From The “What Were They Thinking?” Files

If you managed to catch any of the coverage of the pro-illegal-immigrant rallies held over the weekend, you more than likely noted the presence of extreme numbers of Mexican flags and banners carrying slogans like “We demand equality!” and “This is stolen land.” Paul Cella over at RedState penned a rather remarkable response to the whole affair:

One of the strongest arguments for a generous immigration regime is the appeal to sentiment that is often captured in that tiresome catchphrase that we are “a nation of immigrants.” Most Americans, I wager, have some basic sympathy for this sentiment, as also for the aspiration that motivates so many people to come here to work. I know I do, and I am as firm an opponent of mass immigration as you will find. But it is not easy to see how this past weekend’s direct action appeals will facilitate this sentiment. Some asseverate, indeed, that the magnitude of the demonstrations in cities all over the country will put to rest what they call the nativist faction. I find this prediction very difficult to credit. Direct action by illegal immigrants, organized by the activists who would make them their instruments, seems a strategy calculated to inflame and polarize. American moderates, like Glenn Reynolds, who are generally kindly disposed to immigration, will be much less kindly disposed toward a illegal-immigrant interest group, organized and militant, of the kind that is presaged by this latest development.

Go and read the whole thing.
One commenter very assiduously notes: “What this weekend demonstrated to me is not people who want to live in America, but people who want to live in a prosperous Mexico.” Bingo. And continued coverage of such rallies can only assure yet-stricter immigration control policies.