We're still standing

It looks like James Sensenbrebeer and Tom Tancredo got more than they bargained for:The two leading immigration restrictionists in Congress were riding high after pushing their extremist immigration bill through the U.S.House of Representatives in late 2005.
The bill championed by these two Republicans famously calls for making illegal immigration a felony ,and also makes it a crime to provide non-emergency assistance or aid to these immigrants.
As part of their plan to make America a fortress,they also want 700 miles of fences built along the U.S.-Mexico border,including along the length of the Rio Grande valley,where Robin and I live.
It's a good thing that these guys weren't around in past eras when scores of Irish immigrants came to the United States after the great potato famine in the 1840s..Who remembers that?
And how about the German immigrants who arrived in such great numbers in the late 1800s that New York would house as many Germans as ould be found in Hamburg..
From 1880 o 1890 alone,nearly 4 million immigrants came to the United States,representing a far greater percentage of the U.S. population than is found today.
There were no fences or walls around America in those days.There were no noisy right-wing radio talkers to ridicule immigrants in the most personal ways.
There was no equivalent to CNN's Lou Dobbs who could yak about broken borders and ask if America was really ready to become a German nation.
And,surely,every one of those millions of immigrants came here legally,right,so no one could question if their U.S.-born children were really American citizens.
In today's America there are,thankfully,political leaders who have a different view of immigration than the repressive ideas pushed by Tancredo,Sensenbrenner and the right-wing yakkers.
Leading Republican senators such as John McCain and Specter led the way in crafting Senate propposals that would establish an 11-year path of legalization and possible citizenship for many of the estimated 12 million immigrants in the United States.Those proposals are still under consideration,and we hope these measures after Easter break is over.
The thoughtful legislation being sponsored by Senators McCain and Specter-along with the energy provided by the demonstrations-is already providing results.Last week,Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Speaker Dennis Hastert announced that there they would no longer support the Sensenbrenner-Tancredo provison that makes illegal immigration a felony.
On the same day that this announcement was made a USA Today poll showed that 63 percent of Americans believe that deserving immigrants should be given the path to citizenship.
It was seen by the world in the scores of families who marched in support of meaningful and humane immigration reform.
The American Dream didn't fade after the German,Polish, and Irish immigrants arrived on the shores long ago.
They came here in any way they could-legally and illegally-and did their part in buildning up then-young nation.
Today,the majority of immigrants may come from Latin America instead of Europe-and they may be people of color-but the aspirations remain the same.
And the Americans masts of freedom and opportunity are still flying high-ready to embrace a new generation of deserving immigrants.
We are still standing !!!!!!!!!!!!