California An Apartheid State?

Illegal Immigration Turning Calif. Into 'Apartheid State,' Expert Warns

OK, the expert is Victor Davis Hanson and I don't really disagree with the premise that California is, in effect - not in a legal sense, becoming an apartheid state. Pretty much any border state is going to be in a similar situation. California just has the problem, like every other problem, on a much larger scale.

Now the effect is that of apartheid, but is it really? I don't think so.

Apartheid is defined by Merriam Webster as "racial segregation; specifically : a policy of segregation and political and economic discrimination against non-European groups in the Republic of So. Africa" or "Separation, Segregation."

The reason I don't believe that California is apartheid is that to say it is is to ignore that the segregated are segregated by choice. They chose to come here illegally. There is no policy to segregate Mexicans living in California legally. There is only a policy to remove those living in the state illegally.

Now the effect of INS and deportation is to force the illegals to live in segregated societies where they can provide for their common good. So while the official policy is not one of apartheid, there isn't much difference between illegal Mexicans in California and blacks under Jim Crow. Except that the Mexicans are there by choice.

Should we be concerned about the formation of an apartheid state in California (or Texas or New Mexico or Florida or Arizona or any other state)? We should. But not because it reflects some great racial inequality flaw in us. Rather we should be concerned because it exposes just how bad the problem of illegal immigration has become.

It shows that INS needs to do more. It shows that the Border Patrol needs help. It shows that our government is failing us in their duty to protect the intangible that is American citizenship.

Being an American citizen should mean more than just being able to carry a US passport. Yet we continue to allow the institution to be cheapened by granting the benefits without requiring any of the duties and responsibilities associated with it.

The formation of the "apartheid state" is our warning. The question is: are we listening?