See also

by Peter Brimelow, National Review, November 25, 1996 on the economic effect of immigration on blacks.

As a Democrat, I found President Obama’s words on the Baltimore riots during his press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to be incisive and eloquent. But there was one important progressive issue the President forgot to mention entirely—the disastrous impact of mass immigration on inner city black communities.

Of course, many progressives are neglecting this issue, even as they claim to be telling the whole story. Consider this email from the progressive organization MoveOn:

Dear MoveOn members, All eyes are on Baltimore. Massive protests are ongoing in memory of Freddie Gray, a 25-year old man who died of spinal injuries he sustained while in police custody. Media coverage has focused largely on episodes of violence in the streets—often missing essential pieces of the rapidly unfolding story. In this moment of crisis, we can learn something from Ferguson: the most important voices to listen to right now are local ones. And the most important images and videos will be captured not by out-of-town professionals but by the people of Baltimore themselves. That's why MoveOn is partnering with our friends at the online civil rights organization ColorOfChange.org to launch a website and a support team to find and spread videos, tweets, and images from local organizers, observers, and residents of Baltimore. We'll help elevate important stories and perspectives through the site, our social media accounts, and our relationships with journalists.”[More]

During a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Obama delivered remarks on the violence in Baltimore following the funeral for Freddie Gray, who died from a spinal injury while in police custody. The president said violent protesters should be "treated as criminals," but also called positive attention to the peaceful demonstrators. (WhiteHouse.gov) President Obama made an impassioned call Tuesday for Americans to do "some soul searching" in the wake of this week's rioting in Baltimore, arguing the U.S. has faced "a slow-rolling crisis" over race and economic opportunity in urban areas.” [Obama urges country to do ‘soul searching’ in wake of Baltimore riots, by Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, April 28, 2015]

It’s all very well to highlight “important voices,” but that’s not really a solution. President Obama urged the nation to do some “soul-searching,” but was similarly vague.Yet having watched this crisis build for decades, I find it irresponsible to not identify the incredible growth in our population and the flooding of our labor market through mass immigration as root causes of the collapse of economic opportunity. Obviously, we need to invest more to take care of our most vulnerable, but how is the working class supposed to advance when our government is committed to importing a never ending supply of cheap labor?

The ultimate irony is it is Barack Obama’s unilateral Executive amnesty and his refusal to enforce existing immigration laws that have done so much to hurt the poor people of this country, especially African-Americans. We real immigration reformers have begged for members of both parties to unite and enforce our laws. We’ve been all but ignored, since both Republicans and Democrats are either too frightened or corrupt to do their duty.

But now in Baltimore, we see in the absence of law and order how important the rule of law really is. The Baltimore Orioles playing in an empty stadium is an apt symbol of the collapse of our government.

Even as we are financially overextended both in our domestic commitments and abroad, we are besieged by corrupt special interests screaming for more mass immigration and open borders that will continue to divide and weaken us.

President Obama is right. It is time for “soul searching.” As a nation, we should analyze how unbridled immigration has been and will continue to be a major driver of the urban crisis. The greatest public policy failure of our time is our national refusal to adopt and enforce an immigration policy based on our ability to absorb and acclimatize those immigrants, legal and illegal, who come here.

Watch the coverage about Baltimore and the subsequent stories about this issue from all over the USA. I bet the Main Stream Media will never mention mass immigration.

And folks, if you can’t identify the cause, you can’t deal with the consequences.

Donald A. Collins [email him], is a freelance writer living in Washington DC and a former long time member of the board of FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. His views are his own. He is the author of From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013