Cesar Chavez Was No Border Hawk

Correcting the record about the cancelled Hispanic activist

Cesar Chavez, the Hispanic MLK, was recently cancelled over multiple allegations of sexual abuse—including against minors.

Prior to his cancellation, Chavez was a favorite among immigration hawks because the labor organizer, at times, opposed illegal immigration. It made sense to adopt one of the Left’s own heroes as a border hawk. Some, such as Center for Immigration Studies director Mark Krikorian, persist in believing Chavez was a border hawk.

But that image is grossly mistaken, as I argue in my latest American Conservative column:

It’s a common meme for immigration restrictionists to point to Chavez as one of their own. The Hispanic activist did at times oppose illegal immigrants taking jobs from the farmworkers he represented. It makes political sense to claim a left-wing hero as an advocate for sensible immigration policies, to give the position broader appeal. That’s why immigration hawks are also eager to put forth liberal Democrats Barbara Jordan and Eugene McCarthy as prominent exemplars of immigration restriction. No one would call those two reactionary bigots.

But unlike Jordan and McCarthy, Chavez did not remain an immigration hawk. He came to embrace illegal immigration, and his one-time opposition was only concerned with the immediate interests of his labor union. When those interests changed, he came to see illegal immigrants as potential members of his union and defended them.

With his cancellation, conservatives can finally be honest about Chavez’s opinions. We gain nothing by pedestaling a child sex abuser as an immigration patriot.

Read the rest here.