Iowa is home to the most frequent running of advertising blaming slack immigration laws on our country’s problems. The ads seem to be part of an alarming national trend to place restrictions on immigration and associate the policies with the Sept. 11 attacks. The Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., as well as other civil rights groups, charge that the ads are racist and claim they are being used to frighten local immigrant communities.

The ads are paid for by groups affiliated with the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington D.C. and have been running in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

The ads insinuate that immigration problems are to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks. The ads imply that the terrorists were in the United States illegally, showing a picture of Mohammed Atta. It is an unfair implication. According to the Des Moines Register, the truth is that 16 of the 19 men were legal visitors on Sept. 11 and two had overstayed existing visas, with the third never attending classes and therefore violating his visa.

Yet another attempt to exploit the Sept. 11 attacks and advance their political ideology, conveniently in time for the Iowa caucus.

NumbersUSA, an advocacy group with the federation, claims on its Web site, “Use this Web site to fight the U.S. overpopulation threat to environment, farmland, community quality of life, schools, wage fairness and freedom.”

How is our “freedom” threatened by today’s new Americans? Unless you are of American Indian descent, every person in this nation is an immigrant. We are a nation of people who came to this country hoping for a better life.

Today’s challenges for immigrants should look familiar to many Americans. Early arrivals to this country faced hardship too. Older Americans discriminated against the Irish and Italian communities in New York City and other places in the country for many years. Similar things have happened with other ethnic immigrant communities.

Yes, circumstances are different today, but the idea remains true. Whether changes in legislation are necessary or not, it unfair to blame immigrants for the contemporary ills of our country.

Certainly, these groups have the right to run their ads. Censoring them would infringe their right to freedom of expression under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

However, the Constitution is also clear about discrimination. We must be clear. There simply is no place for xenophobia in our state and country. We must ensure as a nation we are conscious of our own immigrant past and tolerant of today’s immigrants.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell, Charlie Weaver