The dark spectre of illegal immigration - a cautionary tale from history

Once upon a time there were two countries that shared a common border that was just a line in the dirt. The peoples that lived on either side of this line were different; they spoke different languages, they worshiped different versions of the same God but their churches had often been at war with each other, they ate different foods. The people on one side of the line in the dirt were envious of the empty land possessed by the country on the other side. The government of the other side said to these people "you have no right to cross the line in the dirt" but the people did not listen. They crossed the line and settled on land that did not belong to them - taking the land from the people on the other side who had "earned" the right to this land. As time went by more and more of these people illegally crossed the line in the dirt and settled on the land that belonged to the other country; eventually there were so many of them that they outnumbered the citizens of the country to which the land the belonged. When this happened they armed themselves and said

"We a country of our own. The land no longer belongs to you. The language of this nation will not be your language. The religion of this nation will not be your religion. The food of this country will not be your food."

Having said this they took to killing the citizens of the country and fighting against the legitimate government until that government had no choice but to say

"You may stay and you may have this country. You have killed many of our people. We give you amnesty."

"Surely this is just a fairytale that you have dreamed up to frighten us and make us afraid of our neighbours" I hear you say.

But no. It is true. "What country was this then?" you ask. The country was Mexico and the illegal immigrants who armed themselves and stole the land were Americans. The country was Texas.

You have been warned.