There are stark differences between African-Americans and Latinos regarding the illegal immigration issues. I will attempt to summarize how many Black folks feel about this issue. First and most importantly, we do not consider the immigration issue a civil rights issue. Granted, illegal immigrants have been victimized, but to compare the plight of non-citizens trying to jump start their right to citizenship with the plight of Black citizens who were fighting for rights already owed to us under the constitution is a bit disingenuous.

I don’t know many Black folks who support rounding up 11 million illegal immigrants and sending them back to Mexico. Most of us realize it is impractical and inhumane. Yet, very few African-Americans sympathize with those who advocate complete amnesty for people who have willingly broken the law. No race of people in this country has been as adversely impacted by the criminal justice system as African-Americans. For us to support amnesty for illegal aliens would put us in a contradictory position. During the civil rights era, nobody was advocating amnesty for Dr. King and other civil rights leaders even though their cause was noble and just.

Many of us in the African-American community are having difficulty identifying those jobs illegal aliens will take that Black folks won’t take. We know of plenty jobs where the pay is illegally low that we are not willing to do. But we cannot identify those jobs where the pay is fair and legal that we are unwilling to do. For example, several Black high school kids work at a number of fast food outlets in order to support themselves and help out their families. Many of these jobs have been identified by illegal immigration advocates as jobs Black folks don’t want to do.

When Black folks visit Parkland Hospital we are in line behind illegal immigrants. Our teachers, a significant segment of the Black middle class, are threatened as Latino leaders advocate for Spanish speaking educators to accommodate our public school system that has been inundated with the children of illegal immigrants. Whether urban myth or not, the perception that un-insured illegal immigrant motorists have made our streets unsafe and more costly is yet another reason why African-Americans and Latinos see this immigration issue very differently.

Black citizens have not been very vocal on this issue for a few reasons. One reason is that many of the proponents of tougher immigration laws are conservative whites who have traditionally opposed us on civil rights and affirmative action issues. We still acknowledge something must be done to protect Black workers from unfair competition with illegal, under paid immigrant workers. At the same time, many of us have political and social ties to a number of Latinos and thus we feel their pain.

Our government has done a horrible job of enforcing our immigration laws. Thus we find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of trying to fix something right away that has been broken for a very long time. With the exception of The Medrano family, Adelpha Callejo, and a few others, not many Hispanics can claim a history with us in the civil rights movement. Latinos leading the illegal immigration fight cannot assert Black folks should be with them because Latinos have done so much for us. Black history does not validate that claim. At least that is how Black folks South of the Trinity see it.

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