Ranting TOTN style

Though I am not a huge Vicente Fox fan, I must take issue with the kinds of questions that Neal frequently asks about the undocumented and their "illegal" actions.

I want to know when it comes to breaking laws, why is it that crossing of the border without visas is the only law breaking that matters? When have you asked about the employers who break the law, willingly and knowingly for the most part -- who in fact are fighting the reporting laws trying to be put into effect by Chertoff as we speak? Employers from the largest packing, construction and farming industry to the individuals who hire nannies, house cleaners and day laborers every day are ALSO breaking the law. This does not even include the worst offenders who help smuggle in workers from Mexico and Asian countries and then treat them as virtual slaves. Not only do they enjoy the protections of citizenship and due process, their law-breaking is not being prosecuted in any way with very few exceptions. When the raids go down, the powers that be in cities and regions step in to PROTECT the economy, but not the American-born children of those hard-working folks who are being held in substandard lock-downs. Clear presentation of both sides of this issue, particularly the economic subsidy that employing undocumented and other low-wage workers provides for all of us who want cheap clothing, food and services. When will you discuss OUR role in the illegal acts? When will you expose the inconsistencies and fallacies that are expounded on your air waves, such as undocumented are living off of welfare (American-born children are not breaking the law by receiving aid) or that undocumented immigrants are the reason for our emergency room crisis? Better yet, when will you unpack the issue of why anti-immigration is on the rise now? Does it not strike you as more than just a coincidence that Americans of Latino descent are not the largest "minority" group with the highest reproductive rates in the country? FAIR is not afraid of undocumented immigrants, it is afraid of me, an educated third generation American who votes. How about some connecting of the dots?

I don't mean to take it all out on you, but it is not the first program I have heard on TOTN (as well as many other NPR programs) that does not dare to ask hard questions of the anti-immigration lobby. Please consider this email regardless of the obvious annoyed and frustrated tone.