Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America

The Introduction describes the protests that filled 160 US towns and cities in March and April 2006. The protesters’ goal was to defeat the Sensenbrenner bill, a congressional bill that would establish tough penalties for unauthorized immigrants. In its place, opponents of the Sensenbrenner bill hoped to push for a bill that would establish a comprehensive overhaul of immigration policies, providing unauthorized immigrants with a path to citizenship. The protests gathered support not just from the affected immigrants but also from hundreds of thousands of Latinos who were born in the US or were naturalized citizens: “[J]oining them as well were thousands of Polish, Irish, Korean, Chinese, and Filipino immigrants, along with many white and black religious and labor leaders and supporters” (xii).

These protests also gave rise to a counterprotest narrative:

But an equally powerful narrative emerged from right-wing talk radio and TV hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and Lou Dobbs. Seizing on the fact that some protesters waved the flags of their home countries alongside the Stars and Stripes, these commentators openly sought to stoke public rage (xiii).

Many counter-protesters called for a wall to be built between the US and Mexico. In the end, the Sensenbrenner bill was defeated, but so was the bipartisan attempt at comprehensive immigration reform.