By
Molly Rosbach
April 18, 2008
The UW College Republicans’ plans to hold an event entitled “Find an Illegal Immigrant Tag” was cancelled when news of the event drew widespread criticism from several campus groups. Scheduled for Tuesday, the event was to include an eight-minute game of tag with two players identified as federal agents and four players as illegal immigrants. It was meant to be a theatrical illustration of the lack of manpower in border patrol.
The College Republicans decided to call off the event because they felt it had been misrepresented by left-wing groups on campus, senior Tom Walker, the club’s president, said.
“We felt it would have been convoluted, misunderstood and confused,” he said. “People had their own preconceived notions of what we were advocating.”
Several campus groups arrived on the HUB lawn Tuesday to show solidarity for immigrant rights. There was a rally at noon, during which various members of the community spoke out against the presumably racist ideas portrayed by the College Republicans and other groups.
“This isn’t in response to ‘Tag an Immigrant,’ but we are coming out here to show that if hurtful and destructive language is used, the community is going to come out here and say, ‘That isn’t supported on our campus,’” said senior Hala Dillsi, political education co-chair of MEChA, the Chicano student movement.
Walker and his group felt that with the protests and accusations of racism being thrown around by the opposing groups on campus, the event would have taken the focus off the issue they feel is at the core of their position.
“We wanted to focus on [border security], and we understood that this event would’ve blurred the line between that and what to do with undocumented immigrants,” Walker said.
Sophomore Justin Bryant, political chair of the College Republicans, felt that the opposing side determined its viewpoint before College Republicans had a chance to express it themselves.
“They basically decided what our stance was for themselves,” he said. “Our view was drowned out by what they decided our view was, and that’s not conducive to a good dialogue.”
MEChA member Renato Mendoza, who works in high school outreach, said the rally was about promoting and supporting comprehensive immigrant reform, as well as trying to get people to question what’s being portrayed in the media.
“They’re stigmatizing a whole group of people whose fault it isn’t that they have to migrate,” Mendoza said.
The rally wasn’t just focused on Mexican immigration. Dillsi and Renato emphasized that there are immigrants coming in from all over the world.
In that vein, the March 1st Solidarity group also came out to show their support at the rally. March 1st Solidarity is a club focused on getting U.S. troops out of Korea.
The College Republicans believe claims of racism are misrepresentations of what they were trying to do, which was simply to call attention to the need to secure the borders.
Bryant also spoke on the notion that the lack of adequate border patrol hurts illegal immigrants, too, as human rights violations are taking place during the journey across the border. In Phoenix alone, he said, there are more than 1,000 drop houses that are used to smuggle illegal immigrants — often women and children, who are then exploited — over the border.
“You need to find a better way to bring legal immigrants into this country,” Bryant said. “Illegal immigrants make a mockery of all the legal immigrants standing in line to come over.”
The College Republicans hope to set up a debate in the future in which both sides can explain their positions clearly and rationally. Junior Auggie Eck said the group wants an open forum to promote a back-and-forth of ideas.
“We’re probably going to disagree with each other, but at least we’ll have our positions out there,” he said. “People will be free to make their own decisions.”
[Reach reporter Molly Rosbach at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]
16 Comments
#1 David
on April 18, 2008 at 11:13 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
I love that liberals claim to be loving and accepting of all, but as soon as somebody speaks out with a different opinion, the liberals call it "hate speech" and try to have it banned. You either fully support the First Amendment or you throw out the entire bill of rights, you can't pick and choose.
#2 UWAlum
on April 19, 2008 at 9:18 a.m.(Tucson, AZ | Unverified Name)
What's really ironic is that, of all groups, MEChA was the most forthright in their disagreement of this event. Do the idiots who are part of that trash organization have any understanding what it preaches? Does the "browning" of the entire SW US ring a bell? What about the meaning of Aztlan? MEChA needs to STFU.
I feel so bad for those who are truly tolerant in the place known as Seattle. For further clarification, I'm not talking about the leftists/liberals. They are anything but tolerant. This article is but a microcosm when understanding their ever present hypocrisy.
#3 Larry
on April 19, 2008 at 3:46 p.m.(Everett, WA | Unverified Name)
"For further clarification, I'm not talking about the leftists/liberals. They are anything but tolerant."
You see, liberals are the real racists because
#4 UWAlum
on April 19, 2008 at 11:14 p.m.(Tucson, AZ | Unverified Name)
Whoops!
#5 Rage
on April 20, 2008 at 10:29 a.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
You can't condemn an entire group of people who come here (legally or illegally, it doesn't matter) to escape extreme poverty in search of a better life for themselves and their family, especially when they're leaving their own country to escape the oppression of some dictator we've propped up to steal their natural resources.
To do so qualifies you as an ignorant racist hypocrite, and by the looks of it, you all fit that criterion.
#6 Justin
on April 20, 2008 at 11:51 a.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
Rage: Stupid comments like yours make me question how we let students into this university. The idea that we "prop up" some dictator in countries that have large groups of people immigrating here is absolutely false. Close to 60% of illegal immigrants in this country come from Mexico, which an educated person like myself could explain to you is a democratic country. Their leaders are elected in free and open elections and no one questions that. As a side, they have very limited natural resources. Illegal immigrants are coming here because our country has better opportunities. But because they are not able to integrate into society they don't have all the opportunities that make this country great. That is why it is essential we focus on legal immigration to make sure immigrants are given all the opportunities we have as Americans. The reason illegal immigrants are focused on is because they ruin the system that is meant to better any individual's life that comes here. When individuals break the law and cross our borders they are taking the place of an immigrant that could come here legally and have every opportunity we have.
#7 Rage
on April 20, 2008 at 1:55 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
In typical conservative fashion, you ignore the history of U.S.-Latin American relations in explaining the problem of illegal immigration. Read up on the history of Central and South America from 1945-present. Assuming you know how to read, which is seriously in doubt at this point.
The question we need to be asking is: why are so many desperate people coming here for survival in the first place? Poverty, war, disease, oppression, exploitation, free trade, structural adjustment, squalid living conditions. Until you address the problem at the root, there will always be people coming here to find a better life.
Our immigration system is broken. Of the 2 million displaced refugees in Iraq, less than 800 have been allowed to legally immigrate to the U.S.
#8 UW Student
on April 20, 2008 at 2:32 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
It's troubling for me to see such hatred among young college students. Because right-wingers seem to be dominating this discussion, I feel obligated to shed some reasonable light on the situation.
The College Republicans event is a horrifying concept no matter how you look at it. What most people don't understand is that the U.S. likes illegal immigrant labor because it's cheap. When it comes to illegal immigration, conservatives find themselves in a bit of a bind--we need to protect our white working-class supporters who don't like people of color taking their jobs, but we still need cheap immigrant labor for capitalism to thrive!
I realize after posting this comment, I'll probably be told to go back to Russia, or that I'm gay or anti-American, but the truth is that I love my country.
Furthermore, although I don't particularly love liberals myself, I don't think they are intolerant or should "STFU" as someone previously wrote. If anything, the people contributing to this discussion, i.e. Justin's:
"Stupid comments like yours make me question how we let students into this university" make us look incapable of having a rational discussion, having to resort to Bill O'Reilly type tactics.
Yours,
UW Student
#9 UW Student
on April 20, 2008 at 2:33 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
I totally agree with you, Rage.
-UW Student
#10 Joel
on April 20, 2008 at 4:40 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
My biggest problem with this event and the reason I'm not inclined to give the College Republicans the benefit of the doubt regarding their motives is that all of their most publicized events of the past four years fit into a similar mold. The Affirmative Action Bake Sale, the Islamo-Facism Awareness Week, and this canceled event all target policies or groups that just happen to be made up primarily of people of color. I respect and am edified by the long history of conservative political thought (Burke ranks among my favorite political philosophers), but when conservatives, which I assume the College Republicans would describe themselves as, resort to pulling stunts like this, they've lost me and any interest I would have in being involved in their movement.
#11 Tim
on April 20, 2008 at 6:02 p.m.(Location Unknown | Unverified Name)
Great point, Joel.
#12 Andy
on April 20, 2008 at 7:38 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
Even if they are a bit controversial, the events the College Republicans like to hold do a good job of drawing attention to important issues that can otherwise be impossible to be heard among the insanely loud voices and actions of the 'leftist' groups.
Yes, this game of tag sounds silly, but events like the Affirmative Action Bake Sale do an amazing job showing just how blatantly unfair current policies are. If we spoke out against racism in the 1960s, why do so many college students embrace it today?
I support these events all the way and hope there are more in the future.
#13 Mike
on April 20, 2008 at 9:15 p.m.(Bainbridge Island, WA | Unverified Name)
Why don't they replace their game of "find an illegal immigrant tag" with a much easier one... "FINE a company that hires illegal immigrants"... And that goes for folks who benefit directly as well as indirectly... sorry, but Wal-Mart style "it was the company we contracted with for janitorial service's fault not ours" excuses won't get you off the hook. To play the new game you could pretty much go and touch just about any retail building that you see. Plenty of middle class to rich folks with a nanny, a yard maintenance service, or a house keeper would also be fair game.
You also could play another game called "find a person who benefits from illegal immigrant's work"... For that, you could just touch anyone walking out of one of the stores in the first game with a purchase (how'd you think they get those "low, low prices"?), touch someone leaving a restaurant with a full belly, or touch anyone who is eating US grown fruit in public... transgressors, all.
I thought the Republicans (the college variety included) were supposed to be for efficient government? What is easier to do... going door to door looking for people who will likely just pretend not to be home, or go up to businesses that cannot duck into the alley when they see you coming? Illegal is illegal, right? Why not go for the low hanging fruit first? Otherwise you are treading into what suspiciously looks like racism.
#14 Kristin
on April 21, 2008 at 11:07 p.m.(Puyallup, WA | Unverified Name)
I still don't understand what was supposed to happen at the event. Can someone explain a little better what its premise was? By the time I heard about it, it was characterized as College Republicans "tagging" people who looked like illegal immigrants. While Rosbach describes a little of what was planned, I still don't understand. If it wasn't that, then what was it? How were the players "identified as illegal immigrants" identified, in particular? How was the intent convoluted and distorted?
#15 Peter Fallow
on April 22, 2008 at 3:18 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
Oh good, another dicotomous liberal-versus-conservative debate. Because, obviously, american politcal thought comes in one of two schools and virtually all liberals and conservatives think exactly alike.
Clearly, the UW needs to make their admittance standards more stringent, we are letting in way too many d-bags.
#16 Amy
on April 27, 2008 at 1:34 p.m.(Bothell, WA | Unverified Name)
Hi,
We saw you on the news with your CWP t-shirts!!! Where can I get one to show my support!!?
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