Mexican Immigration and Red Scare Tactics

A few days ago, Maricopa County in Arizona unveiled a "migrant hotline" in which concerned citizens can place anonymous phone tips to authorities regarding possible immigrants living illegally in their cities. A quick phone call and a person or family is marked for future investigation.

Like the actions taken by mayor Lou Barletta in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, to make American life hostile for illegal immigrants, supporters of the hotline believe that it will reduce drug activity, crime, and human smuggling. The intent is not for individuals to inform on their law abiding neighbors, but to alert authorities to possible illegals who are engaged in criminal activity.

County authorities hope that this will become a model and precursor to more hotlines nationwide, while critics fear that the hotlines will lead to racial profiling, the airing of petty grievances, and a loss of civil rights.

This hotline concept is nothing new. Anti-immigration groups have had such informant channels open for years, and a phone call to border patrol or the INS has led to many an investigation. But this is the first time that citizens are being called upon to take a personal vigilante approach to rooting out the nation's evils.

Or is it?

Hearken back 50 or 60 years. The stage is set in the capital of the United States. The players are government officials and the Communists that they believe are rapidly infiltrating all of their ranks. Tension increases. Mass hysteria spreads about the eminent downfall of the entire nation due to the Commies and their vast network of spies. Loyalties are questioned. People are viewed with suspicion. The government is at a loss. They cannot handle the problem amongst themselves. It is a political minefield.

At last, a solution! The government resorts to red-baiting, blacklisting, and deportation. Neighbors are encouraged to inform upon the questionable Slavic family next door. That family, when taken into custody, is forced to concede an additional list of Commie bastards in order to make a plea bargain to lessen their sentence. The higher up the names, the better, especially if they lead to even more informing.

Today, Americans look back on the Red Scare in much the same way they view the Japanese internment camps of WWII. They are small blips on a greater demonstration of national prestige. Such activities are waved aside as catastrophes of government policy, and thank goodness they were in the past and could never happen today. Thank goodness we have come far enough to learn from our mistakes.

Despite the fact that the Red Scare tactics and verdicts have almost been entirely overturned or declared unconstitutional, they seem to be arising again-this time in the face of Mexican immigration to the United States.

Back then, people were afraid that the Communists would gain a stronghold in U.S. government. Today, people are afraid that Mexicans will become so strong a minority that they might actually get to start having a voice.

Back then, it was encouraged that people inform on their neighbors because they posed a threat to our nation. Today, it is encouraged that people inform on their neighbors because they pose a threat to our nation.

They say, as American citizens, it is our duty to help root out the illegal immigrants. I say, as human beings, it is our duty to stop the government from making yet another catastrophic mistake.