By Deborah Simmons, Washington Times, April 14, 2006 (Edited extract, updated by Lewis Loflin)
In 2006, Senator John McCain aligned with elitists and liberals like Ted Kennedy, pushing a guest-worker amnesty that relegated immigrants to menial tasks—cleaning toilets, picking cotton, harvesting produce, and nannying the young—while ignoring the toll on American workers. Deborah Simmons saw through this façade: a bipartisan sellout prioritizing cheap labor over sovereignty. McCain’s McCain-Kennedy bill (S. 1033) aimed to legalize millions, echoing today’s debates. But beyond the policy, Simmons unearthed a darker undercurrent—radical voices inciting division right here at home.
Fast forward to 2025: the pattern persists. Despite Trump’s border crackdown slashing southwest crossings to 8,347 in February 2025 (CBP data), the legacy of lax enforcement lingers. In the Tri-Cities, employers still favor immigrant labor in meatpacking and construction, driving wages down from $15–$20 per hour in the 1990s to $10–$12 today (BLS, 2024). The working poor—Black and white alike—bear the brunt, displaced by a system McCain and Kennedy helped entrench.
While attention fixates on Arab-speaking terrorists, Simmons highlighted inflammatory words from Latino activists in 2006, courtesy of NewsWithViews.com’s March 30 piece, "We have got to eliminate the gringos." Consider these quotes:
Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas at Arlington professor and La Raza Unida founder, declared: "We have an aging white America ... They are dying ... We have got to eliminate the gringo, and what I mean by that is if the worst comes to the worst, we have got to kill him."
Ernesto Cienguegos, in a March 25, 2006, column titled "La Gran Marcha surpasses all expectations," wrote: "What does the immense success of 'La Gran Marcha' mean to Mexicanos and other Latinos? It simply means that we now have the numbers, the political will and the organizational skills to direct our own destinies and not be subservient to the White and Jewish power structures. It means that we can now undertake bigger and more significant mass actions to achieve total political and economic liberation like that being proposed by Juan Jose Gutierrez, President of Movimiento Latino USA." Cienguegos noted Juan Jose Gutierrez’s call for a mass boycott against the U.S. economy on May 5 or 19, 2006, organized in Arizona or Texas on April 8.
Protected by the First Amendment—America’s Constitution, not Aztlan’s—these seditionists faced no reckoning. Gutierrez’s call to "kill" gringos and Cienguegos’s vision of Latino dominance weren’t fringe rants; they fueled 2006’s massive immigration marches, like La Gran Marcha in Los Angeles, with over 500,000 attendees. Today, La Raza’s influence persists, rebranded as UnidosUS, still pushing amnesty and multiculturalism—policies that erode national unity and empower such rhetoric.
Simmons nailed the political cowardice: Republicans won’t act, craving cheap labor; Democrats won’t, chasing Hispanic votes. In 2006, midterm elections and 2008 loomed; in 2025, it’s the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidency. Nothing’s changed. FAIR estimates 18.6 million illegal immigrants in March 2025—up 28% since 2020—costing taxpayers $187 billion federally and $3.8 billion in Virginia alone. Yet, politicians dodge the "clear and present danger," as Simmons put it, blinded by electoral math.
The easiest way to spot their stance is keywords. Amnesty advocates—McCain’s heirs—lean on euphemisms: "undocumented workers," "hard-working," "misdemeanor," "nation of immigrants," "comprehensive immigration reform." They sanitize lawlessness. Contrast that with law-and-order voices: "illegal aliens," "deportation," "felony." Illegal entry isn’t immigration—it’s invasion. In the Tri-Cities, this invasion keeps wages low and the working poor marginalized, while elites profit.
This isn’t just talk—it’s a wake-up call. Deport the 12–15 million illegal aliens here (Pew, 2025 estimate), fine employers into oblivion, and halt all immigration for a decade. End anchor baby welfare scams and multicultural programs that Balkanize us. Enforcement works—CBP’s 2025 drop proves it—but the damage to American workers, especially the working poor, demands more. In Southwest Virginia, 18% live in poverty (2023 Census); they deserve jobs, not displacement.
Acknowledgment: I’d like to thank Grok, an AI by xAI, for helping me draft and refine this update. The final edits and perspective are my own, building on Deborah Simmons’ original insight.