Amnesty Advocates Interrupt Birthright Event, Tackle Senior Citizen

While attending a discussion on birthright citizenship held by the State Legislators for Legal Immigration at the National Press Club in Washington this morning, I was able to witness the true face of the pro-amnesty, pro-illegal immigration crowd. On at least four occasions, the so-called "pro-immigrant" activists attempted to stop discussion by rudely interrupting the speakers and shouting down state legislators and professors. ABC News has some raw video footage of the efforts to stifle debate, including the effort by one disruptive activist to "accidentally" fall while a senior citizen attempted to escort him to the door. The elderly gentleman was knocked down by the activist's phony, designed-to-create-sympathy tumble. The activist bounced back to his feet nearly right away and continued shouting; predictably the senior citizen took a few seconds longer to get back up, with no help from any reporter or the protestor.

One wonders whether the generally pro-amnesty journalists in attendance will have any commentary on the childish and rude behavior of the open-border crowd. One also wonders whether any of the pro-amnesty groups in attendance (e.g., ACLU, LULAC, National Immigration Forum, La Raza, the Leadership Conference) will decry the efforts to stifle debate.

It is mind-boggling that these advocates continue to use such tactics at press events – (for the record, I’ve experienced similar tactics while serving as a panelist at Harvard, as have my colleagues at a number of other forums throughout the country). The amnesty advocates fail to realize that their lack of professionalism and civility is one reason why the American public does not take them seriously. One would think that after a decade's-worth of failed attempts at the DREAM Act and similar measures, the amnesty crowd would change their methods. But it seems that their New Year's resolution was to become even more confrontational and more hostile to the idea of open debate.

While it is sad to see the open-borders crowd sink to such depths, it does indicate that they are losing the political fight over immigration policy. When one cannot change minds through open dialogue, the only option left is to silence opposition – and that is the current strategy for some amnesty advocates.