UT ‘s “Catch an Illegal” game is more than an affront

Victor Landa, NewsTaco

News of the University of Texas Young Conservatives’ “catch an illegal immigrant game” planned for Wednesday has spread quickly through the internet. It’s a testament to how vigilant and agile the Latino community has become in recognizing and condemning affronts that in the past may have gone unobstructed. And that’s the disturbing problem with this thing, aside from the obvious insult – the organizers of the game don’t understand why it’s wrong.

UT Conservatives Will Pay $25 For the “Capture” of an Undocumented Immigrant

The “game” is simple enough: members of the organization will wear signs that say “illegal.” Any student who “catches” one wins a $25 gift certificate. They posted the event on their Facebook page.

The idea is to spark a debate about immigration, as well as about a state law that grants DREAMers a right to in-state tuition. The reaction has been predictable, because the affront is so stark. The internet has lit-up with indignation and protest.

But maybe that’s exactly what the Texas Young Conservatives want.

What better way to call attention to their cause than by shaking  people’s sensibilities, challenging  norms of decency? The game and the premise of the Young Conservative’s actions are clearly offensive to their liberal peers and to the undocumented. The group couldn’t have paid for that much media attention (generated so generously by their opponents), and all the publicity hasn’t stopped the “game.”

The Young Conservatives’ Mistake Has Larger Implications Than A “Game” on the UT Campus

The problem isn’t what the UT student conservatives club is doing, neither is it that they see nothing wrong in it.

The problem with this little “catch an illegal immigrant game”  is that it shows how the heirs of the conservative movement are bound to make the same mistakes as their elders.

Think back to the famous Ronald Reagan quote: “Latinos are Republicans – they just don’t know it yet.”

Almost no one inside conservative circles understood how condescending and paternalistic that statement was. Those who did either remained silent or were ignored. That same paternalism and condescension is at the root of the UT Conservative Students’ “game.”

This is their attitude:

The “Catch An Illegal Immigrant Game” is actually good for immigration, they just don’t know it yet.

After all, the intent is to start a conversation …

That’s the premise of their defense of the affront. The “game” will go on because it’s actually good for everyone. Except for the undocumented students who are enrolled at UT Austin. In 2011 there were more than 600. All of them paying in-state tuition. The “game” organizers want to have a chat about that. They feel that the in-state tuition is a step too far: it’s one thing to let them enroll, it’s another to consider them equal.

So they conceived a game and it got people riled up enough to generate free press. You can’t blame them for conceiving a good publicity stunt, nor can you blame people for reacting to the insult.

But unless the root of the insult is unveiled and debated, this same kind of thing will be happening again, and again.

After all, it’s for “our own good.”