Fact Check

Charlie Daniels on Immigration Reform Demonstrations

Did country music star Charlie Daniels write an essay about immigration reform demonstrations?

Published May 4, 2006

Claim:

Claim:   Country singer Charlie Daniels' authored an opinion piece about immigration reform demonstrations.


CORRECTLY ATTRIBUTED


Example:   [Daniels, 2006]


MEXICAN STANDOFF

I don't know how everybody else feels about it, but to me I think Hispanic people in this country, legally or illegally, made a huge public relations mistake with their recent demonstrations.

I don't blame anybody in the world for wanting to come to the United States of America, as it is a truly wonderful place. But when the first thing you do when you set foot on American soil is illegal it is flat out wrong and I don't care how many lala land left heads come out of the woodwork and start trying to give me sensitivity lessons.

I don’t need sensitivity lessons, in fact I don't have anything against Mexicans, I just have something against criminals and anybody who comes into this country illegally is a criminal and if you don't believe it try coming into America from a foreign country without a passport and see how far you get.

What disturbs me about the demonstrations is that it's tantamount to saying, "I am going to come into your country even if it means breaking your laws and there's nothing you can do about it."

[Rest of article here.]



 

Origins:   Grammy award-winning singer/musician Charlie Daniels regularly writes and posts opinion pieces about current political topics to the "Soapbox" section of the Charlie Daniels Band web site. As he notes in his periodic explanations of his efforts:



From time to time in this column I feel somewhat obligated to explain myself, what I am, what I believe and what I am attempting to do by writing the things I write.

It seems that as we acquire new readers there is some misunderstanding of what the soapbox is all about, so here we go again.

First of all, this column is a series of essays made up of my personal opinion, my experiences and my beliefs. I don’t claim that the essays in this column represent

anybody but myself.

As far as the intellectual content is concerned it is being written by a man with limited formal education and the grammar, punctuation and spelling may from time to time leave something to be desired, but I will however, get my point across.

I happen to believe very strongly in the things I write about, from the point of a private citizen who happens to love his country and its people and wants what he considers best in the national interest.

My articles will range from the profound to the ridiculous, the sad to the humorous, the informative to the inane. It is not meant to be a news column and I'm not good at remembering dates and names.


This above-quoted "Mexican Standoff" article was written by Charlie in response to immigration reform demonstrations that took place in the U.S. around April 2006. In May 2007 this piece was circulated via e-mail with a header identifying it as a 31 May 2007 letter from Charlie Daniels to Senator Hillary Clinton, but the article had actually been written over a year earlier, in April 2006, and was published as an opinion piece rather than a letter addressed to anyone in particular. Daniels' "Mexican Standoff" article saw renewed wide circulation in May 2010, in the wake of Arizona's passage of a controversial immigration law.

Last updated:   18 May 2010