The Bloody Truth Behind Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric

A week after a white supremacist attacked the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, and on the day that three teenagers are being sentenced in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, for brutally beating and killing a Mexican immigrant, it's time we confront the fact that behind violently anti-immigrant and supremacist rhetoric is a real urge and a real encouragement for actual violence.

On May 30, 2009, a group of armed men and women killed 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father in Arivaca, AZ. The vigilantes were Minutemen, members of a "civilian defense corps" that polices the US-Mexico border for undocumented immigrants. When Jason Bush, 34, Shawna Forde, 41, and Albert Gaxiola, 42, allegedly busted down the front door of the Flores home and murdered Raul Junior Flores and his daughter and seriously injured Flores' wife, the armed gang was supposedly looking for drugs and cash to fund their anti-immigrant organization.

Arizona police allege Shawna Forde was the ringleader. Shawna Forde was the Executive Director of Minuteman American Defense (M.A.D.) and a spokesperson for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), often touted as a "mainstream" voice opposing immigration. But if Forde was indeed involved, the bloody acts in Arivaca reveal the true hatred and contempt behind anti-immigrant organizations in our country. Many well-meaning, average Americans who have understandable concerns about our economy and how they're going to support their families have been convinced that anti-immigrant organizations are on their side and feel their pain. But the reality is, organizations like the Minutemen and FAIR are only co-opting our economic insecurity (an insecurity that's actually shared by immigrants and citizens alike) to mask their real agenda, motivated purely by hatred for those who are different.

It was the same thing in Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler started by talking about how Jews were threatening the German economy and should all be expelled from the country. And then he killed six million.

Are we really so naïve as a nation to think that the anti-immigrant fervor, from Lou Dobbs to the Minutemen, is anything about our economy or our well-being or our way of life? After all, our nation was built by immigrants, our strongest economic times in recent years have been driven by high rates of immigration and even now, our economy actively lures low-wage worker from across the border to get back on firm footing. Do we really think we'd be reacting as negatively if the immigrants coming here had light skin and spoke French?

Jason Bush, one of the other Minutemen charged in the Arizona murder, was charged in another slaying in 1997 in Washington State. He allegedly bragged to a police informant about "killing a Mexican." The man Bush killed was a 29-year-old homeless man who had been sleeping under a blanket near a parking lot when Bush stabbed him several times with a knife.

Regarding the Arizona murders, the Minutemen American Defense group has placed the following statement on its website:

MAD does not endorse or condone any events that are outside of the normal boundaries of any normal private citizen who is concerned about the current conditions of the opened border condition and we do work totally within the boundaries and with the total cooperation and knowledge of all appropriate Law enforcement agencies in our areas of operation.

While revealing how ironic it is that groups like M.A.D. criticize new immigrants for not speaking English, the statement does anything but condemn violence against immigrants. It's worth noting here that Forde and her gang allegedly entered the Flores home wearing law enforcement attire. Groups like the Minutemen are pretending to uphold laws that they flagrantly violate. Who are the real law breakers? Immigrants who come to the United States without legal permission but every single economic invitation, to work for companies that actively recruit them in order to support their desperate families back home? Or the vigilantes who prowl our southern border with assault rifles and camouflage and raid innocent families' homes and slaughter 9-year-old children?

"This was a planned home invasion where the plan was to kill all the people inside this trailer so there would be no witnesses," said Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County, Arizona. "To just kill a 9-year-old girl because she might be a potential witness to me is just one of the most despicable acts that I have heard of."

I actually feel badly for Shawna Forde. She was fed a load of crap about how her economic troubles and sense that the 21st century was passing her by were the fault not of something vague like the public education system or American trade policies or Reaganomics but something specific, something dark-skinned, something that fit perfectly into the us-versus-them scary story that readily embraces misplaced blame: immigrants. Never mind that we were all in the same boat, sinking fast, immigrants and citizens alike --- and never mind that shaking her fist at foreigners and patrolling the US-Mexico border was distracting Shawna from taking action that would have brought about real change, like making our economy more democratic, changing tax policy to help working families, easing the burden of health care costs and gas. No, Shawna believed the hate mongerers on CNN and the internet and stuck to her guns. Literally. But if the allegations against her are true, Shawna can really only be blamed for taking to extremes the garbage that so many Americans believe is true, the lies we swallow to make the bigger pill of America's real, shared problems seemingly dissolve but in truth get stuck in our collective throat as we're looking the other way.

The alleged acts of Shawna Forde and her gang are inhumane. Our outdated immigration policies are inhumane. We can and must reform our immigration laws to make America work better for all of us, immigrants and citizens alike. That is the only pro-America side of this debate. Everything else must be unmasked for what it is -- a façade for an anti-immigrant bloodbath. On which side will you stand?

Follow Sally Kohn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sallykohn

Comments

[StokeyBob]

Some have pointed out that they were members of anti-illegal immigration groups.

All of the anti-illegal immigration groups that I have heard of support upholding the United States Constitution and the rule of law.

Maybe we should point out they were also members of another group that supports lawlessness, and aids and abets criminals.

The United States of America!

[Eagleman]

This is a very insightful article, well thought out and effectively articulated.

CNN should fire Lou Dobbs.

Let's join force in this global village. We should give the border control to United Nations.

With economy in the tank, we should dissolve the Immigration department. Please should become citizen automatically when they enter our country.

We should also mandate by law that every American citizen should invite these new immigrants stay in their house until they get a job and live on their own.

God bless United Nations

[BumpyKnight]

Borders are for workers, not corporations.
Too bad we globalized corporate citizenship without globalizing worker rights.

[jsgaetano]

But if conservatives can't be terrorists, whatever will they have to talk about?

[WilliamL]

This "issue" has been going on for decades in respect to Mexican citizens moving to the United States and failing to go through the proper process involved in immigrating to the US. I have spent my fair time around those involved around this and sim. issues and this sort of post is typical. The attacks and murder of these children are being expolited in such a way to smear those who do not agree with her stance in the same way that some attempt to smear all in the military due to the actions of one or a few.

My position on this has been very straight forward-the Mexican gov't has failed to provide for their own people-from employment, education, health care and thus they left their own country in order to get the things they need in life. Most reasonable people do not blame these people's need to survive, desire for a better life. For those of us who have dealt with certain elements of these individuals in the school systems and society at large, all the sugar coating is nausiating.

Getting pregnant upon arrivial in order to drop anchor and then using their own children as lines to this country is a pretty interesting tactic, exploiting their own children in the same way this author exploited the murder of this child to advance her own agenda.

[AnimalLover6]

The problem with the immigration debate is that neither the "pro-immigrant" nor "anti-immigrant" rhetoric is honest. The language of the left conflates all immigrants, pretending that there is no difference between legal and illegal immigratio­n--effecti­vely arguing against immigration law itself. It then uses that interesting sleight-of-tongue to dismiss and mock as nefarious and "racist" any argument whatsoever against illegal immigratio­n--effecti­vely silencing any legitimate concerns (and there are many). This is, in part, due to a generation of leftists who are terrified of being seen as racist. In addition, few of them actually live in communities that have been seriously affected by illegal immigration. . . . On the other hand, the "anti-immigrant" team has more than its share of racists--many of whom are downright nutcases. And until it publicly denounces the racism inherent in its ranks, it will remain an easy target for the other side. The truth is that illegal immigration is a serious problem for this nation for many reasons: environmental, social, economic, etc. The other truth is that the real culprits here are: the Mexican government (which is dumping its poor on the other side of the border), American employers, and the American government, who let the employers get away with destroying the labor base of this nation--through both insourcing and outsourcing. If those who are upset about illegal immigration want to get angry at someone, don't blame the immigrants: turn your focus to those who are truly responsible. JMO.

[randyjet]

I am one of the few liberals in the MCDC and I have been on border watch with them. They DO denounce and refuse to admit any racists into the MCDC. I had to pay a $50 fee for a background check to make sure I was NOT a KKKer, ex-con, etc.. It is even more evident when people know that the main leaders now of the MCDC are Hispanic. I think that says enough about that. I even get more incensed when Lou Dobbs is called anti-HIspanic, anti-immigrant etc. He is married to a Latina, he worked in the fields with immigrants, and personally knows more about the situation than most..

I have lived on the border for years, and I have a pretty good idea of the problems. It is the illegals fault, as well as the fault of the employers who profit hugely from their labor. If you think that the nuts of the right are a problem, how about the fact that pro-illegal folks are in the hip pocket of big business. I think that the fact that the Chamber of Commerce and all business sectors love amnesty should be enough to know that pro-illegals are against the interests of American workers. Any person who thinks of themselves as being progressive cannot be in favor of illegals who in fact do drive down wages for all. Especially the most vulnerable who are Latino, black, and poor whites.

[frankg3400]

You hit the nail on the head, I'm from Tucson, AZ and the hatred of Americans and Mexican Americans who don't speak Spanish by illegals is sickening. The TUSD (Tucson Unified School District) had a La Raza Studies program which was teaching anarchy against the White man, not to trust police etc and to revere Che'. Also, as horrible as the stories mentioned in the blog, they seem to forget all the thousands of Americans who have been murdered and raped by illegal aliens. They are NOT immigrants, they are Illegal Aliens.

[Pilar Valdez]

This literally made me cry. I do not readily cry often.

"It was the same thing in Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler started by talking about how Jews were threatening the German economy and should all be expelled from the country. And then he killed six million."

We need new legislation.

We are supposed to be a first-world nation, but my son's teacher just got fired, 7-months pregnant and I was late to his Kinder graduation because of a Laker fan parking lot on the Highway 10 (we have funds for Parades).

I believe issues like this one fall into the hands of our educators, within the institution we call America which begins at home, but doesn't end there. A group of full-grown Americans congregate and execute in the name of whatever cause shows how backwards we truly are. To my nation: that family lived in a trailer. That girl was in 4th grade. I'm not sure who these people are, but there are far wealthier donors available I'm sure. This is all of our faults, we bite our tongue and punch our time-cards until it is far too late, then we sit in front of our PC's and cry.

Nobody desrves this.

[Willie12345]

It's too bad about this loss of life. Murder is fundamentally wrong and there is universal acceptance of that fact. Killing of children is unthinkable. Of this there is not debate, whatsoever.

However, Illegals should not be permitted to stay in this country, period. They came here illegally, they know that their here illegally and they should leave. If they had children here, the crime is on the head of the parents. The parents and children should leave together. They should not benefit from their criminal acts.

There are thousand of people who want to come to the US, legally. They wait patiently for permission. Others sneak into this country, unwanted and without permission. So the illegals are "cutting in line" so to speak.

We need to get control of the border for several reasons, one being the drug cartels and the other the illegals that are coming into the country, uninvited.

[randyjet]

As a long time liberal, veteran, anti-Vietnam war activist, I am appalled at the fact that Ms Kohn refuses to use rational arguments and facts. She knows nothing of US history since she asks would we be as upset at the illegals if they were lighter skinned and spoke French. I have to remind her of the fact that the Irish did not get a warm welcome when they LEGALLY immigrated here, and they had light skin and spoke ENGLISH, albeit with a nice accent.

She also refuses to see any difference between LEGAL immigrants and ILLEGAL ones. That alone shows her lack of logic or rational thinking. I am opposed to ALL ILLEGAL immigrants of any color or nationality. I think that the American people have a RIGHT to decide who may enter our country and who may not. It is too bad that she hates democracy and our form of government. She obviously thinks that only the laws she likes should be enforced and screw the rest of America.

I suggest she read Barbara Jordan's comments on immigration when she delivered her report to Congress as head of Clinton's commission on immigration. I guess she would consider her a racist and nativist too, along with Dobbs, myself and all others who believe in the rule of law.

[Readbetweentheelevens]

I most likely agree with your view of the article, but I would also add that the only rule of law being followed in this area is the rule of money.

The migration of low wage workers to the U.S. is policy -- and that policy is part of the history of which you speak.

The Federal government allows low wage workers to enter the country and work here, and when it no longer needs them, pushes them out. They are workers without any rights.

If you want to stop the migration of low wage workers to the U.S., stop them from getting hired. The story starts and ends there. You'll find that their biggest supporters are the business community. It will be a cold day in hell when the U.S. doesn't need the unskilled, low wage worker.

All you have to do is convince the U.S. business man that he needs to increase his costs and hire U.S. workers. That, is the debate in real dollars -- real dollars that influence the federal congress.

[Merg]

Thank you for pointing out the history of Irish Immigrants in the US. I am so sick of people who equate NAZI Germany to every immaginable 'wrong' in this country. I generally just stop reading at the first mention of NAZI. It is very true that both the pro and anti immigration supporters have failed to address the essentials of this debate that keep progress on the issue from happening...that pro-immigrant supporters do not want to accept restrictions on employers who hire illegal workers, sometimes deliberately, to avoid paying legal workers a fair wage and anti-immigrant forces who wish to promote the 'rights' of illegal workers to cross the borders without benefit of documentation.
I believe a middle ground is possible, but only if both sides are willing to get off the high horses and deal.

[Merg]

Whoops....I meant to say 'anti-immigrant forces WHO DO WISH to promote the 'rights' of illegal workers to cross the border and work without benefit of documentation'.

[Merg]

OK...one last try....I will try to express this thought better to amend the above comments..­..'anti-im­migrant forces do not believe that there may in fact be a need for some low wage workers in some industries to be granted legal work status.'

[dncrunner]

Shawna Forde misrepresented herself as a spokesperson for FAIR. This unconfirmed characterization is being used to smear FAIR, and the entire immigration reform movement. The tactics are familiar – if you can’t win the argument, you attack your opponent. In this instance unfortunately the attack involves exploiting a tragic murder to advance a political agenda. We can all agree or disagree on immigration policy but the retaliatory tactics of the SPLC have now hit a new low. The facts are this: According to FAIR’s June 16 press release, “Shawna Forde “is not and never was an employee, member, activist, or donor of FAIR and most certainly has never been authorized to speak on behalf of the organization. Ms. Forde misrepresented herself as a spokesperson for FAIR in a 2006 appearance on KYVE-TV in Yakima, Washington, and the producers of the program were remiss in failing to authenticate her false claims. “ Stories that accuse FAIR of having any association with these appalling individuals are completely false and should be disputed and the motives for these attacks should be called into question.

[connski]

In her Nov. 14, 2006, KYVE-TV show appearance Forde is said to have replaced a FAIR representative who canceled.

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2009/06/15/accused-nativist-murderer-once-claimed-to-represent-fair/

The screenshot in the above linkt clearly reads "Minuteman & Activist, FAIR". How did she get on the show? Why does the banner read FAIR? If she misrepresented herself did FAIR protest to the station, or to Forde?

[connski]

Here's a post at Crooks and Liars in which Dave Niewert questions the TV station and Ira Mehlman and Bob Baker of FAIR about the TV program and Shawna Forde:

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/minuteman-tactical-leadermurder-susp

A quote from Niewert's conversation with Baker"

"I then described to him the details of the crime she's charged with: Ordering a home-invasion robbery in which the victims, including two children, were to be gunned down so that there would be not witnesses. The result: a 9-year-old girl and her father dead, their mother wounded -- and a wounded member of the gang, shot when the mother fired back.

He said: "Ah, that's not her. She wouldn't do something like that. That's what a common criminal would do, right?"

Yes, well, it is. As I remarked to Baker: that's one helluva way for someone to show her zealousness for "the rule of law." "

[Willie12345]

I agree with your comments. Unfortunately our elected government has decided to enforce some laws and not others. Perhaps, we should pay some taxes and not others. Seems fair to me.

[connski]

This story and its ramifications must get full airing in the so-called mainstream media.

I've done a little research on these groups' attitudes and Forde's connections:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/15/742948/-A-little-Minuteman-research

This includes a link to Ms. Flores' 911 call during the home invasion. Some may find it
sensational to include it, but its public evidence and part of the story.

[Dee321]

Sally,
I am glad you are bringing attention to this issue.
Nine year old Brisenia Flores deserves Justice.

The Minutemen are responsible for training Forde and Bush and nurturing an atmosphere of Fear and Hate. Forde and Bush have been border watching for years with an arsenal of weapons. One can only wonder how many deaths in the desert are attributtal to these folks who were so quick to murder an innocent 9 year old.

[TRYKER]

Thank you for writing this. The hate emails and AM Radio are ginning up the misfits to fit into this phony army. Its a terrible stage we are in and it will require citizens to come out and talk truth to power.
Its so much more convenient for the Banks on Wall Street to have you hating immigrants than the real crook in the Bank.

[Porter Corn]

Yes Ben, and funny how nativist groups such as ALIPAC are in full damage control mode, urging their minions to spam any site that posts on this subject, with denials and more hype.

Groups like ALIPAC, VDARE, FAIR and others associated with the Tanton network share equal responsibility for this tragedy. Deny all you want to

[Ben Dixon]

Funny how quick liberals are to blame all conservative for the actions of a few, yet they will fight tooth and nail not to paint members of thier favored groups with the same broad brush.

[ConstanceReader]

Name one liberal, just one, who acted out their beliefs by shooting an opponent in the head. Otherwise, your argument is worthless.

[TopProf]

facts are stubborn things, Ben. Got some?