OpinionJournal: Against the Boycott Agenda

Unhappily, The Wall $treet Journal isn't coming out against the underlying agenda of the boycott. They have traditionally favored open borders, in the belief that no nation has the inherent right to inhibit the free flow of either labor or capital, either within or without. Nor is this an editorial against the boycott itself. Rather, John Fund is taking excruciating pains to point out that not all illegal-immigrant advocates favor today's (May 1) planned boycott/general strike as the best way to dramatize their issue.

Mr. Fund also points out, and this is the first time for the Journal, that many illegal-immigrant advocates, and especially boycott/general strike organizers, have agendae that go far beyond any free-flow-of-labor question. Well, duh! I could have told Mr. Fund and the Journal that years ago! Full disclosure, in fact, now compels me to mention that I once sent in letter after letter to the editors of the Journal, pointing out how wrong they were on the subject of immigration. They never published a single one of them. They are not in the habit of publishing anything that disagrees with their stated editorial position. Few newspapers are. (To their credit, WorldNetDaily is in that habit. And the fastest way to "get through" to most conservative radio talkers is to say that you disagree with their stated positions, and the more vehemently the better.)

And only now does the Journal realize that the agenda of illegal-immigration advocates goes far beyond the free flow of labor? Where have they been? Many other voices now state that they do not want American citizenship so much as work permits--or else they want to get into a position to demand a plebiscite to retro-cede the American Southwest back to Mexico.

If I were the President, I would formally ask the Minutemen to show up at these rallies, stop and ask people for immigration papers, and make citizen's arrests. Indeed, every State in the Union allows its citizens and lawful residents to arrest someone if the police ask them to--or if they bear direct witness to felonious acts. Talk about missed upportunity...!