Viewpoint - Immigration debate fuels racial intolerance in America

Freedom of speech is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. It is the law that makes publications such as the one you're holding possible. However, ignorance is not a right the Constitution guarantees nor is it one that should be allowed.

For instance, Holocaust denial is something that is protected under the First Amendment. It doesn't matter that it rejects the genocide of 6 million human beings by Adolph Hitler's National Socialist German Workers' Party, for no reason other than being different. Never the less, the right to have this belief is protected in the Constitution, regardless of the facts.

That is not the case in other countries. At least 10 countries have laws making it illegal to deny the Holocaust, including Germany. The United Nations passed a resolution in 2005 making Jan. 27 International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, and as part of the resolution rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event either in full or part. The European Union also approved legislation making Holocaust denial illegal and punishable by imprisonment in its 27 countries in 2007.

Ernst Zubdel, popular Holocaust denier and publisher of "Did Six Million Really Die" is now serving a five-year prison sentence for his beliefs in Germany. As reported in the spring 2006 issue of the Intelligence Report, Zubdel, once a legal resident of Canada but a German citizen, was deported to Germany after attempting to enter the United States.

Making Holocaust denial illegal in this country would be a violation of the First Amendment. Freedom of speech is a right every journalist believes in and upholds. However, believing the Holocaust is a hoax is not an expression of free speech, it is an expression of ignorance.

This year, an election year, a different form of ignorance is on the rise. Illegal immigration is one of the issues, somewhere behind the economy and the war in Iraq, that has been brought up for debate. With its rise in American consciousness, nativist groups have been growing across the country.

Some of the more extreme ideas that these nativist groups have come up with rival the cruelties of Hitler's Nazi party. These groups support such extreme proposals as forcibly sterilizing undocumented women before deportation, setting mines on the border and setting up sniper teams to shoot immigrants dead on sight.

It is unbelievable that in our time, citizens of this country advocate such ideas. Border security and immigration reform are serious issues our country faces. However, any policy that refuses immigrants their basic rights as fellow human beings is wrong.

According to FBI statistics, hate crimes against Latinos have increased 35 percent from 2003 to 2006. The suspected reason is that the anti-immigrant rhetoric from politicians and the media has given rise to vigilante attacks against suspected undocumented immigrants. This figure is possibly much higher because immigrants are less likely to report being victims of an attack to the authorities out of fear of deportation.

I have friends and co-workers who immigrated to this country, sometimes illegally. One of my co-workers, Ruben, entered this country from Mexico illegally three times.

Ruben gained citizenship through marriage and works two jobs, seven days a week, to support his family in the United States. Without a doubt, Ruben is one of the hardest working, honest and trustworthy friends I have.

Ruben was born in Guanajuato, Mexico, and talks about crossing the border unabashedly. His brother was mugged by gangs on the border the first time they crossed. The second time, his party was chased by pit bulls and crossed in the trunk of a car, hiding with four other men, all soaking wet and cold, for a 2 1/2 hour drive.

He also talks about a time he tried to cross with a pregnant woman in his party. When they crossed, the Border Patrol was waiting. The party split and Ruben took off with the pregnant woman, but she fell behind. Ruben might have been able to get away but let himself be caught because he was holding the woman's entire life savings in his sock. When they were deported, they were dropped off at two different check points. Ruben was dropped off in Tijuana and the woman was dropped off in Mexicali. Ruben took a taxi to Mexicali to find the woman whose money he was holding and found her crying at the city's center fountain.

Most people would not go to that trouble, they would just look out for themselves, but that is the nature of Ruben's personality.

The flame under America's melting pot is flickering out. The anti-immigrant wave passing over our country is sacrificing one of our core principles. It seems America has closed the door to the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free.