Ralston's rant.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Springfield City Councilor Dave Ralston is right: This is a free country where people can be as mean and shrill as they want when discussing issues such as immigration.

In an e-mail sent last week to his fellow councilors, Ralston detailed his views on illegal immigration.

"We cannot continue to absorb the flow of illegal immigrants, many of whom benefit from government services that our citizens provide. ... They want to invade and not assi- milate. ... Mark my words, this is a serious problem that we will have to deal with sooner or later, and I am tired of being politically correct in order to not offend anyone."

Ralston urged councilors to support a retrograde plan that would make English the city's official language and ban day-labor centers. It would penalize landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire undocumented workers.

"This is my country and I have a right to stand up for it," he wrote. "Illegal immigrants are breaking our laws and getting away with it. Just try to go to one of their countries and do what they are doing here and see what happens. This is 'America' and we speak English, love it or leave it."

Ralston is not the only politician spouting intolerance these days. The debate over immigration reform has produced a surprising number of panderers who would have you believe that immigrants come to this country only for welfare benefits and to steal jobs - and, oh yes, some want to blow up buildings, too.

Let's set the facts straight: Most immigrants, legal and illegal, come to the United States because they rightly recognize that no other country in the world offers comparable opportunities. Immigrants have brought new vitality to the communities where they live, yes, including Springfield. They have brought new cultures, ideas, entrepreneurship and an enduring love for America.

Ralston failed to mention that immigrants have received more than 20 percent of the medals of honor, this nation's highest military award. Since Sept. 11, 2001, 101 immigrants have died in military action. Roughly 25,000 non-U.S. citizens currently are on active military duty, and 26,000 have earned U.S. citizenship serving since Sept. 11.

While it's legitimate to express concerns over illegal immigration, Ralston uses inflammatory and inaccurate language to do so. "They want to invade and not assimilate," is hardly an accurate description of the immigrants who have moved to Springfield in the hope of finding prosperity and a better life. Ralston should volunteer at local English as a Second Language classes before making the ridiculously broad assertion the immigrants don't want to assimilate.

"This is my country, and I have a right to stand up for it," Ralston writes. What exactly does the councilor mean by "my"? Who is included, and who is excluded, from the United States of Ralston? He goes on: "Illegal immigrants are breaking our laws and getting away with it. Just try to go to one of their countries and do what they are doing here and see what happens."

That's an interesting passage coming from Ralston, who last year broke the law but didn't get away with it. The councilor pleaded no contest last year in Lane County Circuit Court to shooting a blacktail deer out of season and then borrowing another hunter's tag to place on the carcass. He paid fines of $299 for each of the two offenses and had his hunting license suspended for two years.

This isn't the first time Ralston has paraded his cluelessness. Several years ago, he protested the council's plans to name a street honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., arguing there was no public support for such a move and that political correctness "has gotten way out of hand."

Ralston got it wrong then, just he does now. It's a councilor from Springfield, not political correctness, that's gotten way out of hand.