White interests even dominate in the Alternet comments

This is amazing.

Our white-hating friend Sally Kohn calls illegal immigrants “heroes,” but the commenters beg to differ:

On May 1, 2010, hundreds of thousands of heroes marched in cities and towns across the United States demanding a workable path to citizenship that will move our entire nation forward together. Just as it would be unthinkable for President Obama and Congress to ignore the demands of military war heroes, we cannot ignore the dire situation facing these heroes of economic wars our country has wrought. Just as undocumented immigrants recognize higher good than broken immigration laws, the President and Congress must find higher guidance than what is considered politically safe.

The word hero comes from Greek meaning to protect or defend. Undocumented immigrants are protecting and defending something much more important than borders (which big business erased long ago). Undocumented immigrants are defending the very definition of America, one that has always promised opportunity for all newcomers and, with any hope, always will.

Now a few choice comments, but note — a vast majority of the comments are in this vein:

felixthecatxxxx 23 hours ago
3 people liked this.

This is so true- they are heroes, because, well, …..ummmm….well, they did more than you did today!

This is why illegal aliens who commit numerous felonies and misdemeanors just by illegally crossing an imaginary border must be regarded as Real Americans and heroes. Ten million? 50 million? 200 million? Let ’em just keep on coming. Just try and stop them you right-wing American commie Nazis!

2tchr 18 hours ago in reply to felixthecatxxxx
1 person liked this.

Right. I mean what the hell is the big deal about making American dollars to send over to family in Mexico??? What is the big deal about having babies and putting them in American schools even though illegals don’t pay any taxes for schools? And so what if some white guy gets murdered in the crossfire of drug cartels? We liberals are so enlightened aren’t we??

thatsmrahole2u 22 hours ago
2 people liked this.

Sally, I can’t agree with you. You’re suffering from rich white person guilt complex. You’re saying that the man that breaks into my house to steal my food should be given a free pass because he was a hungry man from a 3rd world country. And in fact you feel that I should honor him and tell him what a hero he is because he worked really hard to break down my door and get past my dog. Get real Sally. They are not heros. They are criminals.

Keith 1 hour ago in reply to clvngodess

Screaming ‘white privilege’ is not going to help your case any more. That’s over. The privilege is citizenship and that is what matters here. What does holding American citizenship actually MEAN anymore when it is so cheapened by the acceptance of millions of people who don’t think they should have to follow the rules?. It becomes meaningless. What you are demanding is akin to a suicide pact based on supposed white guilt. The hardworking families of America who are facing job loss, foreclosure and bankruptcy after doing everything right aren’t buying the guilt trip anymore when they see the government allowing so many people to live in this country illegally while giving those that have followed the rules little or no help at all.

devonnoll 11 hours ago
1 person liked this.

This article is a load of … well, you know what I mean. These people are not heroes. Heroes are people that a person can respect and who do great good in the face of great evil. These people knowingly and willingly enter our country illegally (which means breaking our laws), using human traffickers who would just as soon abandon them to die, kidnap them (or their children for ransom), or enslave them as not, and who take jobs that Americans will do and have done until they arrived. They are not heroes, they are ignorant fools who allow themselves to be preyed upon repeatedly until someone either kills them or stops them. This is insanity of the greatest magnitude – not heroics! They are not heroes – they are, for lack of a better word, invaders and criminals, who have crossed our borders in violation of our laws. They are not heroes – and anyone who tries to say they are is an even bigger fool and needs a good dictionary!

Great_Satan 8 hours ago
1 person liked this.

You’re children will piss on your graves. In 2050, when the US population is 450 million, when Abortion rights, gay rights, women’s rights and race relations have been destroyed by the people that you invited in and feed at your expense, it is your children that will suffer. When any job that can be found offers only slave wages. What do you think will happen to “Worker’s rights” when 50% of the population- 275 million people- are under 25? Americans save a few corporate owners will live in the same filth that can be seen in Mexico City or Cairo.
Please put that lie that you call “Immigration Reform” on a Nationwide referendum this November. You will see Americans vote to have the illegal invaders skull drug out of this country.

I love seeing the illegal protesters fly Mexican flags under upside down US flags. Those idiots with an average IQ of 80 are so stupid as to believe this will help sell their cause to the American people.

timenotonmyside 4 hours ago in reply to Great_Satan

Great_Satan, you stated ” You’re children will piss on your graves. In 2050, when the US population is 450 million, when Abortion rights, gay rights, women’s rights and race relations have been destroyed by the people that you invited in and feed at your expense, it is your children that will suffer. When any job that can be found offers only slave wages.”

I AGREE WITH YOU.

It’s NUMBERS – and the fact that America CANNOT SUSTAIN THE MASSIVE POPULATION INFLUX THAT HAS ALREADY OCCURED.

Immigration now adds more than one million people—the equivalent of two Denvers—to our population every year. At our current pace of immigration, our population will grow to more than 400 million people by 2050. That’s tens of millions of additional people needing schools, jobs, and housing—as well as water and other precious natural resources.

TODAYS IMMIGRATION IS COSTLY

Unlike previous eras of immigration, today’s immigrants are 50 percent more likely to use welfare than native-born Americans. Providing for the needs of immigrants costs American taxpayers as much as $20 billion a year. We cannot provide high quality education, health care, and retirement security for our own people if we continue to bring in endless numbers of poor, unskilled immigrants. America is still working to meet the challenge of assisting our own poor and disadvantaged; mass immigration compounds the problem and impedes efforts to raise the standards of living for all.

MASS IMMIGRATION DEPRESSES THE WAGES OF POORER AMERICANS

The gap between rich and poor in America continues to widen. Job competition by waves of new immigrants depresses the wages and salaries of American workers and hits hardest at minority workers and those without high school degrees. America’s focus must be on training our own labor force to face competition from abroad, not on importing new workers to compete for jobs at home

.
MASS IMMIGRATION CONFLICTS WITH TODAYS NATIONAL SECURITY PRIORITIES

Current immigration levels are so high that immigration officials are unable to thoroughly screen immigrants before allowing them into the country—as September 11, 2001 tragically underscored. Lower legal immigration levels, an entry-exit system to detect those who have overstayed their visas, and heightened enforcement efforts are essential in order to regain control of the system and meet today’s heightened need to know who is coming into the country.

MASS IMMIGRATION IS STRAINING OUR ALREADY FRAGILE ENVIROMENT

As our population grows, demands for resources increase; increased pollution, deforestation, waste, habitat destruction, and soil erosion are the result. America’s environmental priorities can’t be reconciled with the new infrastructure and resource consumption that continued population growth will require. Resources like water and energy are straining under the constantly increasing demand.

IT’S TIME TO REDUCE IMMIGRATION TO SENSIBLE , MANAGEABLE LEVELS

America needs an immigration policy that helps us reach our goals as a nation, a policy that takes into account the environment, the economy, and the ability of our infrastructure to accommodate large numbers of immigrants.

THE CHOICE IS OURS

U.S. immigration policy must be designed to benefit the American public and to ensure a healthy and prosperous future for their descendants.

Keith 55 minutes ago in reply to Great_Satan

I agree. If you want to see where we are heading check out this story:

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local-beat/Schoo…

and this:

http://www.morganhilltimes.com/news/265420-hisp…

When American kids can’t wear depictions of the US flag to a public school on Cinco de Mayo without being threatened with suspension something is VERY WRONG.

And the more people on the left scream ‘racism’ at these kids and their parents the angrier they will get. And that anger will out at the voting booth.

As other people have posted here I, too, am a progressive. But again, I do not believe that (paraphrasing Lincoln) that progressivism is a national suicide pact.

cedarriver 4 hours ago

Dear Sally,

Go see what happens when you try to ILLEGALLY cross into Mexico’s southern border. You’ll quickly rethink your idiocy.

And you are right, they aren’t undocumented immigrants. They are illegal aliens breaking the law just like they would be in any other country. I agree with the comment above. What to be here? Let’s reform a fast track to citizenship so you can contribute to something other than the continuation of slave labor in America. If you need to wash your hands of some filth, wash them over your pandering to those who wish to enslave Mexicans in our fields, sweatshops and quaint little businesses you allude to….

You area a freaking trip.

timenotonmyside 3 hours ago

PUBLIC OPINION POLLS ON IMMIGRATION

The general public overwhelmingly favors immigration reform. Poll after poll shows that Americans want well-enforced, sensible, and sustainable immigration laws.

70% of likely Arizona voters approve of the state’s new law authorizing police officers to inquire about an individual’s immigration status; only 23% oppose it (Rasmussen, April 2010).
60% of likely voters nationwide favor the passage of a law authorizing police to inquire about an individual’s immigration status, while 31% are opposed (Rasmussen, April 2010).
66% of Americans believe that the U.S. “should not make it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens” (CNN, April 2010).
59% of Americans believe that the U.S. should continue to build a fence along the Mexican border. Just 26% believe the U.S. should stop building the fence (Rasmussen, March 2010).
68% of likely voters think that securing the border is more important than granting amnesty to illegal aliens, but only 20% believe that Congress will take steps to secure the border in within the next year (Rasmussen, March 2010).
67% of likely voters believe illegal immigrants are a “significant strain” on the U.S. budget (Rasmussen, March 2010).
68% of African-Americans, 56% of Hispanics, and 57% of Asian-Americans believe that immigration is too high (Zogby, February 2010).
87% of U.S. voters believe that anyone receiving federal health care subsidies should be required to prove they are in the United States legally (Rasmussen, December 2009).
67% of likely voters including — 63% of Executives, 70% of Small Business Owners, and 63% of Union Member Households — believe that immigration to the U.S. is too high (Zogby, November 2009).
71% of likely voters including — 61% of Executives, 65% of Small Business Owners, and 72% of Union Member Households — believe there are enough American workers available to fill unskilled jobs (Zogby, November 2009).

85% of likely voters say that individuals should be able to prove that they are in the country legally before they receive any federal, state, or local government services. Only 8% disagree (Rasmussen, November 2009).
68% oppose the creation of sanctuary cities (jurisdictions that have a policy of not enforcing immigration law) with only 13% in favor (Rasmussen, October 2009).
73% of Americans want to see a decrease in illegal immigration, while only 3% believe there should be an increase (CNN, October 2009).
56% of Mexicans believe that granting amnesty to illegal aliens in the United States would make it more likely that people they know would attempt to illegally migrate to United States. Only 17% think it would make people less likely to migrate illegally to the United States (Zogby, October 2009).
65% of Mexicans who have a member of their immediate household in the United States said that amnesty would make people they know more likely to attempt to illegally migrate to America (Zogby, October 2009).
55% of Mexicans who expressed a desire to migrate to the U.S. said they would attempt to enter the U.S. illegally (Pew Hispanic Center, September 2009).
56% of U.S. voters believe that the policies of the federal government encourage illegal immigration (Rasmussen, October 2009).
83% of U.S. voters say that citizenship verification should be part of any health care reform legislation (Rasmussen, September 2009).

78% of likely U.S. voters believe that mass immigration has adversely impacted the quality and cost of the U.S. health care system (Pulse Opinion Research, August 2009).
78% of likely U.S. voters oppose amnesty, with 19% in favor. 88% of African-Americans oppose amnesty. (Pulse Opinion Research, August 2009).
70% of American voters feel that increased border control should be the most important priority in immigration reform. Only 22% prioritized legalization of illegal aliens (Rasmussen, August 2009).
50% of American think immigration to the U.S. should be decreased, while only 14% want to see an increase in immigration to the U.S. (Gallup, August 2009).
68% of adults think limiting care to illegal aliens is a good to excellent way to reduce overall health care costs (Zogby, July 2009).
80% of likely voters oppose healthcare coverage for illegal aliens (Rasmussen, June 2009).
67% of liberals and progressives believe that the level of immigration into the U.S. is too high (Pulse Opinion, April 2009).
68% believe that employers who hire illegal aliens should be punished (Rasmussen, March 2009).
79% of voters say the military should be used along the border with Mexico (Rasmussen, March 2009).
73% believe law enforcement officers should check immigration status during traffic stops (Rasmussen, March 2009).
Only 32% of Obama voters considered his support for amnesty as a factor in their decisions to vote for him (Zogby, November 2008).
These are only a few examples of the many statistics demonstrating that Americans want lower immigration, greater enforcement, and more commitment to making immigration work in the best interests of the nation.

STOP MAKING IT A WHITE VS BROWN ISSUE.

IMMIGRATION POLICIES MUST BENEFIT ALL AMERICANS FIRST