"The strangers who sojourn with you shall be to you as the natives among you, and you shall love them as yourself..."

(Leviticus 19:33-34)

brownfemipower has another powerful post on immigration.

For all it’s rhetoric stating otherwise, historically, the U.S. has never been all that welcoming to immigrants. The Irish, Chinese, Mexican, Polish, Haitian, Japanese have all been on the brunt end of anti-immigrant rhetoric. And that list is not exhaustive by any means. In most cases, economics pushed anti-immigrant aggression. That is, the dirty Wops/Chinks/Spics/Poles etc. stole jobs from those who deserved them–”real” Americans aka white middle class men.

But right now, things are different. Right now, although anti-immigrant aggression still centers on economics (the dirty spics are stealing jobs/making us pay for their welfare), the driving force behind the debate, the issue that really triggers the debate, is the “war on terror.”

Some of the first anti-immigrant organizations in the U.S. to capitalize on anti-Arab “war on terror” policies were the hate organizations the Minutemen Project and the American Patrol Report. Both organizations were classified as hate groups by the U.S. government pre 9-11. They are known for their terror antics on the border–hunting human beings down while armed and on horseback, forcibly detaining and pistol whipping captured border crossers, and destroying water stations put up to prevent deaths. The American Border Report even went so far as to raise money to buy a plane that they could use to “monitor” the border with.

But all of this was conveniently forgotten by politicians, government officials, and universities in a post 9-11 world. “Liberal” John Kerry and Columbia University played host to Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist. Media personalities like Pat Buchanan and Lou Dobbs openly supported each group. And eventually a national debate ensued–are the Minutemen’s tactics justifiable?

Almost nobody recognized or talked about the reason why these organizations gained such instant popularity. In a post 9-11 world, they had both taken the time to restructure their campaigns significantly...

much more, go read