The Nation of Immigrants is trying to board up its back and side doors and to direct visitors to the front entryway, but only if they show the proper papers. All others, just scram.

Imagine were the natives the Pilgrims found here so particular.

The anti-immigration movement wants the nation to wallow in fear, and it delivers a special pitch to black America.

Hordes of "illegal aliens" are overrunning the country, subverting English, consuming expensive public services, dealing drugs, gang-raping virgins, conducting stick-ups, spreading diseases, and giving cover to terrorists. And, black Americans, they're taking the low-paying jobs you would otherwise do.

(To this sci fi buff, "alien" connotes the likes of the one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eaters from, say, the planet Xyclop - which is why I ordinarily avoid the term to refer to earthlings.)

Indeed, were immigration stifled in Milwaukee, we'd likely see more African-American busboys in restaurants.

But the question of whether immigrants hurt the employment of African-Americans is the wrong one, insists Steven Pitts, an economist at the University of California-Berkeley.

Rather, the right question is: How do black people fare in the job market with or without immigration?

He points to a chart showing that, nationally, the black jobless rate has remained at about twice the white rate for the last 45 years, even as immigration rose.

(In Wisconsin, the black jobless rate is almost four times the white rate, down from the late 1990s, when the black rate was almost six times the white rate.)

He points to another chart showing no link between the share of immigrants in a metro work force and black wages.

For instance, 55% of African-American workers make low wages in the Baltimore area, where a mere 6% of the work force is immigrant, and in the New York City area, where a whopping 34% of the work force is immigrant.

Yes, black people are hurting. Too many lack jobs, and too many who do work get measely pay. But immigrants are hardly the source of the pain.

Pitts spoke recently in a telephone conference call with the Trotter Group, an organization of black newspaper columnists.

Also on the call was U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, a Houston Democrat, who has sponsored proposals to reform immigration policies.

Jackson-Lee, who's African-American, said: "As we are not welcome in our own country in many places, we can empathize at least with immigrants who have come here simply for an economic opportunity."

Ah, that's the key. As a dispossessed people ourselves, we ought to empathize with others in dire straits, rather than to join the nativist forces trying to keep them down.

As Jackson-Lee and Pitts argue, we should push for measures to improve the plight of workers of color: enforcement of antidiscrimination laws, a notification system for job vacancies, enforcement of overtime and other labor standards.

Once upon a time, a nation opened its arms to black people fleeing slavery and then sharecropping. That nation: Mexico.

In fact, there were calls back then for the federal government to fortify its southern border, but for the purpose of keeping runaway slaves from leaving the country. Over American protests, Mexico had passed a law declaring that the moment a fugitive slave sets foot in its soil, he was free.

In fact, Mexico's opposition to slavery is one reason David Crockett, Jim Bowie, et al. fought for independence for Texas.

African-Americans should emulate the spirit Mexico showed when it gave refuge to black immigrants in dire straits

Gregory Stanford is a Journal Sentinel editorial writer and columnist. His e-mail address is gstanford@journalsentinel.com