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Illegal immigration is not the first issue a person would associate with the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, as the illegal immigration issue becomes more politicized, his name has become more associated with the illegal immigration movement. Even today, The New York Times published an article, Growing Unease for Some Blacks on Immigration. It is less a reflection of whether blacks (or whites for that matter) sympathize with illegal immigrants and more a matter that illegal immigrants and the movement’s leaders are exploiting a movement that was actually rooted in fundamental rights.

Lost in the debate on whether or not illegal immigrants work hard jobs and want to contribute to America is whether they have the “right” to come to America. If these same groups of immigrants were deprived of fundamental rights in Mexico and were protesting Mexican President Vicente, I would fully support their protest against the Mexican government. However, the illegal immigrants in this country have broken the law to sneak into this country. It has nothing at all to do with whether or not they can or will work hard and take jobs that other Americans may or may not take. Rather, it has everything to do with the fact that we are a nation of laws. When those laws are not respected, we have become a land without rights and without protection.

Although I am not entirely sure of Dr. King’s personal life, I have great respect and value for the issues of equality he fought for. It is a fact that our country had times of major racial discrimination. I firmly believe we have accomplished much since those times and that through time we have eliminated a large majority of that discrimination. The historical discrimination we suffered, however, has nothing to do with illegal immigration into the United States.

Some of the Leftist leaders in the country, including the likes of Jesse Jackson, have tried to portray the illegal immigration movement as a battle for rights. The fact is simple: they have fundamental rights granted by God and they have government-given rights provided by their home country. The United States government nor any government should ever trounce on the fundamental God-given rights of anybody. However, simply because they want a better lifestyle in the United States, it does not mean they have the right to cross our border illegally. After all, what message does this send to those immigrants who worked long and hard to obtain legal citizenship?

If there were blacks who had illegally immigrated to the United States, I don’t envisage Dr. King granting them the rights he fought for. No, his movement was about giving black Americans the same government rights that their white counterparts experienced. The illegal immigration movement is about essentially removing the identity of the United States. No longer would we be a country of laws nor a country of borders. Instead, we would be considered a conglomeration of citizens of any other country that wanted to take abode in the United States.

The problem is that the illegal immigration movement is wrongfully being portrayed as the immigration movement. As I have said in previous posts, I dare say there are many, if any, of you reading this that can claim you and your ancestors are originally from the United States. We are a country built upon immigration. Most of us have never lost sight of that. However, we have rules and regulations over immigration into the United States. One of the biggest reasons for such rules, especially in recent years, is our national security.

Although we previously turned more of a blind eye to our national security, I think it has become evident that there truly are evil people that want to come to our country to hurt us. There are people in this world that hate freedom and democracy and will do anything and everything they can to destroy it. How will the United States have any identity if we do nothing to protect and secure our borders?

The great exploitation from this movement is that while illegal immigrants search for political leaders in the United States to protect them, certain political leaders are looking for yet another group of voters to exploit. The Left is comprised of a large conglomeration of vastly different groups of people, many of which have nothing in common. The Left works through emotion rather than common beliefs among one another. By framing this issue in terms of “rights,” the Left is trying to play to emotion rather than logic, and they have completely lost touch with the true issue.

While certain leaders of the Left continue to exploit new blocs of constituents, we must not lose sight of what the issues are: respect of the law and our national security. The rest of us continue to welcome with open arms those who pursue the legal path to citizenship!

Jeff Slade is the editor of jeffslade.blogspot.com. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.

Editor's Note: This commentary was originally published by San Francisco Cronicle, May 3, 2006. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.

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