Great: Sarah Palin immigration stance magically same as McCain's

Sarah Palin was recently interviewed by Jorge Ramos of Univision [1], and she repeatedly asked him why he - a citizen of Mexico who has no interest in becoming a U.S. citizen - keeps interfering in our internal politics. She repeatedly asked him why he was allowed to take up valuable time during a CNN debate where he wasn't even identified as a foreign citizen.

Unfortunately, I'm kidding.

Actually, her responses to his questions were virtually identical to what John McCain himself would have said. Bear in mind that the following is their incompetent translation, but the gist is quite understandable. After first being asked about the number of illegal aliens in Alaska and her not knowing, Ramos asked what she'd do about all the millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. She responded.:

There is no way that in the US we would roundup every illegal immigrant -there are about 12 million of the illegal immigrants- not only economically is that just an impossibility but that's not a humane way anyway to deal with the issue that we face with illegal immigration.

That is, of course, the same line that McCain, Obama, Bob Barr, and an endless line of other hacks have used. The current situation is not humane, and the proposed fixes would only make it worse. And, of course, the implication is that our choices are between amnesty and mass deportations, a false choice.

Then, he asks whether she favors amnesty. She replied:

No, I do not. I do not. Not total amnesty. You know, people have got to follow the rules. They've got to follow the bar, and we have got to make sure that there is equal opportunity and those who are here legally should be first in line for services being provided and those opportunities that this great country provides.

As detailed many times, that non-amnesty amnesty will be perceived as amnesty, and also because there's no real end to the line, large numbers of prospective legal immigrants will end up waiting much longer than they would have. Ramos then tries to verify whether she supports a "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens; she replies:

I do because I understand why people would want to be in America. To seek the safety and prosperity, the opportunities, the health that is here. It is so important that yes, people follow the rules so that people can be treated equally and fairly in this country.

So, to encourage people to follow the rules we're going to reward millions of breakages of those rules? And, of course, illegal aliens have some rights in the U.S., but more rights in their home countries. When they came here illegally they knew what they were getting into, and if they want more rights they can simply return home. It isn't our responsibility to give more rights to those who refused to acknowledge our perfectly reasonable laws.

[1] univision.com/content/content.jhtml?chid=3&schid=10414&secid=25534&cid=1716304

UPDATE: Apparently the transcript only included part of the interview. She also discussed Hugo Chavez, and she also spouted McCain's "secure the border" nonsense.

Immigration2008a · Wed, 10/22/2008 - 19:15 · · Importance: 4