Who gave foreigners the right to demand that the U.S. not enforce its own laws?

Reader N. raises a good point about the hostile illegal aliens in our midst.

Foreign nationals are demonstrating in U.S. cities, publicly demanding that certain laws of the United States not be enforced within the boundaries of the United States, and, what’s more, that no new laws affecting them be enacted by the Congress of the United States.

That’s the current crisis in a nutshell, and I have already made liberals uncomfortable with it, because even they can understand the next questions:

By what right, anywhere in the Constitution, do CITIZENS OF A FOREIGN POWER petition or make direct demands upon the U.S. Congress?

By what right, anywhere in the Constitution, do CITIZENS OF A FOREIGN POWER insist that the United States has no right to control its own borders and territory?

Is this or is this not a direct attack upon the sovereignty of the United States of America?

Viewed in this somewhat abstract but very stark manner, isn’t the issue quite clear? Either the Congress and President have the authority to control the border of the United States, or they do not; if they do not, then what of sovereignty? Libertarians have the unpleasant habit of regarding a “country” as some collection of consuming/producing human units that all share a few vague ideas, but I still find liberals who have some remnant of love for something called “their country.” Pointing out that these manifestations are not analogs of the civil rights marches, that it ain’t 1968 all over again, that FOREIGN NATIONALS are making public demands of the Congress does make some of them kind of squirm a bit. I hope it will make them think a bit, too.

Unfortunately, I think the answer to the reader’s questions is very simple. These foreigners are doing these outrageous things, because we have empowered them to do so. It is we who have disregarded and shown contempt for our own laws and sovereignty. The Mexicans among us are simply following our lead.

Stephen writes:

Reader N. asks: “Who gave foreigners the right to demand that the U.S. not enforce its own laws?”

Many of the Mestizo Mexicans marching in our streets are not, in my view, really making a demand (which by definition invites an answer). If you pulled them out and questioned them at random, I think you would find whatever “demands” they harbor to be more generic and vague than you might expect, given the fervor they exhibit. What they are really making is a statement: “We have seized your pueblo and proved our manhood.”

There’s no particular demand implicit in that, mostly just obedience to their ancient cultural instinct to assert the taking of territory and proclaim it in public displays of bravado and drama. Even though such demonstrations are often not in their best interests from a strategic standpoint, (Mestizos have a long history of self-defeating, shoot-yourself-in-the-foot political actions) I’m quite certain they still find the impulse to act out in such a manner overpowering. The tradition goes back centuries in Indo Mexico. After the march is over—the strutting and flag-waving finished—Mestizos as a culture do not have a very good track record of following it up with the disciplined, organized, intellectual work of establishing a humane, workable modern society. In fact, as far as I can tell, they have never done so unless/until Europeans came and imposed it upon them.

Stephen may be right, but however we describe the Mexicans’ actions, it still comes down to their asserting themselves against us, to demonstrate their power over us, in our country.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 07, 2006 12:39 PM | Send