Bush spoke today at the Kendall Campus of Miami-Dade College. Why did he pick this college? Diversity:

Bush spokesman Blair Jones said Miami Dade was chosen partly because it had made repeated requests and that it’s a “first-rate and diverse institution of higher learning.”[Bush to speak at Miami Dade College graduation Saturday By Scott Travis South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 27 2007]

How diverse is Miami- Dade these days? These are the demographics of Miami-Dade College, all campuses:

Fall 2001 Credit Student Profile:
Ethnic mix: 12 percent, white non-Hispanic; 22 percent, black non-Hispanic; 65 percent, Hispanic; 2 percent, other. 61 percent of Miami-Dade students are female, 39 percent are male.

That may be diverse in some existential sense, but I don’t call it an institution that “looks like America”–yet.

Kendall Campus is in Kendall, Florida and here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Some of [Kendall's] most famous residents include long-term resident Janet Reno, former U.S. Attorney General, whose parents built her home by hand; in addition, O.J. Simpson made his home in Kendall after his murder acquittal.

Kendall is also home to one of the largest Colombian American populations in the State of Florida. Over 11,000 Colombians live in the area, mostly concentrated in the western fringes (West of the Florida Turnpike), where they make up over 60 percent of the population in certain neighborhoods (West Kendall, Royal Palms on 134th Ave. and the Hammocks). Interestingly enough, several White non-Hispanic enclaves do exist West of the Turnpike. The Devon Aire neighborhood is over 70 percent non-Hispanic White and its elementary school, Devon Aire Elementary, is heralded as the highest-scoring elementary school (on the statewide FCAT exam) in Miami-Dade county.

The demographics on Kendall show that whites are already a minority, outside the enclaves mentioned above:

The racial makeup of the CDP was 41.6% White, 4.45% African American, 0.14% Native American, 2.99% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 2.81% from other races, and 3.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 49.9% of the population.

Miami-Dade’s demographics show that not only are whites a minority in the county, but so are native-born Americans:

The racial makeup of the county was 18.6% White (not Hispanic), 20.5% Black (not Hispanic) (with a large part being of Caribbean descent) and African American, 0.19% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 4.58% from other races, and 3.79% from two or more races. 60.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 51.4% of the county residents were born outside the United States, while 67% of the population speaks a language other than English at home.

The speech Bush gave, while officially an education speech, or so it says on the label, was focused on immigration, and contained a lot of pro-immigration rhetoric:

The opportunities of America make our land a beacon of hope for people from every corner of the world. It says something about this college that more than half of the students were raised speaking a language other than English. Some of you are the children and grandchildren of immigrants — who risked everything to give you opportunities they never had. Others of you are immigrants yourself, who came to this country with the hope of a better life and the determination to work for it. Over the years, this school has helped open the door for opportunity for hundreds of thousands of immigrants — and that is why Miami Dade proudly calls itself Democracy’s College. (Applause.)

This college has had a significant impact on thousands of our citizens. Take, for example, Gwen Belfon, who graduates today. As a single mother in Trinidad and Tobago, Gwen dreamed of attending college. But she put her own dreams on hold to raise her four children. A few years ago, Gwen came to the United States and enrolled at Miami Dade. Today this proud mother fulfills a lifelong dream. When Gwen crosses the stage this afternoon, she will receive her associate’s degree in education. And she’s not done yet. Next January, she will return to Miami Dade to start on her bachelor’s degree. (Applause.)President Bush Delivers Commencement Address at Miami Dade College

Good for her. But, er, who is paying for all that, and why? If President Bush had been speaking to the Americans for Tax Reform, I doubt if they’d have cheered right at that point.

Really, Miami seems like the apothesis of the Invite-The-World policies of the Bush Administration. When Tom Tancredo called Miami a Third World country at the Renaissance Weekend, he got a lot of grief for saying it–and then when a speech he was supposed to give in Miami was cancelled after bomb threats, threats of mob violence, and a revolt by the staff of the restaurant where he was to speak, we wrote that “We presume this settles once and for all the question of whether Miami is part of the Third World.”

But it’s not just us–this story below is from Time Magazine, written in 2001.

Even believers like Joaquin Blaya are worried that Miami will become another banana republic, bedeviled by huge divisions between the rich and the very poor. There is no doubt that waves of immigrants have put an enormous strain on Miami, both financially and socially. Roughly 140,000 Anglo residents have fled in the past decade, largely in response to the city’s growing Hispanic character. Some areas of the city today resemble the Third World, with the homeless and immigrants living under highways or in matchstick houses along canals.

Three times in the past decade, Miami has erupted in racial disturbances — caused in part by blacks frustrated as each new immigrant wave passes them by economically. The black Cuban-American neighborhood of Allapattah now serves as an uneasy buffer between the blacks of Liberty City and the white Cubans and Nicaraguans living in Little Havana. But Dade County board chairman Art Teele, a black who won his job with the backing of the commission’s new Latino members, doesn’t see race as the problem. “There is some lingering resentment by the blacks,” he admits, “but today they are just as resentful of the Haitians arriving.”

Miami: the Capital of Latin America, Time Magazine, Sunday, Jun. 24, 2001 By Cathy Booth

This is what Bush describes in his speech as “one of the most vibrant and diverse communities in our nation. .” And it seems to be his plan for the rest of the United States, as well.

Following up on Patrick Cleburne’s post regarding the recent remarkable change in tone on immigration voiced by Senator Sam Brownback–from wild-eyed enthusiast to questioning moderate–candidate Rudy Giuliani has also, in response to the criticism he has received as he campaigns across the country, toned down his open-borders position.

According to the New York Times [Giuliani Shifts His Tone on Immigration, By Marc Santora and Sam Roberts, April 22, 2007] Giuliani who has “a record on immigration with the potential to complicate his bid for the nomination” is now hedging his remarks.

While Giuliani talks in terms of “no amnesty” and secure borders it is important to note that he has dropped his long-standing, unqualified endorsement of illegal immigration.

The apparent changes of heart of Brownback, Giuliani and McCain before them should be seen as a significant–but not quite yet complete–victory for the immigration reform movement.

I have noted before that much of the most incisive writing on the American immigration disaster in the MSM tends to appear in discussion threads and letters to the editor, rather than the professional journalism itself

A case in point is Tom Shuford’s letter to the Raleigh News & Observer today:

“People are here without papers,” says Duke anthropology professor Charles D. Thompson Jr. in his April 18 Point of View piece “Lessons learned on immigration,” because “massive historical and economic forces push people around.”

Humbug. “Massive historical and economic forces” didn’t:
* Push through the 1965 Immigration Act with its chain migration provisions that made Latin America and, secondarily, Asia the near-exclusive sources of legal and illegal immigration.
* Grant citizenship to children born to foreign nationals illegally in the U.S.
* Hand down the 1982 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision (Plyler v. Doe) ordering taxpayers to educate children brought illegally to the U.S….

The actors in this farce are not mysterious “historical forces.” They are familiar characters: short-sighted politicians, corporate and ethnic lobbyists, overreaching judges.

Immigration reform: private citizens doing the work the elite won’t do.

Donald Luskin blogged on this under the heading of BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL RESIGNS IN OUTSOURCING SCANDAL

They probably weren’t union members, and one can only imagine the awfulness of their carbon footprint.

I, as you can see, prefer the heading “Jobs Americans Won’t Do,” but it’s a near thing. The actual headline, of course, from ABC’s Blotter, is

Senior Official Linked to Escort Service Resigns

April 27, 2007

By Brian Ross and Justin Rood

And the relevant passage is this:

On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the “Pamela Martin and Associates” escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage.” Tobias, who is married, said there had been “no sex,” and that recently he had been using another service “with Central Americans” to provide massages.

Earlier this month I applauded columnist James Pinkerton for his powerful denunciation of the STRIVE bill, in which he demonstrated an exemplary grasp of the fraudulent economics and despicable politics of this specimen of special interest log-rolling:

“the STRIVE Act… represents one group’s attempt to manipulate the system against another group - and also against the national interest. Do you think the working class in America has it too good? Do you want to make sure that you always have the option of replacing your current workers - the ones who do your meatpacking, or landscaping, or household toiling - with even hungrier workers? And do you not care about crime and social chaos, as long as they happen in someone else’s neighborhood? Or perhaps disuniting the whole United States, after you’re dead? Then STRIVE is for you.

Today I do not applaud Pinkerton’s hopeful essay on Presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee Huckabee a real right-wing long shot Newsday.com April 26 2007 . While it may be true that, generally,

Huckabee is not far from where the country is right now - even if, right now, he’s a long way from the White House.

The assertion

Huckabee is a real conservative. He is anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, anti-gun control, anti-open immigration

has to be questioned. VDARE.com has been watching Huckabee for a while. The sight is not pleasant. He has been an enthusiastic participant in the Majority-guilt dance, and has also displayed precisely the same irresponsible Chamber of Commerce low wage lust which Pinkerton so eloquently denounced. Only two years ago he was denouncing an Arkansas bill to restrain illegal’s access to State services as “race-baiting and demagoguery”.

Mike Huckabee, like Sam Brownback, appears to be a case of Presidential fever inducing a moment of sensitivity to the grassroots, after a career of GOP Establishment courtiership.

Suggestion to Columnists: Run a search on VDARE.com for any Presidential aspirant attracting you. We have been watching.