Monday, August 22, 2005

Labash in Mexico

If you haven't already, check out Matt Labash's immensely good piece on immigration, North of the Border. It's a work of quiet, serious genius. The best thing Labash has written in a couple years. And that's saying something.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I greatly enjoyed Labash's piece--it provided context and a more complex understanding of the Minuteman phenomenon than what you find on most of the MSM.

I was struck though, by the exchange with Lucy Garza, where Labash write:

"As I brush past Simcox's husky-lab mix lounging on the floor (he found the dog on the border while patrolling), I meet Lucy Garza, his able assistant who doubles as a screener. If Lucy hears any aspiring Minutemen disparaging Hispanics (a naturalized citizen, she's 100 percent Mexican), they are shown the door, although Lucy herself, when it comes to illegal immigration, is a bit of a fire-breather. 'They come over. They reap all the benefits. They rape our country, our system, and they send all the money back home,' she says, tearing up as she describes how the deserts are ravaged by waste. 'It makes me ashamed of my heritage.'"

That is almost eye-rollingly stupid, particularly coming from someone who is 100% Mexican. How she squares this notion that all illegals "rape our country and systems," contributing nothing to our culture, economy, or social fabric, with her avowed anti-discrimination against Hispanics boggles the mind. Not to mention flat-out wrong.