You know, it's a sad day when your city is more to the left than Burlington, VT. Remember a couple weeks ago when I told you how Mayor Bob Kiss of Burlington proposed making Burlington a sanctuary city for illegals, but was shot down by the city council. Well AllahPundit has details on the intentions of Mayor Nick Inzunza of National City to do the same thing.

The council doesn't seem to approve of it, however they've all but made themselves a sanctuary anyway, just without calling it that. This is apparently why Inzunza acts as if he's really just stating what is already going on. The San Diego Union-Tribune has details:

Mayor Nick Inzunza declared in an interview on National Public Radio last week that he wants National City to be a sanctuary city, a designation being promoted through a grass-roots effort in other parts of California and the country.

However, the other City Council members are irritated that he never informed them of the idea.

“If he wants to declare it, he can do it as Nick Inzunza, but he can't declare it for the city,” said Councilman Ron Morrison. “We've already done so many things as far as the acceptance of the (matricula consular) ID cards. We've made sure that our police policy is such that we're not out there calling the Border Patrol on people.”

Inzunza said in a written response to questions that there was no need to notify the council of his intent because city policy already prevents immigrants from being targeted for deportation without reason. He said he is not enacting any new laws.

Inzunza said his radio statement was nothing more than a proclamation reaffirming the city's current practice, which does not need council approval.

By the way, there are a number of cities that have already declared themselves sanctuary cities:

Other cities in the state have deemed themselves sanctuary cities, including Maywood, Pomona, Huntington Park and Coachella. Outside of the state, El Paso, Texas; Portland, Maine; and Cambridge, Mass., have declared themselves sanctuary cities.

I'm still confused how this is able to happen. The mayors and council members of these cities are encouraging law breaking on massive scales. Why is it these guys aren't forced out of office by the state? It's not a matter of "disagreeing", this is encouraging criminal activity, and making their local law enforcement ignore federal law. Would this be allowed if it were any federal law other than immigration? I'm just really stunned that this can even happen.

 

*(Scroll for actually city council resolution blocking this)*

When will the elected officials of my state stop embarassing us? If it's not Howard Dean and his "Civil Unions" it's Howard Dean screaming like a mental patient after the Iowa primaries... YAAAAAARGH. If it's not having U.S. Senate candidate and current congressman from VT Bernie Sanders being the only self-proclaimed socialist in Washington, it's crazy hippy ladies coming home after visiting their online Pakistani boyfriends in their homeland, flying with banned weapons and peeing on the floor of the plane. If it's not Howard Dean saying... well, I'll stop there because that could go on forever and I really haven't kept up with updating my Dean's List anyway.

It would seem that Vermont politicians are in a competition to prove their idiocy. Well, the mayor of Burlington (Vermont's largest city), Bernie Jr. Bob Kiss actually proposed making the city a sanctuary for illegal immigrants!!! I'm not putting on some Republican spin job, this is what he did. Luckily the city attorney and council wasn't having it, but he actually made the attorney look in to it. Locals may be familiar with the story already, but having not moved back until late June, I hadn't heard about it until my brother mentioned it to me at Al's French Fries earlier last night.

I figured he must have heard wrong, so I did a quick search and sadly I quickly discoverd via Burlington's City Council Agenda that he was all too right. What kind of fricken' twilight zone city do I live in? A mayor encouraging mass criminal activity by attempting to set up his city to host illegal immigrants. Not to mention that with the insanely high cost of living here, the last thing one should do is bring in a bunch of cheap labor.

Now for the goods... The City Council's resolution, blocking this crap after the mayor asked the city attorney to look in to implementing the "concept". Incase you don't have Acrobat to read the PDF, I've decided to reproduce the whole document below. Again, why should this even have to have been done?

CITY ATTORNEY EFFORTS ON SANCTUARY CITY CONCEPT

In the year Two Thousand Six………………………………………………………………
Resolved by the City Council of the City of Burlington, as follows:

That WHEREAS, the Mayor of Burlington, the Honorable Bob Kiss, has proposed designating the City as a sanctuary for illegal immigrants and directed the eminent City Attorney, Joseph E. McNeil, Esq., to research how such a concept could be implemented; and

WHEREAS, since the concept of a sanctuary city entails a municipality adopting a policy which would forbid its officials, including police, from inquiring into anyone's immigration status or cooperating with immigration officials, such a policy thus creates a safe haven for illegal immigrants by condoning their violation of Federal law; and

WHEREAS, while the United States is an immigrant nation and has been made great by the contributions of those who have come to our shores; and

WHEREAS, while we are all the children of immigrants and strongly support legal immigration, to become a sanctuary city would not only condone but encourage violation of Federal law on the subject and serve as an insult to the many millions of people who strove for the privilege of building their lives in this nation while adhering to the law; and

WHEREAS, in 1996, the United States Congress passed two bills enacted into law which dealt with the concept, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, both of which were later upheld and under which state and local governments can no longer prohibit employees from inquiring about immigration status or reporting to immigration authorities; and

WHEREAS, the Deputy Chief of the Burlington Police Department noted in response to the concept of a sanctuary city that law enforcement officers are bound to uphold federal laws on immigration and to make reports to immigration authorities; and

WHEREAS, however, it is not currently the practice of the Burlington Police Department, or any other City entity, to seek out illegal immigrants; and

WHEREAS, any influx of illegal immigrants to Burlington as a result of implementing the sanctuary city concept could place added burdens upon City social services and infrastructure at a time when both the municipal budget is overburdened with costs, to the extent that the Kiss Administration is proposing a 9% increase in property taxes that does not even include an educational tax component, and there is a serious affordable housing crisis; and

WHEREAS, the City Attorney has stated that his research indicates that while the criminal laws regarding immigration issues must be enforced, the civil laws are more complicated and has further stated that there will be "no recommendation from the City Attorney's Office that would involve anything less than full enforcement of our criminal laws. And with regard to the civil statutes there's a great deal of policy discussion that will have to take place between the research that we found and any implementation."; and

WHEREAS, the City Attorney's Office already has extensive tasks to complete on behalf of the City such as, most prominently and most importantly to the City Council, the Zoning Re-Write; and

WHEREAS, while the City Attorney's Office has always most ably and professionally served Burlington, there is a limit to how many demands can be placed upon its Staff and resources, particularly at this busy time; and

WHEREAS, since the Burlington City Council must ultimately approve any implementation of the sanctuary city concept;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council does not now wish to consider the sanctuary city concept; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Council therefore directs the City Attorney's Office to terminate both any of its further research efforts into and any of its further development of a proposal for implementing the sanctuary city concept.

lj/KAS/c: Resolutions/City Attorney Efforts on Sanctuary City Concept
6/8/06

 

(h/t Drudge)

This actually sounds like genuine progress to me, but I haven't had time to read it all yet. Any input?

The Senate voted to build 370 miles of triple-layered fencing along the Mexican border Wednesday and clashed over citizenship for millions of men and women who live in the United States illegally.

Amid increasingly emotional debate over election-year immigration legislation, senators voted 83-16 to add fencing and 500 miles of vehicle barriers along the southern border. It marked the first significant victory in two days for conservatives seeking to place their stamp on the contentious measure.

I'm not clear on what these vehicle barriers are yet...

Construction of the barrier would send "a signal that open-border days are over. ... Good fences make good neighbors, fences don't make bad neighbors," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. He said border areas where barriers already exist have experienced economic improvement and reduced crime.

"What we have here has become a symbol for the right wing in American politics," countered Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. He said if the proposal passed, "our relationship with Mexico would come down to a barrier between our two countries."

I'm still not clear why Durbin should be in office or allowed to speak ever after comparing Gitmo troops to Nazis, etc. That's all I think of anytime I see his name. He's a disgrace, and he should be deported (but if he sneaks back quick enough he could gain citizenship under the new amnesty plan).

Read on for more bloviating from people on all sides, and GOPers eatting their own.

I haven't commented much on all the latest immigration developments for a couple reasons. For starters there has just been a ton of other news going on at the same time, and I know the rest of the blogosphere is saturated by border/immigration talk and I guess I'd rather not just get lost in the sea of it all. In addition to the fact that I've been covering all the other stuff going on, the immigration news is just coming in rapid fire and to try to get a post up, I know I'd be leaving out a lot of things I'd like to say about it (like I am about to here).

Anyway, here's my thing. I think we need a fence, similar to what the Minutemen have designed, running down almost all of the border. I think if we could do this, there wouldn't be a need for a bunch more guards. That is why I'm cautiously optimistic about this development, until someone tells me that I'm missing something and this doens't mean anything and I just got to excited when I saw the Drudge siren going off.

As for the President, yes I'm angry with his weak handling of the immigration issue. But I'm a supporter of most of his policies, and we're obviously a lot better than if a Democrat was in office in many different areas. And yes the border is one of the, if not the most important issue facing us. But I feel like he's kind of stuck.

This is sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. If the President and GOP gets really tough on the border, what will happen? Well first the Senate Democrats will do the only thing they seem to know how to do... Rant and rave, filibuster and obstruct. Nothing will get done, the delay will go from weeks, to months, to years.

Even if somehow we did get a tough plan pushed through, what would happene next? If it hadn't already, the Dems would pull the race card. It would be all about those racist Republicans trying to keep latinos out. It would be, as it always is, all about the votes for Democrats. We saw the signs at the Dallas illegal rally with reminders to vote "Democrat in 2006" above a picture of Mexico and Texas fused together. We also saw Hillary and Kennedy become stars of the shows at a couple different rallies.

Seeing as how hispanics are the largest minority, and not far off from being a majority in this country, the libs, with the help of their trusty media, would stir all of these people up to vote Democrat if Republicans got tough. GOP would lose power, and Dems would just reverse any good they had done. Again, damned if they do, damned if they don't.

My point is that I'm a little disturbed by all the giving up on the President I've been seeing from conservative bloggers. Do you really think not showing up on election day is going to make things better?! Yes this is arguably the most important issue, but do you really want the Democrats in charge? They aren't going to be any better, and in fact we know they'll be worse. Let's just calm down the emotion, and think realisitically about what not voting could mean for the country. I'm just scared that there's this movement to "send a message", but when the dust settles it won't matter, because we'll have Democrats taking back at least one house.

Back to my personal opinion quickly... I'm absolutely for enforcement first. I'm a little less concerned about the workers who are already here, as I am about the security issue of the open border. This goes back to why I want the fence. As I said before, perhaps there could be some type of extreme tax hike on illegals after cracking down on employers and making them have records of employees, and make them pay taxes. They would pay these for their entire lives, not ever be able to collect social security, and get some type of "worker" status, and maybe after 10 years, if they can speak english and have clean records, they could apply for citizenship. Just rough, off the cuff idea that could be tweeked in all directions.

 

I'm going to add this as an update to my post on White House and Pentagon talks of using military on the border, but thought it deserved it's own post as well

MSNBC:

WASHINGTON - President Bush will address the nation about the immigration situation on Monday night as Senate passage of sweeping legislation is virtually assured by Memorial Day.

This ought to be interesting.

The story goes on to give a repeat of all what we already know and hear day in and day out, but the only new information was about President Bush's plans to address the nation. Let's hope it's not another amnesty "path to citizenship" type speech, and that he is finally getting tough, as it appears may be the case, again with talks of using military on the border. Again though, we do have to do something about the 11-12 million illegals already here, and it's illogical to think we could deport them or get them to willingly go home and go through the legal process.

Ideas float around in my head about giving them a "legal" status, but not citizenship. These "legal" workers, would then have to carry identification, pay the fines and learn English like we've heard in other proposed plans. But then they would be forced to pay taxes (this would come as a result of cracking down on businesses hiring illegals). Once set up to pay taxes, they would have to pay an extra say 5-15% "alien" tax. They would also never be elligable to receive social security, but they would absolutely pay in to it.

Is that harsh libs? Cruel? Do you think these people would rather go back to Mexico? They risk their lives getting here, many of them try many times before actually getting here. Of course they get here and protest laws that we already aren't enforcing, instead of directing their anger at their own crappy country.

Anyway, my ideas aren't a "plan", just some off the top of my head thoughts.

***UPDATE***
Hot Air thinks that the President will discuss possible use of military on the border. I'm not sure he will unless he's really going to start getting tough, because you know the race card players will be all over it if he starts publicly pumping the idea in a speech to the nation.

Previous:
BREAKING: White House & Pentagon Discuss Using Military On The Border... Finally!
"Stop The Invasion" Border Security Billboards Hit Texas
Doing What The Feds Won't, Arizona County Cracks Down On Illegals.
A Day Without An Illegal Immigrant? We Can Only Hope...
California Senate Votes To Support May 1 Illegal Immigrant / Anti-American Boycott Day
Illegals Show Love For America By Trying To "Dent" Economy
"National Illegal Alien Day" Roundup
UPDATE: More From Sunday's Illegal Immigrant Protest In Dallas
National Illegal Alien Day Is Here!!! Work Walk Outs And American Boycotts?

 

***UPDATE***
President to addres the nation on immigration Monday.

***SCROLL FOR MORE UPDATES***

Finally, discussion of real solutions to the root of the problem. Yes, the matter of the 11-12 million illegals already here is an important one, but isn't border security infinitely more important? A secure border would stop the flow while we debate what to do with the millions already here, and I think anyone with an ounce of sense realizes we could never deporpt all of them. So I don't want it to sound like I'm ignoring the illegal aliens who have already invaded, but I'm more more about hammering home the importance of border security, and it would seem that there is a glimmer of hope!

It would seem that either the bricks have made an impact, or perhaps it's Bill O'Reilly repeating for years:

You guys could stop this immediately if you put the National Guard (search) on the border to back up the border patrol.

Whatever happened, the Pentagon and White House are considering this type of necessary action... We can only hope there are also discussions about a wall and/or fence. The AP by way of CNN.com covers this latest development.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Faced with growing pressure from Southern states, the Bush administration wants the military to come up with ideas to help solve security problems along the U.S. border with Mexico.

In back-to-back moves this week, the Pentagon began exploring ways to lend support at the Southern border, while the House on Thursday voted to allow the Homeland Security Department in limited cases to use soldiers in that region.

At the Pentagon, Paul McHale, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, asked officials to offer options for the use of military resources and troops -- particularly the National Guard -- along the border with Mexico, according to defense officials familiar with the discussions.

Looks like "Bush's Brain", Karl Rove has his fingerprints on this:

Southern lawmakers met this week with White House strategist Karl Rove for a discussion that included making greater use of National Guard troops to shore up border control.

"The Texas delegation is very concerned about the border and are pushing urgency," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, who joined other Texas Republicans in a meeting with Rove this week. He said Rove was "very forthright" about border projects that Homeland Security is starting up, its current projects and what the needs are.

Rep. Ken Marchant, R-Texas, who also attended the meeting, said the lawmakers left "very encouraged."

Let's hope they are enouraged for good reason, and that the White House is truly serious about this. I suspect this is the case, simply because some of the sources for this article are unnamed, and this isn't a message or part of any plan we've heard publicly from President Bush or anyone in the administration.

Anyway, you get the gist. The rest of the article just talks about the use of military in the homeland, who makes the calls, who controls the National Guard in certain situations, what brances of the military can be used for law enforcement and when, etc. Important stuff, but the important development here is the discussions about getting military to help secure the border. Cross your fingers that this is part of what they call the president's "third term" strategy.

As President Bush said at the White House Correspondents' dinner, "I survived the White House shake-up". New Press Secretary Tony Snow seems to be coming out swinging, and perhaps some of the other resignations and new hires can bring around some change the base has been begging for.

Personally, I'm cautiously optimistic about this.

***UPDATE***
Others:
Hot Air, The Sandbox, Outside the Beltway, Stop the ACLU, Superfun Powerhour

Previous:
"Stop The Invasion" Border Security Billboards Hit Texas
Doing What The Feds Won't, Arizona County Cracks Down On Illegals.
A Day Without An Illegal Immigrant? We Can Only Hope...
California Senate Votes To Support May 1 Illegal Immigrant / Anti-American Boycott Day
Illegals Show Love For America By Trying To "Dent" Economy
"National Illegal Alien Day" Roundup
UPDATE: More From Sunday's Illegal Immigrant Protest In Dallas
National Illegal Alien Day Is Here!!! Work Walk Outs And American Boycotts?
Hillary Clinton's Crazy Comparison Of The Day! Howard Dean's Got Some Competition!
Why Are McCain And Hillary Clinton Holding Hands With ILLEGAL Immigrants?!
Illegal Aliens Hold Massive Protest In Chicago.
Mexico: "Let my people...in" - Demanding More Immigration!?

 

Earlier I told you about Maricopa County, AZ cracking down on illegals because the federal government won't. Arizona has passed a state law that mirrors a federal law already on the books but not being enforced, so the sheriff and posses are getting it done themselves.

Well, only a few hours later we learn of another campaign by "the people". This was isn't so much action, as it is sending a message. What message? "Stop the Invasion" on giant billboards.

Some excerpts from the Dallas / Ft. Worth's CBS 11 story:

(CBS 11 News) DALLAS Conservatives are firing back at those who support amnesty and a guest worker program for illegal immigrants. Their latest weapon is a billboard located on Stemmons Freeway in Dallas.

If you work near downtown Dallas it'll be hard to miss one billboard during your commute.

Dallas is the first city to get one, but there are plans to put these signs up from California to Florida.

"Stop the Invasion" is a reference to the massive influx of immigrants who enter the United States illegally.

“We must stop the invasion. We cannot have amnesty because amnesty is in essence a surrender to the invasion,” said Steve Elliott, grassfire.org.

Read on...

As you just read, this is billboard campaign is an undertaking of GrassFire.org. Head over to their web site now to learn more about this group and how you can help fight the good fight on this, and other issues. Even swing by just to sign a few petitions if you'd like.

GrassFire's site also has a larger photo of the Dallas billboard, in addition to information on similar billboards in other major cities coming soon. See this news release for more information on this growing campaign:

Dallas, Texas. Grassfire.org President Steve Elliott announced today at the site of the first “Stop The Invasion” billboard in Dallas, Texas, that the campaign is quickly expanding into Los Angeles, California, Phoenix, Arizona, Atlanta, Georgia, and South Florida. “Overwhelming grassroots support is fueling this aggressive expansion,” says Elliott. “Americans are eager to get this message out and we are moving quickly to place these new billboards as soon as next week.”

The idea of going across the nation with “Stop The Invasion” campaign is the result of citizen support for the billboards, says Elliott. “These billboards are being sponsored literally one square foot at a time by citizens across the nation who are frustrated and angered by the illegal alien protests and Senate talk of amnesty,” says Elliott. “We will expand as fast and as far as the American people want, taking a simple message to our highways and to Congress -- Stop The Invasion.”

Grassfire’s Atlanta and Ft. Lauderdale-Miami billboards will debut next week, with final details on Los Angeles and Phoenix still being arranged. With a Senate amnesty bill possibly to be voted on before the Memorial Day recess, Elliott says it is important to get the message out as quickly as possible. “A groundswell of opposition to amnesty is building,” says Elliot. “Senators who ignore the will of American citizens and instead listen to the shouts of illegal rights protestors do so at their own electoral risk.”

In addition to the billboards, Grassfire.org -- a national issues advocacy organization with one million active team members -- has also presented more than 300,000 “Secure Our Borders” petitions to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and other key members of Congress. Grassfire team members have also delivered over 290,000 faxes and phone calls on this issue.

Like the Send-A-Brick Project, this is a great way to send Washington a message, but I fear they are still too worried about the votes of America's "largets minority". These are great don't get me wrong, but I think massive anti-illegal protests are the only way to get the media attention, and in turn, Washington's attention... the same way the illegal protests did. But don't stop guys, these campaigns are great in spreading the message and letting people know that they aren't the only ones who want the border secured.

 

Let's hope that President Bush doesn't call law enforcement in Maricopa County, AZ "vigilantes", like he did the Minutemen. And just incase anyone isn't aware, the Minutemen do nothing more than spot border crossers, and inform border patrol. Similarly, Maricopa County is just enforcing the law and essetially saying "screw you Feds if you won't want to crack down, we will!"

Fox News has the story of what will hopefully become a trend:

A 250-member posse that will operate similarly to the anti-smuggler task force will patrol the area for illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to cross through Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

The posse will be made up of existing sheriff's deputies and members of the department's 3,000-member posse reserve of trained, unpaid volunteers.

The four illegal immigrants pulled over Monday will be turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sent back to Mexico. But those that are captured by the posse may end up in jail, charged under a state law that has been used against more than 100 illegal immigrants in Maricopa County this year.

Here's the best part. Arizona modeled a state law after a federal law that simply wasn't being enforced by the feds, so that their local law enforcement could take the power back. Are you hearing this New Mexico, California, and Texas.

The law made human smuggling a state crime in Arizona — it was already a federal crime — allowing local law enforcement agencies to arrest suspected smugglers. It was meant to crack down on smugglers, but under a disputed interpretation, County Attorney Andrew Thomas argues the law can be applied to the smuggled immigrants themselves.

Thomas maintains illegal immigrants who pay smugglers to enter the United States are committing conspiracy to smuggle and can therefore be prosecuted under the state law.

I hate to sound cheesy and steal the "you're a great American" line from Sean Hannity, but what else do you say about this Sherrif:

"I'm going to catch as many as I can and throw them in my jail," said Sheriff Joe Arpaio. "And the jails are not that nice."

They may not be that nice sir, but I almost have to wonder if they're better than living in Mexico. I would say that the thought of being thrown in jail, as word spreads, could act as a deterrant. But I mean, in jail they get fed free and life is probably about as good as it was in Mexico.

It remains to be seen whether a judge will uphold the smuggling law as applicable to illegal immigrants. Lawyers for some arrested illegal immigrants have filed motions to have the charges dismissed.

I've got to ask a weird question here... Where are illegal ALIENS getting lawyers!?

Let's hear more from our new hero:

"I get sued when I go to the toilet. You think I'm worried about it?" he said. "If they think I'm going to slow down because of these threats, I've got news for them — I'm not going to slow down. I'll do more of it."

Okay, well he's one liners could use a little more work. He makes his point, but with some sort of Rumsfeld-esque flair he could have really gotten a great soundbyte out of that. Read the rest of the story hear.

Either way this is great news, and they are trying to send the message "don't cross here". The bad news is that they'll just cross somewhere else unless all border counties take the same action. Let's get it done folks.

 

***SCROLL FOR UPDATES***

"A Day Without Immigrants" has arrived. Sadly it's not as good as it sounds. Instead of being a good day, like it sounds, in which we ship a bunch of illegal immigrants back to their home countries, it's a day in which they intend to flood the streets in yet another series of massive protests, instead of going to work and school and they are boycotting American goods. Sadly, but not surprisingly, many Democrats are backing this behavior and the California Senate went so far as to pass a resolution supporting it!

My hope, though I doubt it will happen, is that some of the companies hiring these people will straighten up their acts and fire everyone who doesn't show up to work and perhaps May 2 will be the beginning of a real time without (or at least with less) illegal immigrants. Obviously that's wishfull thinking.

I'll probably be sleeping for most of the day's events, so for me it truly will be a day without them. I suggest following Michelle Malkin's blog, and probably the new Hot Air vlog/internet broadcast as well for blogging throughout the day. Michelle tends to be on top of these type of events, so I suspect that will be the place to go to see what's really going on (as opposed to what the MSM will be showing us. She noted the other day how the Dallas Morning News is doing less reporting, and more promoting of the illegal alien celebration.

Incase your favorite MSM outlet hasn't filled you in, let's get you caught up on the goals of those taking part in today's protests (via Reuters):

Pro-immigration activists say a national boycott and marches planned for May 1 will flood America's streets with millions of Latinos to demand amnesty for illegal immigrants and shake the ground under Congress as it debates reform.

Such a massive turnout could make for the largest protests since the civil rights era of the 1960s, though not all Latinos were comfortable with such militancy, fearing a backlash in Middle America.

"There will be 2 to 3 million people hitting the streets in Los Angeles alone. We're going to close down Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Tucson, Phoenix, Fresno," said Jorge Rodriguez, a union official who helped organize earlier rallies credited with rattling Congress as it weighs the issue.

"We want full amnesty, full legalization for anybody who is here (illegally)," Rodriguez said. "That is the message that is going to be played out across the country on May 1."

I've got a better idea amigo... How about instead we block off the streets with National Guard, direct your little march towards the border and "guide you" back home?! Seriously though, it's really sad that cops are helpless, when they should be just sitting there with a bunch of school buses and thousands of handcuffs arresting any illegal in attendance, and give us "A Day With A Few Thousand Less Illegals".

At least some people are doing something productive:

Opponents of illegal immigration spent the weekend building a fence to symbolize their support of a secure border. About 200 volunteers organized by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of California worked on a 6-foot barbed-wire fence along a quarter-mile stretch of rugged terrain near the U.S.-Mexico border about 50 miles east of San Diego.

Let's keep it going. What's sad is the silent majority remains.... silent. I fear we will remain silent and passive about this until one of these events (that I suspect will only continue and grow) gets out of hands and there is some kind of violence or riot.

These people aren't here "for America", they're here, understandably because their country sucks and they need money for their families. But they are marching with Mexican flags, many with a bunch of rhetoric about "taking back" land for Mexico, etc. They're even trying to change the national anthem.

One of these days all of this anti-Americanism, in your face protests, and demands for "rights" from people who don't belong here, make exponentially greater amounts of money than they could in Mexico and have an exponentially higher quality of living than in Mexico; are going to get out of hand and tick off the wrong people. Hopefully something can be done before violence erupts, but I doubt it. As I said, I believe these will grow while we sit quietly until something terrible happens and we're going to have mayhem.

As I was about to rap this up I see Hot Air has already begun their coverage. Head over now to check out today's Vent with Michelle Malkin, and stay tuned throughout the day.

One more thing.... If you hadn't heard, to counter the anti-American boycott, some are doing extra shopping today and calling it Conservative Shopping Day.

Mac Johnson closes that piece this way:

Lastly, be sure to make note of which businesses can still function on a day without illegal aliens, so that you can patronize them everyday for a long time. Let’s turn the day without illegal aliens into an everyday thing.

TO THE WAL-MART, COMRADES!

This will be an interesting experiment for me. I do need to grab a few things at Kroger and Walgreens later, and I'm on a side of town that is right in the middle of really nice and mini-Mexico. Those two stores are closer to the nice area. But the post office I need to go to, and Walmart are just a few miles north and I instantly become a minority. I need a bulb for one of my fog lights and to pick up a few other things, and hope to get everthing at Walmart. I'll be interested to see what the worker situation is over there.

Also a quick note about that Kroger I mentioned. I tend to shop at like 3 am because it's so much easier to get a ton of groceries in a short amount of time when you're the only one there. I always noticed a dozen or so Mexicans stocking shelves every time. Not knowing their status, I didn't have a problem except when I ever had to ask a question like, "where's the powder Gatorade", and all I gut was shrugged shoulders... Not because they didn't know, but because they didn't have a clue what I had said. I would repeat the question and they would awkwardly chuckly and point at their ears and mouth and mumble something like "I no English".

Interestingly enough, I went in one time, and within a minute I was like "whoa, where did all the mexicans go"? It was like when I used to stock shelves in a grocery store back in Vermont... Just a bunch of late teens and early twenties white guys. I never thought about the reason, but as I was checking out and shooting the breeze with the regular cashier (previously, seemed to be the only white/English speaking person there) he mentioned how crazy it was in there that week because, fearing an INS sweep all of the area Krogers dumped their illegals.

***UPDATE***
Reverse Vampyr has posted a great blog roundup, which includes the following list he found at 760 KFMB, via Rick Roberts, and provides us with an in depth look in to what the illegals are really doing here (psssst, it's not just picking our produce and passing the savings on to us). Note that most of these statistics are for the Los Angeles area, and they certainly very from city to city:

Not everyone breaking into America is coming here to pick lettuce and fulfill the American dream.

Here are some facts you should know:

40% of all workers in L.A. County (L.A. County has 10 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This was because they are predominantly illegal immigrants, working without a green card.

95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.

Over 2/3’s of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers.

Nearly 25% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.

Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.

The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.

Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.

21 radio stations in L.A. are Spanish speaking.

In L.A.County 5.1 million people speak English. 3.9 million speak Spanish (10.2 million people in L.A.County).

(All 10 from the Los Angeles Times)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops but 29% are on welfare.
http://www.cis.org/

Over 70% of the United States annual population growth (and over 90% of California, Florida, and New York) results from immigration.

The cost of illegal immigration to the American taxpayer in 1997 was a NET (after subtracting taxes immigrants pay) $70 BILLION a year, [Professor Donald Huddle, Rice University].

The lifetime fiscal impact (taxes paid minus services used) for the average adult Mexican immigrant is a NEGATIVE.

29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

Just thought you should know.

Don't expect this to be the top of the news tonight...

As I said, Reverse Vampyr has compiled a great blog round-up, so check out what everyone else is saying on this "Day With Too Many Immigrants":
Ace of Spades HQ, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Basil's Blog, Beth's Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Blue Star Chronicles, California Conservative, Chez Diva, Conservatve Outpost, Donkey Stomp, Euphoricreality.net, Expose The Left, Florida Cracker, Hot Air, Lone Wacko, National Review, The Nose On Your Face, Political Pit Bull, Publius Rendezvous, The Real Ugly American, Saintknowitall, Sandbox Blog, Say Anything, Slapstick Politics, Super Fun Power Hour, Texas Rainmaker, Thunder Run, Wizbang

I particularly recommend the Hot Air day long live blogging post here. Flopping Aces has a similar post, with a lot of live blogged information and video.

More blogging:
Small Town Veteran, Iowa Voice, Webloggin, Kokonut Pundits, Traction Control, Conservative Outpost, A Blog For All, Mike's Noise, Severe Writer's Block, Ramblings of an Ordinary Guy, Latino Issues, Beyond Borders, Where I Stand, Flap's Blog, Don't Go Into The Light, Small Dead Animals

Quick Update
Bias? What Bias? Look at the pictures selected for this AP piece. A giant American flag, little hispanic children surrounded by American flags... Where are the pictures of the thousands of Mexican flags? Where are the pictures of those holding signs claiming that the southwest belongs to Mexico and that they will take it back?

Previous:
California Senate Votes To Support May 1 Illegal Immigrant / Anti-American Boycott Day
Illegals Show Love For America By Trying To "Dent" Economy
"National Illegal Alien Day" Roundup
UPDATE: More From Sunday's Illegal Immigrant Protest In Dallas
National Illegal Alien Day Is Here!!! Work Walk Outs And American Boycotts?
Hillary Clinton's Crazy Comparison Of The Day! Howard Dean's Got Some Competition!
Why Are McCain And Hillary Clinton Holding Hands With ILLEGAL Immigrants?!
Illegal Aliens Hold Massive Protest In Chicago.
Mexico: "Let my people...in" - Demanding More Immigration!?