Where to even begin? Ruben Navarrette’s latest, a screed attacking “DREAMers,” is confused, condescending, and wrong on almost every account.

There is a real and substantive debate to be had about immigration reform and activists’ role in pushing for its enactment. But the dismissive and insulting language Navarrette uses throughout his column makes it clear he’s not ready or willing to be a part of this discussion. He opens the piece by asserting, “I know just what a lot of those so-called DREAMers deserve to get for Christmas: a scolding.” And then goes on to refer to them as “spoiled brats,” “kids,” and “illegal immigrants”/”undocumented youth” who throw “public tantrums,” “think they’re special,” and are “drunk on entitlement.” Such condescending language is based on long-propagated right-wing restrictionist stereotypes and false binaries of the “legal” and “illegal,” “deserving” and “undeserving.”

Throughout the piece Navarrette speciously argues that yet another binary exists between “good” and “bad” actors within the movement for immigration reform. “There are good and bad actors in every movement, and the bad ones — if not kept in check — can drag the good ones down with them.”