Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America

The Introduction to the 2011 revised edition of Harvest of Empire begins by describing the protests that filled 160 US towns and cities in March and April of 2006. The protesters’ goal was to defeat the Sensenbrenner bill, a congressional bill that would establish tough penalties for illegal 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 illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship. The protests gathered support not just from the undocumented, but also hundreds of thousands of Latinos who were born in the US or were naturalized citizens; “joining 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 counter-protest narrative:

But an equally powerful narrative emerged from right-wing talk radio and TV hosts like Rush Limbaugh, Rill 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.