Selma to Montgomery: A Long Walk and A Long Stretch to Connect Illegal Immigration with the Civil Rights Movement



The advocates for illegal aliens are taking their cause to a whole new level of audacity as they attempt to identify their agenda with the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Hijack might be more accurate.

One of the turning points of the struggle for civil rights was a 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, during which hundreds of courageous men and women faced hostile mobs and hostile police. Now organizations like the National Council for La Raza (NCLR) and other illegal alien advocacy groups are seeking to exploit the legacy of that struggle, by staging a “reenactment of the march from Selma to Montgomery to protest Alabama’s law to discourage illegal immigration, HB 56.

As the statement below indicates, the illegal alien activists are attempting to draw invidious comparisons between the effects of Alabama’s immigration enforcement law and the suppression of African American voters. The march itself is an attempt to promote the idea that illegal aliens are victims of the sort of injustices that black Americans had faced for centuries.

“[HB 56] has deported a lot of potential voters, and we’re pushing back against that,” said Isabel Rubio, executive director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama.

Ms. Rubio argues that by enforcing federal immigration laws, Alabama is causing illegal aliens and their U.S. citizen children – potential future voters – to leave the state and even the country. Seems pretty weak, especially considering those U.S. children would not be in the country if their parents had not illegally entered or overstayed.

Alabamians and other Americans who support enforcing immigration laws know that the comparisons are not only false, but an insult to the people who risked their lives to promote civil rights for black Americans. They understand that HB 56 is about protecting the rule of law and preserving jobs and limiting taxpayer funded resources for Americans and legal residents. To compare these Americans to the proponents of segregation and racism who attacked African Americans on the original march from Selma to Montgomery 47 years ago is shameful.

The marchers’ goal is to manufacture racial division where none exists in order to coerce every politician, bureaucrat, police officer, and businessman to hesitate when attempting to fairly implement and adhere to laws passed by Congress and their state legislatures. In their relentless pursuit of amnesty for people who broke our laws they are even willing to co-opt the important symbols of those who fought to overcome racial injustice in our country.

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Content written by Federation for American Immigration Reform staff.

12 Comments

  1. avatar

    Opposing UNSUSTAINABLE immigration is exactly like opposing unsustainable anything else.

    What we have now, ecologically speaking, is literally endless millions of top predators (humans) pouring in here with 3rd world birthrates and 1st world appetites — the WORST POSSIBLE COMBINATION!! And many of them actually gloat about their irresponsible over-breeding in what is rightfully called demographic warfare.

    The left’s feigned concern for the environment goes right out the window as it slanders those of us who take ecology seriously.

  2. avatar

    To begin with, I judge NO ONE harshly for wanting a better life for their family. I would want the same for my own. But that is a fight we must wage in our own homelands. America is a country of fighters and free men (& women!). No matter where you live, revolutions are not won by abandoning ship like common rats! It seems there is a mass exodus to our country because conditions elsewhere are unfavorable but how will it ever be better around the globe if no one takes a stand and fights for what they really want, a better way of life. America is a rich and culturally diverse country and I’m not suggesting that change, but there is a limit to even our resources and we simply can not continue like this. I really don’t know what the best solution is but I can tell you that this isn’t it. We’ve always tried to take care of the rest of the world, fighting fights and our generosity is rivaled by none. But this isn’t simply a matter of open arms and big hearts. If our nation truly wants to assist the plight of the refugee, why are we not going to the root of the problem? If our agenda is truly pure in helping those in need, wouldn’t it make more sense to encourage them to make a stand and create change around the world? We’ve proven over our existence as human beings that progress is earned and not just handed out on silver platters. I’m not without a generous heart, and I attest to the value of charity, but as the old adage goes ‘Give a man a meal and he eats for a day. Give a man a job and he can feed himself for life.’

  3. avatar

    Posted to FAIR website 10 Mar 2012 – As several readers have already noted, this attempt to treat illegal immigration as a civil rights issue is complete nonsense. Even actual immigrants did not have a “right” to enter this country because there is no such right. Immigration is a privilege extended to prospective migrants by the US government. They must have the permission of our government to settle here. Therefore, illegal aliens are not immigrants. They are foreign invaders and deserve to be treated as such.

  4. avatar
    Barbara Griffith on

    Every 9 months another invasion is taking place in hospital delivery rooms across the US as illegal alien women give birth to another wave of invaders. This has been happening for decades with the US government turning a blind eye. The politicians will never touch the 14th amendment there are to many of them that are quietly being paid to look the other way. So what we are seeing for the first time is the beginning of the end of the US as we know it. All you have to do is look at California schools. Every classroom is empty of White kids, Black kids, Asian kids etc. The few pictures I have seen looks like I am looking at a school in Mexico or any country in South America.

  5. avatar

    More scham bullsh*t from amnesty pushers. when will these idiots finely get the news America doesn’t want this illegal aliens.

  6. avatar
    jay underhill on

    You know its not the people its our Government that are letting this kind of stuff to take place and we the legal people keep voting these people in office and they will let this march be done and if the black people try to stop it they will be the ones to go to jail and not the illegal ones they will just sit back and watch them walk right by.when the rich people get tired of them we will be stuck with them that is the way its worked and the way it will keep on working.the rich run our Government and our lives if every one voted Ron Paul, Mitt Rob-Me would still win that is what the Rich wants and like you know what the rich wants is what the rich gets and i hope the black people stand there ground and defend there rights that they have fought for let the illegals get there on plan and not take away someone elses rights. oh yell they have no right in this country they are illegal here.

  7. avatar

    Illegal aliens and their advocates will use any ploy in an attempt to gain legalization. They will twist facts and demonize anyone who wants our laws enforced. Several years ago, not far from where I live, a group of highschool students stabbed a man to death who was here illegally. This incedent is still being used to demonstrate “wide spread bias and hate” in my area. Of course, the hundreds of crimes committed by illegal aliens are completely ignored. Also, noone has bothered to question the fact that these kids, and most like them, cannot get entry level jobs because they are filled with foreign nationals. I will never condone the senseless violence that took a mans life but the rage that fueled the attack came from somewhere.

  8. avatar

    The African Americans have Civil Rights, because of slavery and being brought here against their will. But the illegal aliens coming over the border illegally to steal our country do not have Civil Rights They have Human Rights, but not Civil Rights, because they don’t belong to this country.

    But what about us do we have human rights when the illegal take our jobs, do we have human rights when we have to pay for health insurance and the illegal get it free, do the seniors have human rights when this government wants to take their SS and Medicare for the illegal and kick them out in the street to die, do the soldiers have human rights to fight for a country that they have given to the illegal aliens and Mexico and Obama has bankrupted this country, do we have human rights being forced to live under King Soros and his puppets clintons, bush and obama.who did Soros’ dirty work against us?

    Take Soros citizenship and kick him out to an island, because he didn’t just rob a bank he destroyed the US and l0 other countries and more. The kick out his illegal aliens. he used to destroy us, not because he likes them. He hates the US.

    The illegal aliens should have the human rights to go back tot.

  9. avatar
    Ana Zuniga-Maus on

    I agree with June, we need to forget about Felipe Calderon and the crocked government of Mexico and militarize the border, but send them armed this time, so they can properly stop the Mexican cartels and defend themselves. We have American territory in hands of the cartel and out of limit to Americans, we need a president with guts to do the right thing and reclaim the territory, driving the cartel out of here and stooping the flow of illegals that the government of Mexico push over the border, to send back remesas to them and to have the tax payers here, take care of the problems of poverty there. We also need to stand up and tell Obama and his cronies, enough is enough, DO YOUR JOB, enforce ALL our laws and cut all the incentives that bring the illegals here, including the 14 amendment, that need to be clarify or change to stop the abuse. IF THERE IS NO MORE JOBS, NO MORE FREE MEDICAL, NO MORE FREE SCHOOLING FOR THEM AND THEIR KIDS, NO MORE ANCHOR BABIES AND THE HELP THE ILLEGALS GET THROUGH THIS CHILDREN, NO MORE INCENTIVES TO ILLEGALS AND THEY WILL GO HOME. This have already been proven in the states like Arizona, that are trying to do the job the Federal government, and Obama, have fail to do.

  10. avatar

    I told people years ago they better slow this down before we turn into a third world country. Deport the I illegals back home mostly to mexico. These people are trouble makers. Go home and protest in your own country s Alabama will be just like mexico soon you watch and see.

  11. avatar

    More people need to begin to realize that illegal immigration is a plague that if someone doesn’t try to stop will destroy the very fabric that makes America a powerful unified nation. We can’t allow a country to accept illegal acts as okay. someone will look back and say, Oh My, if only someone would have had the foresight to see what was coming they would have done something. It is completely insane to say that nothing can be done about it.

  12. avatar

    Since so many of our military are on the way home, or will be soon, there is no more perfect place for them than on our southern border. For decades, we have sent our young men and women to guard other countries, many of whom hate us. Yet, our own borders stand wide open no matter what happens. Our government turns a blind eye to the point that they believe it is safe. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just ask the ranchers and farmers that live there. Then, demand that all illegals leave. Eisenhower did and it worked. It’s so simple…if you are not here legally, then go home. Feel free to take the anchor babies you produced. I don’t know of any time in history where a country has been invaded by millions from other countries and not only welcomed the invaders, but gave them the rights and benefits of citizens. “And this is the way the world ends…not with a bang but a whimper.”