Joe’s Immigration Reform Fantasy Comes True—Almost!

By Joe Guzzardi

In my recurring fantasy, I’m on national television debating patriotic immigration reform with a well-known reconquista like Maria Hinojosa, or possibly the Senate’s most outspoken pro-open borders advocate, Teddy Kennedy.

That day has yet to come. But in the meantime, something almost as good has happened.

Bill McIntosh, a journalist at Univision, the notorious reconquista Spanish-language TV channel, submitted a list of ten questions to me about former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda’s interview with Miami Herald reporter Casey Woods. Their topic: Castañeda’s new book, Ex-Mex. [A Mexican View of U.S. Immigration Debate, Casey Woods. Miami Herald, February 17, 2008]

McIntosh’s questions and my replies have been submitted to Univision for possible posting in Spanish on its online website.

Before I start, one note not covered by McIntosh’s questions: Woods asked Castañeda why he wrote his book. Replied Castañeda: "I thought it was important that there be a Mexican viewpoint in the U.S. immigration debate"

This is a shaky foundation for Castañeda’s tome, since "Mexican viewpoints" on immigration are repeatedly heard throughout the U.S. They often drown out the American perspective.

Ethnic identity groups like La Raza work closely with U.S. Senators in drafting amnesty bills. Newspapers continuously quote local Hispanic open border organizations in their stories, thus providing the immigrant’s angle. And the MainStream Media (MSM) editorializes endlessly about why "comprehensive immigration reform" a.k.a. amnesty should be passed.

For Castañeda to claim that the "Mexican voice" is missing in the "U.S. immigration debate" is insulting—as were most of his other comments.