• Illegal immigrants allowed to protest on National Mall as WWII vets banished behind barricades
• Congress shouldn’t support job-stealing amnesty bill while millions of Americans can’t find work
By John Friend
On October 8, thousands of illegal aliens and supporters of immigration “reform”—which essentially amounts to granting United States citizenship to the millions of persons residing in the U.S. illegally—rallied at the National Mall in the nation’s capital. Due to the government shutdown, the National Mall was technically closed; however, the rally was allowed to proceed because it was considered a “First Amendment demonstration,” according to a spokesman with the National Park Service.
The rally has outraged millions of Americans, especially considering that American military veterans and other citizens have been denied access to various federally-administered war memorials, monuments, and national parks in Washington, D.C. and across the country due to the government shutdown.
A number of Congressional representatives attended and spoke at the rally, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Republican Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both from Florida.
Similar rallies were held in other major American cities across the nation over the course of the past week.
William Gheen, the president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC), was furious with the pro-amnesty rally. He argued that it was organized to influence Republican legislators to support the immigration “reform” bill known as the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, (S.744) that has already been approved by the Senate.
“We have another clear example of illegal immigrants and their supporters being given preferential treatment over American citizens as part of this push for immigration reform amnesty!” Mr. Gheen said in an October 9 press release. “Americans need to let these Republicans working to help Obama pass a bill in 2013 know that they share responsibility in what happened on the D.C. Mall yesterday because that protest was designed to be a message to them.”
ALIPAC has identified 32 GOP members of Congress who have indicated they are willing to support granting amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens currently residing in the U.S. as part of a broader immigration “reform” package.
Repeated phone calls and emails by this reporter to a number of the representatives who support amnesty seeking clarification on this matter were not returned. They included Representatives Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
“The political theater we are witnessing in Washington is clearly designed to pass a form of amnesty for illegal aliens that will have an incredibly destructive impact on American workers, taxpayers and borders,” added Gheen. “We hope that enough Americans will hear our call today to get on the phones to Congress and tell them what they think of their amnesty bill and illegal alien friends parading around on our closed Mall this week.”
S.744 not only grants “legal status” and a pathway to U.S. citizenship to the estimated 12-20 million illegal aliens currently residing in America, it also “increases the availability of nonimmigrant workers to supplement all sectors of the workforce,” according to the Guide to S.744 released by the pro-amnesty Immigration Policy Center.
The U.S. already has arguably the most generous immigration laws in the world, allowing roughly one million legal immigrants annually into America at a time when millions of U.S. citizens are struggling to find jobs to put food on the table. If S.744 becomes law, at least one million more legal immigrants will be allowed to enter the U.S., in addition to granting American citizenship to millions of individuals who have violated U.S. law and compromised American sovereignty.
John Friend is a writer who lives in California.
