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Amid the many examples that supposedly substantiate the vacuous claim that the illegal immigrant “hustles to do hard work many Americans won’t do” and the equally specious statement that illegal immigrants “endure hatred and abuse by those of us who want the benefits of cheap labor but not the presence of illegal immigrants” is the Dallas Morning News editorial that awards the 2007 Texan of the Year title to “The Illegal Immigrant”. You can read the editorial essay here.

He is at the heart of a great culture war in Texas – and the nation, credited with bringing us prosperity and blamed for abusing our resources. How should we deal with this stranger among us?

He breaks the law by his very presence. He hustles to do hard work many Americans won’t, at least not at the low wages he accepts. The American consumer economy depends on him. America as we have known it for generations may not survive him.

We can’t seem to live with him and his family, and if we can live without him, nobody’s figured out how.

He’s the Illegal Immigrant, and he’s the 2007 Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year – for better or for worse.

Yes, the editorial staff at the Dallas Morning News wants you to know that they have studied your viewpoint - for better or for worse. But with all of that in mind they have decided to look past your convictions and praise the hard working law breaker as if the alleged benefits outweigh the consequences of illegal immigration. Forget the toll of human trafficking, never mind the drugs and weapons that travel the same route into the country as the coveted illegal worker, ignore the violent gangs from South America, side step the issue of non-English speaking students that burden our schools, give up on hospital emergency rooms that can not afford the benefits afforded to illegals and never, ever mention the broken bodies from families that would otherwise be in tact if not for the actions of some illegals that just wanted to come here without waiting in the same line that millions of other legal immigrants have decided to sit through.

This short list is part of a much longer list that the editors at the Dallas Morning News overlook in their quest to justify illegal immigration at the expense of “undependable, lazy and arrogant” Americans. (Yes, the editors actually included a quote from a business owner that calls Americans undependable, lazy and arrogant; more on that below.)

To their champions, illegal immigrants are decent, hardworking people who, like generations of European immigrants before them, just want to do better for their families and who contribute to America’s prosperity. They must endure hatred and abuse by those of us who want the benefits of cheap labor but not the presence of illegal immigrants.

Especially here in Texas, his strong back and willing heart help form the cornerstone of our daily lives, in ways that many of us do not, or will not, see. The illegal immigrant is the waiter serving margaritas at our restaurant table, the cook preparing our enchiladas. He works grueling hours at a meatpacking plant, carving up carcasses of cattle for our barbecue (he also picks the lettuce for our burgers). He builds our houses and cuts our grass. She cleans our homes and takes care of our children.

Yet to those who want them sent home, illegal immigrants are essentially lawbreakers who violate the nation’s borders. They use public resources – schools, hospitals – to which they aren’t entitled and expect to be served in a foreign language. They’re rapidly changing Texas neighborhoods, cities and culture, and not always for the better. Those who object get tagged as racists.

No, they are not essentially lawbreakers, there is no qualifier here, they are lawbreakers. We don’t get to pick and choose the laws we want to follow nor do we get to qualify the labels. They are illegal and that aspect of their existence on American soil poses a great problem.

Michelle Malkin hit the nail on the head when she noted that the newspaper ought to be honoring the faceless victims of crime perpetrated by illegals rather than the illegal worker that the editors of the Dallas Morning News chose to prop up as the model worker. Yet even Michelle seems to have missed the offensive one liners and sought after examples that are presented as a generalized sort of justification while at the same time taking pot shots at Americans.

Marty owns a North Texas construction company. He has come to view American workers as undependable, lazy and arrogant, while he finds illegal immigrants motivated and reliable.

“I’d rather employ them than Americans,” he confides. “In my line of work, I need the Mexicans, and I am for them being here. I need them because I can’t find anybody else to do the work.”

This is a lie. The truth is that “Marty” the business owner and others like him have created an atmosphere that is hostile to Americans. Marty and others like him shop for workers in the parking lot of day labor friendly businesses. They are not looking for hard working Americans because hard working Americans carry a tax burden, a competitive wage burden, a health care burden and all the other benefits that Marty the business owner is too undependable, lazy and arrogant to admit to. Not to mention that Marty himself is a criminal if he is circumventing the laws of the United States to run his business.

Perhaps the editors at the Dallas Morning News live too comfortably to be in touch with real Americans but their nursery school examples of hard working illegals discounts all of the hard working legal Americans that put in equally long hours in equally demanding jobs. Funny thing, I’m a hard working white collar professional yet along the way I cut the grass, tendered drinks at the bar, served food at the tables, cleaned dishes in the back, painted walls at the factory, poured metal at the die cast plant, flipped burgers at the grill and even put tore up the roofs for other legal workers to complete. Look around you and ask your friends if they did much of the same; my guess would probably be yes.

Perhaps our kids have it better because of our hard work or perhaps some jobs just don’t pay enough to make a living wage. But whose fault is that? It’s certainly not the worker who is edged out of a needed job because an illegal happens to be waiting in line to do it for less than the legal wage! This is not something that a newspaper should bestow an honor upon. It is an unlawful act that damages society, undercuts the premise of a living wage, depresses wages for legal Americans and worst of all makes it impossible for legitimate business owners and workers to compete on an even playing field. Hello, the American way calling; heard of it?

I understand that illegal immigrants want a better life and that most are in fact law abiding and hard working as the editors claim. But it is wrong to lump illegal immigrants in with past generations of European immigrants who waited in line, were screened at the border and assimilated once here legally. It is wrong to tout the benefits of illegal immigration without honestly discussing the true cost in terms of both the human and economic impact that comes along with the benefits. It is also wrong to talk about the illegal immigration problem as if it is a uniquely Mexican immigrant issue. Yet the Dallas morning news did just that by bestowing the simple title of Texan of the Year to the side of immigration they want celebrate at the expense of the side they wish to hide under the covers.

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As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing that points out topics such as the above… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting this post for consideration in the upcoming nominations process because I can not fathom a bigger collection of weasels than the editors at the Dallas Morning News in light of their hapless lobbying for illegal immigration.
Here is the most recent winning council post (Congrats to Webloggin Contributor BookWorm!!), here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

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