Did the Senate show a sense of common sense?

It was encouraging to see the U.S. Senate vote Thursday in a way that did not offer aid and comfort to those nativist elements of our society who are determined to impose their exclusionary view of our nation upon us all.

What happened was that the Senate failed to approve a measure that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wanted that would have approved funding to pay for 6,000 troops along the U.S./Mexico border. It would have been part of a $59 billion bill to pay for the U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

I FIND THAT encouraging because had the Senate approved this, it literally would have played into the rhetoric of the people whose idea of immigration “reform” is a mass increase in the number of deportations to Latin American countries.

Because the reaction from the “far right” that I have been reading and hearing to President Barack Obama’s decision earlier this week to send 1,200 troops to the U.S./Mexico border was to claim that the president’s gesture was weak and ineffectual.

In fact, those same people who were criticizing Obama were often using the exact same figure of 6,000. They claim sending 1,200 National Guard members to the border is not enough, more people are needed.

This criticism, of course, comes at the exact same time that Obama is being trashed by Latino activists and others for sending ANY troops to the border. So whether Obama is acting like a fascist or a wimp depends entirely upon whom one wants to believe.

I FIND IT encouraging that the “right” won’t get their 6,000 armed soldiers along the border. Because those same people who claim that 1,200 is a weak gesture also are offended that the soldiers being sent to the border by the president are being restricted to certain support duties, which would allow the U.S. Border Patrol to free up its officers (who are actually trained in the art of detecting who does and does NOT belong on each side of the border) to do more patrols – possibly detecting more people trying to slip past the official U.S. ports of entry.

I literally have read rhetoric around the Internet by people who want actual “combat troops” sent to the border to take over patrol duties. We have some people in this country who are sick enough to want to turn this action into a shooting war.

Which is why I do not get as worked up as some Latino activists do in being upset with Obama for sending any troops to the U.S./Mexico border. I realize things could be worse, and it likely is the fact that we have a president whose underlying philosophy is sympathetic to the situation of the fast-growing Latino population in this country that keeps the nativists from prevailing all the way around.

Although the fact that I know he basically is sympathetic also makes it infuriating to many of us the degree to which the president feels the need to make gestures of support to the opposition on the immigration issue – because those opponents have pretty much made it clear they are not going to give Obama credit for anything, even when he gives them what they want.

BECAUSE ONE CAN argue that is what he has done on the immigration issue.

The Obama years have given us an increase in the number of people being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with the continuation of policies implemented by past presidents who definitely were NOT sympathetic to newcomers to this nation.

“Efforts to overhaul our broken immigration system have taken a back seat to dramatic escalations of border enforcement including placing troops on the U.S. border to serve in a function for which they have not been trained,” said Rosa Rosales, national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, in a prepared statement.

This step-up in enforcement comes at a time when the number of actual people caught trying to enter the United States through Mexico at a place other than a port of entry has declined by more than half.

ONE COULD ARGUE that the problem of people slipping into the country undetected is not as serious now as it was a few years ago, and that the emphasis on border patrols and enforcement is merely being done to try to appease people with the ridiculous notion that the key to improving our society is to remove people who aren’t just like themselves.

Which is why we Latinos wonder at times what it will take to shift the focus of this issue onto the proper element – trying to figure out how to straighten out the convoluted immigration process so that people who are here who can (and do) make worthwhile contributions to our society ought to be able to live here openly without harassment.

These people who think the key is to send 6,000 soldiers to the U.S./Mexico border are about increasing the harassment.

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