At the Specter immigration hearing this morning in Philadelphia, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg blurted out some of the most ridiculous immigration rhetoric I have ever heard…which is saying something.

First of all, he testified that NYC is home to more than 3 million immigrants, half of whom came here illegally–no surprises there expect that the number sounds a little low.

[NYC mayor says U.S. depends on immigrants by Kimberly Hefling AP 7/5/06]

And according to uber-economist Bloomberg,

“Although they broke the law by illegally crossing our borders … our city’s economy would be a shell of itself had they not, and it would collapse if they were deported,” he said. “The same holds true for the nation.”

He went on to criticize the House enforcement bill…of course.

“Members of the House of Representatives want to control the borders. So do all of us here,” Bloomberg said. “But believing that increasing border patrols alone will achieve that goal is either naive and shortsighted or cynical and duplicitous. No wall or army can stop hundreds of thousands of people each year.”

Wow…it’s amazing that America is still here seeing as we do not have the military capability to stave off foreign invasion.

What a pathetic remark.

Just to re-cap, Senator Specter is trying to drum up support for the McCain-Kennedy bill which passed the Senate a few moons back and would:

Grant amnesty to pretty much all of the illegal immigrants in America today (via legal permanent residency or citizenship) while imposing a fine of roughly $3000 dollars and requiring them to pay back taxes and learn English.

House hearings are taking place on the West Coast today and Friday…we’ll keep you posted.

I just watched the first immigration panel chaired by Senators Arlen Specter and Edward Kennedy. On the panel were New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson and Hazelton, PA. Mayor Lou Barletta.

Bloomberg and Johnson were 100% sympathetic to the “undocumented” community. Bloomberg claimed that New York could not function without the “undocumented” And Johnson speculated that if police were to report aliens to the immigration agencies, the “trust” built up between police and immigrant informants would evaporate.

Barletta said flat out that illegal immigrants were “not working” and “draining” his scarce funds for servicing the legal residents of Hazelton.

Here’s the big difference between Bloomberg/Johnson and Barletta: Bloomberg and Johnson dealt in theory…Bloomberg “thinks”that New York would collapse. But of course it wouldn’t. And Johnson is of the opinion that “the relationship” between police and immigrants would be destroyed. But that is his view; it is not shared by me or many others.

Barletta dealt with hard facts–monetary and emotional–about how illegal immigration is destroying Hazelton.

And Bloomberg and Johnson simply rehashed the same tedious arguments as to why we can’t clean up the illegal immigration mess.

A VDARE.COM reader attempted to comfort me recently in an email that I think highlights a common misconception.

As a female graduate student at a Catholic university, she is expected to present a “cultural autobiography” to her class - a multicultural brainwashing technique I wrote about recently. She plans on fighting back by “deconstructing the myth that only today’s minorities were oppressed” by citing the ways in which her Italian immigrant grandparents were oppressed at the turn of the century.

Among other things, she says that Sicilians in Louisiana were called “niggers,” that Italians were turned away from jobs, and that in 1922, when a Negro man was accused of raping a white woman and his defense was that she wasn’t white, she was Italian, the judge agreed and the case was dismissed (Rollins v Alabama).

Understandable - but I don’t think this type of response is the best way to combat discrimination-obsessed academics.

It’s implicitly siding with the liberals. Feeding into the multiculturalists’ mentality – comparing scars inflicted by “society’ – only promotes their goal of more and more multicultural and diversity requirements.

Pointing out liberal hypocrisy is fun. But this particular case warrants careful assessment of the potential consequences.

If we’re aiming for the abolition of hyphenated Americans, then showing that we aren’t actually assimilated either (I’m Italian – not white. I’m Jewish – not white. I’m [anything] – not white) is counterproductive.

I think my VDARE.COM reader would do better by presenting a purely American culture – if only to prove that one exists.