I admit that I have not been following the immigration debate as closely as I should have. The issue seems to be a watershed event and raised the spector of a new political force, even though the majority of the people interested in this issue cannot as yet vote. This country was founded by immigrants and has become wealthy on the back of immigrants. I am not sure how much of the debate is centered on economic and social issues and how much is plain xenophobia. Certainly since 9/11 the lens by which view immigration has changed. Is this the next civil rights movement? Irregardless of where you stand on the issue, the protests and mass turnout of people is a good thing. The present administration is arrogant because people just don’t care. Witness the silence on the war, White House leaks, corruption, and the eroding of civil liberties.
Information Clearing House has a way left (and I mean really left) article on the immigration issue entitled “War on Immigrants” as well as a audio feed to a public talk entitled “War, Geopolitics and History – Conflict in the Middle East” with Robert Fisk Introduced by Noam Chomsky.