That was a fairly sizable crowd marching Monday to oppose immigration reforms that don’t include what amounts to an amnesty for the estimated 12 million persons here illegally. But Congress should remember that slogans and shouts from masses of people — many of whom aren’t U.S. citizens — don’t make for sound policy-making.
“We are here and we aren’t leaving” was a frequently seen and heard slogan among Monday’s marchers, and those words precisely illustrate why Congress should not be swayed by these demonstrations. It is especially important that policies governing so fundamental an issue as immigration never be made in response to such implicit threats.One thing was evident Monday, and that was that march organizers learned one important public relations lesson from the gatherings seen earlier this month in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities: Mexican flags and other symbols of Mexican nationalism were dominant then, but most of the flags seen here Monday were the Stars and Stripes.
Even so, simply wrapping themselves and their fellow marchers in American flags while threatening to not leave unless forced to do so doesn’t change one of the fundamental facts about these marches. They aren’t quite calling it “non-negotiable,” but march organizers and their allies in the political community are demanding an amnesty that will ultimately cover far more illegal aliens than the 3 million who were legalized by Simpson-Mazzoli in 1986.
That is why another distressing fact about Monday’s march was the presence on the podium of Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, outreach director for the Dar Al-Hijra Islamic Center in Falls Church. Dar Al-Hijra was where spiritual solace and perhaps other forms of support were sought by at least two of the Sept. 11 hijackers who flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.
One of Abdul-Malik’s former colleagues at the Falls Church mosque was Anwar al-Awlaki. The two Sept. 11 hijackers followed al-Awlaki here from San Diego in 2001. The FBI focused a great deal of investigative energy on al-Awlaki until his abrupt departure from the U.S. in March 2002, according to U.S. News & World Report. Abdul-Malik refused to answer questions from the magazine about al-Aklaki’s relationship with the Falls Church mosque.
Abdul-Malik is thus a curious choice to be given a place on the podium by organizers of Monday’s march. Perhaps the organizers were unaware of Abdul-Malik’s connections and naively selected him as part of their argument that the immigration problem is not merely about Latinos.
Whatever the reason for his selection, Abdul-Malik’s presence on the podium points to a critical consideration for Congress: Resolution of the amnesty problem cannot be accomplished without strict identification of all illegals and credible documentation of why they are here. Anything less risks granting amnesty to people determined to ape the Sept. 11 criminals.
