Mexicans GO Home
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McCain to attend convention of ‘reconquista’ group WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain, the de facto Republican presidential nominee, announced today he will attend the national convention of La Raza, a radical Hispanic lobby tied to the movement to reconquer the Southwestern U.S. that was part of Mexico before the Mexican-American War that ended in 1848.

The convention will be held in San Diego July 14.

Though La Raza bills itself as a civil rights organization, the group’s name literally means “The Race.”

La Raza was condemned in 2006 by Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., as a radical “pro-illegal immigration lobbying organization that supports racist groups calling for the secession of the western United States as a Hispanic-only homeland.”

Norwood has called on La Raza to renounce its support of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan – which sees “The Race” as part of an ethnic group that one day will reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.

McCain, who steadfastly opposed efforts to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border and supported legislation to permit illegal aliens to remain in the U.S., also announced the launch of his campaign’s Spanish language website.

The announcements came on Cinco de Mayo, the day commemorating an 1862 battle fought by Mexican troops.

“Today, we join together to remember the sacrifice that these Mexican patriots endured, as well as the struggles of all those around the world striving for freedom,” said McCain in the statement. “We recognize as well the important friendship that exists between our country and Mexico, and celebrate the many contributions Mexican-Americans have made to our society, culture, security and economy.”

Josefa Gonzalez Loya has sneaked across the Mexican border at least 128 times in the past eight years. And each time, the Border Patrol has been nice enough to give her a lift home.

Gonzalez and a group of other women and children–all Indians from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca–have no interest in staying in the United States. All they want to do is panhandle outside El Paso businesses, using the children as lures.

At the end of a productive day, they wait for the Border Patrol to come pick them up and drive them back to the border.

Little dramas like this play out day after day, accounting for thousands of arrests but hardly any prosecutions in the past several years.

The Oaxacan immigrants fall under a loophole that gives border agents discretion to keep some adults and children together and out of jail.

Many U.S. states have enacted tough illegal alien laws, especially Arizona which has enacted the strongest. Many illegal aliens have exited Arizona to other states and Mexico. Arizona state legislator Russell Pearce said the positive effects have been smaller class sizes, shortened emergency room waits and an overall huge savings for taxpayers. Studies have proven illegal aliens have cost Arizona over $2 billion annually. This does not include the costs of criminal apprehension, court costs and incarceration.