that would be reduced tends to be more poor and less educated we can expect the positive effects of sending them away to exceed what would happen if we simply selected 25% at random.

What's the illegal ratio where you live? There are 10-20 million illegal immigrants in the US, whose legal population is just topping 300 million. That would be about 3-6% on average. What numbers would impress you? Whatever they are they'll be reached soon enough if the US maintains the status quo.

In defiance of such fatalism Marie Waldron, Sam Abed, and Ed Gallo voted to act:

Action begins when a resident, an official or business files a valid complaint with the city.

Landlord is then required to produce proof of a tenant's legal status.

City verifies documents with the federal government.

Property owner would be notified of a violation.

Business license suspended if illegal tenants not removed within five days.

This hardly seems unreasonable to me, and in support I appeared outside city hall before the meeting Wednesday. Later I watched the preceedings on local cable.

If you want to see what real people really have to say in an area inundated by illegal immigrants, unsquelched and undistorted by the overwhelmingly pro-immigrant mainstream media, then go watch the meeting.

Allow me to summarize.

Those showing up in support of the new law were fewer, older, and frankly a bit more loner/oddball. Their speakers were generally respectful and thankful to the board. They see the flood of illegal immigrants bringing poverty, crime, and disease; and consuming the city budget. To stop this they want US immigration laws strictly enforced. They ask local government to act mainly because the Mexican, US federal, and state governments have not.

Those opposed to the new law were greater in number (outside at least), and generally younger. They included many children. Their speakers generally showed distain for the board. The most honest among them were obviously motivated by compassion. Their God knows no borders. No one is illegal. The immigrants are poor and we should help them.

This is understandable, though it seems hopelessly naive. There is no end to poverty. Once the other 9/10ths of Mexico have moved north who shall the US import next? Where will everyone go once the US has been turned into the same sort of 3rd world shithole Mexico already is?

Far worse than the compassionists are the slick and well-educated weasels who pursue instead one of several angles with a thuggish flavor.

First there is the ACLU lawyer who questions the constitutionality of the new law and threatens to sue. Does the A in ACLU stand for Alien now? Escondido taxpayers harmed by the ACLU's actions might consider a class action lawsuit of their own.

The mayor agrees with the ACLU that immigration is entirely a federal responsibility. Law-abiding citizens are left to wonder why when a cop spots a bale of marijuana in a car driving through Escondido they don't say, "whoa drugs, that's a federal issue, and we can't even call the DEA"! The notion that state and local government has no right to protect its citizens and carry out their democratically expressed will is nothing but the wishful thinking of criminals and their apologists.

Then there are the self-proclaimed activists who should know full well the generousity and tolerance Escondido has shown immigrants for decades. Even so they can't keep themselves from throwing wild accusations of unfairness and rasism, obviously getting very wound up in their projected hatred. Their tone and demeanor at times becomes menacing.

Then there are the landlords and business owners. Does everyone realize this law will cost them money? Funny, they didn't mention that it's black market money. And they seem not at all concerned about the costs to their law-abiding neighbors.

Landlords also say they don't know who is illegal or how to check. In this they have a good point. A point that puts in perspective the modest progress that has been made in the fight against open borders and how long a road there is left to travel.

Why won't the government provide a secure, reliable, and drop dead easy way to verify anyone's citizenship or immigration status? Why won't they make this seemingly definitive service of government available at little or no cost? Why won't they apply this database to anyone who interacts with the government in any way? Voting, traffic stop, DMV, hospital visit, ... How if the government lacks the wherewithal to this can they require small business owners to shoulder such a burden?

I recently stumbled across some very interesting comments on the vast gulf between the elites and ordinary folk on immigration. It goes a long way toward explaining why US borders are open and why they will stay that way unless we continue to fight against it. Thankfully the Escondido city council isn't yet controlled by either the elites or their imported lackeys.