You know something,
dga? I just moved from a town where I lived off and on for 13 years that is about half Mexican and half Mormon. With the exception of a few from Guatemala and some ex-Mormons. A small but thriving Basque population mostly in the countryside. One Japanese family who homesteaded after WWII. And me. My family is in trucking. And a very few older ones who moved there when they were in the service. But for the most part the town has been called M&M for a long time.
I attended church there and meetings of various organizations. I shopped there for groceries and got the police to watch my house while we were on the road. So I have had a lot of interaction among my neighbors. All 1700 of them.
And I cannot remember ever hearing of a hate crime there. There is
crime like anywhere else. Vandalism, B&E, domestic abuse, etcetera. And I'd say half or more of the cops are of Hispanic decent. We all know where everybody came from.
The Mormons came over on a wagon train from Missouri. The Japanese family's matriarch and patriarch settled there straight from a concentration camp. The Basques grew into the area from South America where they had migrated from the Pyrenees. The Mexicans and Guatemalans were brought in by bus by the farmers.
But the farmers keep bringing new immigrants in. It is suspected some are illegal. No one hates these people. I used to teach English as a second language to adults who have a hard time with the language. And I do not speak very much Spanish. But my students learned quicker because they couldn't rely on my interpretation, but had to grasp "thinking in English". I did not ask them if they had a green card or brown card. Many older people have a hard time learning a new language who are on renewed visas and rely on their grandchildren to interpret for them.
But the main factory in town moved to Canada due to NAFTA. A small manufacturer has finally moved in. But he only employs about 5 people and what he produces is a luxury type of item.
All the people of that town need every job available. They all (the old timers) have picked fruit and worked the potato fields at one time or another and would not take it as an insult if their kids could find such employment.
But the farmers keep busing in more and more immigrants.
The congress tried to pass a federal law, but the people rejected it out of fear we were being lied to again. Amnesty and welcome our new citizens with open arms and then what?
More illegals.
Why do you think people shouldn't enforce existing laws to protect our existing citizenry?