July 22, 2007

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama speak to extremist-funding National Council of La Raza

From this:

Two top Democratic contenders in the presidential race are in South Florida to address the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights group.

Sunday morning, New York Senator Hillary Clinton told the gathering at the Miami Beach Convention Center, she would prefer to pass a comprehensive immigration bill that would provide a path to legalization for immigrants in the United States.

But, she was quick to add, there were some aspects of the current immigration reform proposal that she believes have a chance of passing on their own. For example, she pointed to the so called "Deam Act" that would help students who are brought to the U.S. as young children go to college and eventually become citizens.

It does so much more: it also allows illegal aliens to take college discounts from U.S. citizens.

Barack Obama may have already appeared this afternoon; others who spoke to the extremist-funding group included Florida governor Charlie Crist, Lee Scott (president of WalMart) and the right reverend Al Sharpton. Mitt Romney, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani were invited but had scheduling conflicts, or something. The NCLR is also kicking off a voter registration drive for immigrants; of course, if someone is eligible to vote they are technically speaking no longer and "immigrant".

UPDATE: From this:

Mrs. Clinton said she has been trying "to understand where all of the venom and the incredible anxiety came from" in the immigration debate."I am very disappointed, and I was really quite offended by the tone of the debate and some of what was said by outside parties who were trying to influence the debate," she said... "Until recently, I did not hear the kind of insecurity and opposition to bringing immigrants into American society as I hear today," she said, adding that when her husband was in office, "people were too busy getting a better future for themselves... They didn't talk to me about what was or wasn't on their minds about immigration..."

Of course, unlike Obama's outright promise to pass immigration "reform" during his first term, Hillary would only promise her "best efforts." And:

In response to two audience questions, Mrs. Clinton would not promise to end large-scale raids on illegal aliens in the workplace, which have led to families being separated. Instead, she said she would ask her Homeland Security Department to target employers as well... "It is time they start going after the employers who abuse and exploit undocumented workers instead of just going after the workers themselves," she said... Mrs. Clinton spoke in an informal setting designed more like a late-night TV-interview set. Sitting in a red armchair, she first fielded soft questions from Monica Lozano, publisher and CEO of La Opinion, and then answered five questions from the audience.

Posted to Immigration2007a at July 22, 2007 02:54 PM