[An assertion by Anna Benitez, 15, who has lived here a whole ten years - School Walkouts Protest Immigration ProposalsLos Angeles Times, March 24, 2005]

Is that so? And which immigrants?

The reality of this heavily-publicized wave of demonstrations was well caught by the report’s second paragraph:

The atmosphere was festive as 500 Huntington Park High School students waved Mexican flags, held balloons colored green, white and red, and periodically broke into cheers of “Mexico! Mexico!”

In other words: Reconquista.

Sometimes, it is well to remind ourselves that political violence does not necessarily involve bloodshed, just as conquest does not always mean using weapons.

Meantime, the President’s pompous radio harangue on immigration today, though strewn with resonant references to the need for cultural assimilation and more efficient border management, fails the acid test of “Birthright Citizenship” reform. As VDARE.com has constantly stressed, this question decisively sorts between the cheap labor hogs–for whom “guest worker” programs should be enough–and those whose real objective is the transformation of this country.

President Bush, clearly, is in the latter camp.

Last April, suburban housewife and mom Mary Nagle (shown here with her husband Daniel in a happy moment) was brutally raped and killed in her own home by an illegal alien hired to do some painting prep work

NEW CITY, N.Y. — A prosecutor described in nightmarish detail Thursday the rape, mutilation and killing of a suburban housewife, allegedly at the hands of a worker who was supposed to be power-washing her deck.

The assault on 42-year-old Mary Nagle was so brutal that crime-scene investigators found a piece of her ear and hanks of her hair scattered around her bedroom, Rockland County District Attorney Michael Bongiorno said at the start of the defendant’s trial. One of the victim’s fingers was nearly amputated as she tried to fend off her attacker. [Prosecutor describes housewife's rape, killing in grisly detail, Newsday, March 24, 2006].

After killing Mary Nagle, Guatemalan citizen Douglas Herrera changed into clean clothes belonging to Daniel Nagle and used Mary’s cell phone to call 51 people on the phone’s internal list. Many family and friends learned of the horrendous crime from the killer himself, who also threatened them.

As is common in many of these cases, the killer had a prior arrest that should have sent him back to his nation of origin, but he was allowed to stay, with tragic results.

News of the crime cooled the enthusiasm of many area homeowners for hiring total strangers from foreign countries. “The lady told me, ‘Pablo, I don’t want to see you today,’ “ said Mr. Sandoval, an “immigrant” laborer.

To see the faces of American crime victims and the illegal alien criminals streaming across our borders, have a look at Immigrations Human Cost.