Immigration

Opposition to illegal immigration is not condemnation of the Hispanic community

Published

1 year ago

September 2, 2018

Opposition to illegal immigration is not condemnation of the Hispanic community

It is not racist to expect others to not break the law. It is not indecent to point out that the man accused of killing Mollie Tibbetts is an illegal immigrant. It is definitely unfortunate that the Trump administration has become the unofficial representation of what it means to oppose illegal immigration. These three realities have a hard time coexisting in today’s charged political debate.

Mollie’s father, Rob, has asked not to use his daughter’s death to promote a political agenda that she personally opposed.

‘Don’t Use Mollie’ To Push Racism, Says Dad Who Points To ‘Heartless’ Donald Trump Jr.

The father of slain University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts lashed out Saturday at those who are using her tragic death to promote their own political agendas. To do so is “despicable” and “heartless,” Rob Tibbetts wrote, throwing Donald Trump Jr.’s own words back at him in an opinion piece in the Des Moines Register.

Tibbetts said the family was “grateful” to those who respected their pleas to not turn his daughter’s death into a political confrontation.

Out of respect for the family’s wishes, I won’t discuss the crime nor Rob’s daughter. However, there’s a major problem with the way he’s handling this. By framing “racism” as he’s doing in his plea to not politicize the crime or promote an agenda, he’s politicizing the crime and promoting a different agenda.

I’ve personally written before against illegal immigration. I’m a legal immigrant myself as are many of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. I am not racist and would love to see an increase in legal immigrants (gasp!), but NOT until we are able to prevent illegal immigration. That means some of the policies proposed or enacted by the White House actually make sense.

Unfortunately, Rob Tibbetts makes the mistake of pointing out racism that wasn’t there. I’ve read the article by Don Jr. referenced by Mr. Tibbetts. I don’t like Don Jr., but there’s no racism in his article. He rips on the Democrats (which is ironic since he’s a former Democrat himself pretending to be a Republican for pops), but does not overtly nor subtly display racism of any sort in the article.

Donald Trump Jr.: Democrats’ reaction to Mollie Tibbetts’ death is heartless

Liberal media outlets went through great pains to cover the story without actually covering the story. Instead of truthful headlines such as “Illegal immigrant arrested in connection with murder of Mollie Tibbetts,” multiple outlets ran headlines such as “Man arrested in connection to disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts.” They don’t want you to know what happened to her — and they certainly don’t want you to know who is responsible.

Worse still, a number of media outlets and pundits insisted that conservatives and Republicans were “politicizing” Mollie’s murder — an absurd claim coming from the same people who used family separation at the border to call for the abolishment of ICE and jump at the opportunity to exploit any tragedy involving guns to call for the end of the Second Amendment as we know it.

Perhaps Mr. Tibbetts believes Trump Jr. is racist regardless of the article. Maybe he just doesn’t like the tone; it really is a poorly written article and fails to make its points well. Regardless of his beef with Trump Jr or his article, the accusations of racism are unfair. It’s an insertion by Mr. Tibbetts that frames the whole discussion poorly. He made it seem as if those opposed to illegal immigration have a problem with the Hispanic community. That’s simply not true, at least for the majority of conservatives who see no difference between an illegal immigrant coming from Venezuela or England. Either way, it’s breaking the law.

I can’t imagine what the Tibbetts family is going through following this heinous crime. Mr Tibbetts doesn’t want his daughter’s death politicized. That’s fair. But dismissing the foundation of the right’s argument against illegal immigration as purely racist is simply wrong. The vast majority of racists are against illegal immigration, but being against illegal immigration does not make someone racist.

Some of us simply want people coming to our country to do so through legal channels regardless of their race or nation of origin. Saying we’re all racists, as many on the left like to do, is as false as saying something stupid like all Muslims are terrorists.