Below is my “Get Out the Vote” Speech in Anaheim on Sunday, June 6 (in CA, we have primary races on Tuesday, June 8). My theme was illegal immigration, in support of Arizona’s illegal immigration law. And no, I am not “anti-immigrant.” I am absolutely pro-legal immigration and anti-illegal immigration. How the heck do you think my ancestors got here? Anyway, here is the text of the speech:
President Obama, we know the hole in the floor of the Gulf of Mexico isn’t one that you can plug (even though you did seem more preoccupied with suing British Petroleum and throwing White House parties than protecting Louisiana’s shoreline for well over a month, but I digress). What we do know is there is another hole that you can plug, and I’m talking about that big, gaping hole at the southern border of Arizona that is now wide open for illegal immigrants and drug dealers who are wreaking both economic and criminal havoc on this proud and courageous state! Mr. President, you have publicly denounced a responsible Arizona illegal immigration bill supported by the vast majority of Americans that neither you, nor your Attorney General, nor your Secretary of Homeland Security has even read. In this time of crisis, we find your true colors are anything but beautiful. Don’t you know this bill is even more restrictive on a law enforcement officer than at the federal level in both the US and Mexico? At the federal level, an illegal immigrant may be stopped for any reason with no probable cause, but not in Arizona.
This country is being mocked by illegal immigrants, opportunistic Democratic politicians, and even the President of the United States, intentionally lumping legal immigration with illegal immigration to make conservatives appear to be racists who are against legal immigration (which is patently false). Democrats don’t seem to believe in rule of law when there are votes to be had if amnesty is granted to illegals. What Democrats argue is that Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the US, and will be the largest minority group within the next 20 years. But racial politics is no reason to usurp the rule of law, and excoriate Arizona for protecting its borders when the federal government refuses to do its job! This is a transparent political calculation that is detrimental to our country, and I find it highly presumptuous that Democrats believe Latinos who have migrated here legally would advocate lawlessness, when the reason they have come to America was for economic opportunity, a safe place to raise their families, and rule of law. So I don’t buy this phony argument about legal immigrants, Latino or otherwise, being supportive of illegal immigration, because I know they love this country as much as any other citizen. We are a proud nation of immigrants, and we welcome people of all nationalities who want to come here legally and live the American dream!
One thing that has bothered me deeply about the debate over illegal immigration are the comparisons to our nation’s long and storied civil rights struggle through slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow. This is particularly offensive to me as a black American. The last time I checked, no illegal immigrants were brought here on ships from their country of origin packed like sardines, being denied adequate room, food, or breathing space. They were not thrown overboard in chains for being too weak to survive the long journey. They were not bred like cattle and sold like they were common animals, breaking whole families apart, for the better part of three centuries. They have not had to endure constant racial epithets, have never been lynched for looking a white person in the eye, and have never been turned away from a restaurant, and have never had dogs or fire hoses turned on them for simply wanting to get an education. In fact, Santa Ana College offers scholarships to illegals, while I, a natural-born citizen, would pay full tuition! So why do people who have broken our laws to come here feel persecuted, even when they have access to welfare and healthcare provided by the American taxpayer, and college scholarships? The one being persecuted is you, the taxpayer.
Illegal immigrants come here of their own free will, in search of a better life than they would be able to achieve in their own country. So while I understand why they come, I draw the line when they and their liberal “friends” brazenly demonstrate and falsely cry racism, because Arizona is simply trying to protect its border and its citizens. In Mexico, they would be thrown in jail! I know firsthand, because I lived in Mexico, which has zero tolerance for illegal immigration. So this is not about race, but about the law. Making this about race is nothing more than a smokescreen for skirting the law of this land at best, and at its worst it is a political tool employed by Democrats who are sworn to uphold the law, yet aid and abet lawlessness, and provide sanctuary to illegals! As a sovereign country, we have a duty and a right to determine who comes into our country and who doesn’t. And when you think of it, why on earth would anyone come to this country illegally, lobby for amnesty, and then expect this to continue to be a place worth coming to? If illegal immigrants don’t respect our laws then why should anyone?
As the Vice Chairman of Ethnic Communities for the Orange County Republican Party, working with my good friend and Chairman, Jack Wu, let me talk a little about ethnic communities, and why in this election cycle and moving forward, we need to continually reach out to minorities as a practical matter. This is not to pander to, or to separate people into groups, because we conservatives don’t see people as groups to exploit. We see people as people, not victim groups that we can divide up along race, color, and economic lines and promise favors in exchange for votes, as Democrats do. What we conservatives want is to give everyone an equal opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential, in accord with Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream. But still, many minorities are skeptical of conservatism and the Republican Party, which means we must reach out and stop the liberal media and Democrats from defining us. Remember, we are the party of Lincoln, and the party that fought for over 100 years to bring landmark civil rights legislation to fruition in 1964! So let’s get out there and tell our friends, neighbors, and anyone who will hear the core principles on which we stand, and ask them to get out and vote this Tuesday and in November, because the very future of America is at stake! We cannot concede this country to progressives, or we will all lose. This is the struggle of our generation, and we need each of you to be the one that gets out there to make a difference in your communities and in your nation!
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