Archives
This is a very large file. For the full smaller digest version, click here.Owen Thomas/ValleyWag has no clue about immigration or much else (Peter Thiel, Facebook)
Owen Thomas of ValleyWag offers "Billionaire Facebook investor's anti-immigrant heresy" [1]:
Insiders at Clarium Capital, the $5.3 billion hedge fund run by Facebook investor Peter Thiel, are buzzing about their boss's $1 million donation to NumbersUSA, an anti-immigrant group. The donation is an open secret within Clarium, and it has enraged several staff members who joined Clarium because they believed Thiel shared their libertarian ideals... What's interesting about this is his shift from outspoken Libertarian. At PayPal, he had ambitions of using his payments startup to undermine illiberal economies and create a new world financial order... Thiel once aimed to overturn the system. Now he just wants to work within it. As much as his anti-immigration views render him noxious to the Northern California mainstream, his turning away from an embrace of freedom make him an enemy to the rebellious thinkers he's hired.
Jejune, to the max! Real libertarians aren't likely to use phrases like "new world financial order", except ironically. And, NumbersUSA isn't "anti-immigrant" or "anti-immigration"; they support reducing and properly managing immigration. And, if libertarianism requires open borders, then libertarianism is as much a failed ideology as complete unilateral disarmament. Thomas also in effect argues for supporting the housing market through a Ponzi scheme involving immigration, without realizing the role that low-skilled immigrants played in the current issue.
If you want to do something about this, go leave a comment at [1], and also leave a comment at this Facebook group that Kyle de Beausset started: facebook.com/group.php?gid=57995012344
[1] valleywag.com/5083655/billionaire-facebook-investors-anti+immigrant-heresy
Agriprocessors CEO arrested on bank fraud charges
Earlier this year, ICE conducted a raid of the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa; see this recent post for links about it. Now comes this:The arrest of Agriprocessors CEO Sholom Rubashkin on bank fraud charges earlier today marked the fourth time that he or his brother has been alleged to have engaged in financial deception.
Sholom’s older brother, Moshe Rubashkin, was sentenced in 2002 to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $225,000 in restitution for bank fraud. The case was linked to his ownership and operation of Montex Textiles, a Pennsylvania company. Moshe was also recently sentenced to 16 months for the company’s illegal storage of hazardous waste.
Last year, Agriprocessors executives agreed to pay $1.4 million to resolve allegations that the company participated in a scheme to hide another company’s assets during a bankruptcy...
NPR's "Tell Me More" spreads disinformation on hate crime statistics
NPR's "Tell Me More" show offers the misleading "Latinos Increasingly Targeted For Hate Crimes" (link):
The FBI reports that hate crimes against Latinos rose almost 40 percent between 2003 and 2006, and Hispanic activists say they are being targeted with threats and intimidation. Tony Asion, of El Pueblo, a Latino advocacy group, is joined by Kevin Johnson, of the University of California-Davis Law School, to discuss the statistics that are sending shockwaves through some Latino communities.
Now, for the facts that NPR won't tell you: the 40% rise was obtained by choosing a low year (2003) as the starting point and by not adjusting for population gains. And, when that adjustment is done, hate crimes against Hispanics are actually down since 1995 (as a percentage of their population).
That show is apparently produced or hosted by Michel Martin, but her involvement with the segment isn't known. Note that Johnson was a member of an Immigration Policy Group for the Obama campaign.
FIRM, CHIRLA, NYIC demand Obama stops raids, grants amnesty; will march in DC on January 21, 2009
A group of illegal immigration supporting groups held a press conference in DC yesterday, demanding that as president Obama grants amnesty and halts workplace raids. They also announced that they'll be marching for the same demands in DC on January 21, 2009.
Those involved include Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) and their member organization CHIRLA. The latter has allegedly collaborated with the Mexican government, and another member group is headed by someone who belongs to an advisory council to that government. Other attendees included the New York Immigration Coalition and the National Capital Immigration Coalition/National Capitol Immigration Coalition.
Because of immigration, Democrats think Texas, Georgia, and Arizona might turn blue (Peter Wallsten/LAT)
Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times offers "Democrats set sights on Texas" (link):Texas is one of several reliably red states that are now in Democrats' sights as party strategists begin to analyze a victorious 2008 campaign that they believe showed the contours of a new movement that could grow and prove long-lasting.There's more at the link, but I'm still waiting for someone to crunch the numbers to determine how much trouble the GOP has got itself into by thinking that allowing millions of potential Democrats to move here is a winning strategy.
A major shift in the Latino vote took place in Florida and the Southwest, where the Obama campaign spent at least $20 million on targeted appeals and organizing, including one television ad in the final days featuring the candidate reading Spanish from a script.
Latinos made up a greater share of the electorate than in the past in every Southwestern state, according to exit polls compiled by CNN. And in each Southwestern state, as well as Florida, the Democrat pulled a bigger percentage of the Latino vote -- a turnaround from 2004, when President Bush cut deeply into Democrats' hold on Latinos and won that bloc in Florida, where many Cuban Americans remain loyal to the GOP.
Julie Myers to leave Immigration and Customs Enforcement (DHS)
Ah, the end of an era. Just three years ago we were arguing over whether Bush's obvious nepotism pick of Julie Myers to head the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was qualified. Now, sadly to all those who've marveled at her courageous attempts to look like she was enforcing the laws while not really enforcing the laws, she'll be stepping down in a couple weeks (link). She hasn't explained what she'll be doing in the future, but if we're lucky it won't involve her attempting to enforce our laws.
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.
Colin Powell in 2001: Mexico, U.S. united by "common aspirations, values and culture"
A February 4, 2001 New York Times article contained this:
"Our common border is no longer a line that divides us, but a region that unites our nations, reflecting our common aspirations, values and culture," said Colin Powell last Tuesday in Washington at his first news conference as secretary of state, held jointly with the new Mexican foreign minister, Jorge Castaneda.
A couple other quotes - including his support for amnesty - at the link.
Nebraska xenophobes object to influx of willing workers (hate, mean-spiritedness)
I am literally sobbing as I link to this article (from Kirk Semple of The New York Times) about hate, racism, xenophobia, and mean-spiritedness in Grand Island, Nebraska:Like many workers at the meatpacking plant here, Raul Garcia, a Mexican-American, has watched with some discomfort as hundreds of Somali immigrants have moved to town in the past couple of years, many of them to fill jobs once held by Latino workers taken away in immigration raids.
Garcia has been particularly troubled by the Somalis' demand that they be allowed special breaks for prayers that are obligatory for devout Muslims. The breaks, he said, would inconvenience everyone else.
"The Latino is very humble," said Garcia, 73, who has worked at the plant, owned by JBS U.S.A. Inc., since 1994. "But they are arrogant," he said of the Somali workers. "They act like the United States owes them."
Garcia was among more than 1,000 Latino and other workers who protested a decision last month by the plant's management to cut their work day — and their pay — by 15 minutes to give scores of Somali workers time for evening prayers...
Judge Peter Busch: San Francisco can pass out ID cards to all, including illegal aliens
From this:A lawsuit to block San Francisco from handing out municipal identification cards to anyone who has lived in the city for at least 15 days regardless of their immigration status was tossed out of court Tuesday.A quote from Julia Harumi Mass from the American Civil Liberties Union follows; the ACLU joined with Frisco in the suit. On another matter, the ACLU is directly collaborating with the Mexican government (here are some questions you're urged to ask them about that).
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter Busch ruled against the Immigration Reform Law Institute of Washington D.C., which left open the possibility of an appeal.
The IRLI might appeal (link). At that, Mass says:
The municipal ID program is a modest public safety measure, meant to ensure that all San Franciscans have access to services and police protection... Our clients are organizations whose members -- as youth, homeless people, immigrants, and transgender San Franciscans -- face particular obstacles to obtaining identification cards... Access to ID cards is important for all San Francisco residents to feel comfortable reporting crime and standing up for their rights...It would only be "modest" in the sense that not that many illegal aliens would move to Frisco due to the high cost of living there; however, many would move there by living 20 or 30 to an apartment. Others from less expensive Bay Area locations would "maintain an address" in the city. And, legal immigrants have a plethora of documentation, and thus don't face difficulty obtaining ID. And, of course, citizens of other countries have no right to come here illegally and then obtain ID cards. And, if this program succeeds it would probably be pushed in other cities, such as Los Angeles. The ACLU is just offering a tortured explanation for their support for illegal activity.
Related:
Feds investigating San Francisco over sanctuary policy
"Governor" Gavin Newsom defends San Francisco's sanctuary policy
Gavin Newsom's San Francisco violated federal law? Perks for illegal aliens, and much more
San Francisco's IDs for illegal aliens plan may spread to East Bay
Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger promote corruption, try to fool people about "unbanked" program
Chicago City Council passes pro-illegal immigration resolution
Back in June we offered Chicago Aldmn Cardenas, Flores introduce anti-"hate speech" resolution; Mexico-linked ICIRR cheers. The usual suspects are back:Chicago lawmakers added their [unanimous] voices Wednesday to the call for a moratorium on raids and deportations, an action they hope will lead to comprehensive immigration reform.As detailed at the last link, the ICIRR is headed by someone with a series of links to the Mexican government.
..."Immigrants are being uprooted, they are being persecuted. They are losing their jobs, they are losing hope," said Ald. George Cardenas (12th).
...The "Ya Basta" Campaign, an initiative launched in August by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, called the resolution's passage a successful first step in stopping the raids...
Another person quoted in support of the resolution was Emma Lozano of Pueblo Sin Fronteras:
"This is torture. Families will breathe a sigh of relief when Congress and the president call for a moratorium, which is the first step to legalization... We're sending the message from Chicago, saying we're not going to tolerate this."
"HUD: Five Million Fraudulent Mortgages Held by Illegals" ?
I'm not willing to put much faith in this until I see evidence from HUD; a very basic search didn't bring up anything but if anyone has another news report or link to hud.gov please leave it in comments.
Greenville SC immigration raid at House of Raeford's Columbia Farms
From this:Federal agents swept through a chicken processing plant Tuesday, detaining more than 300 suspected illegal immigrants, sending panicked workers running and screaming through the hallways. Worried relatives collected outside, fearful their loved ones would be deported.
Police and agents during a shift change ordered all workers at the House of Raeford's Columbia Farms to show identification, according to officials and witnesses. The business had been under scrutiny for months and the raid comes on the heels of even larger roundups at plants across the country...
Arkansas state Senator Joyce Elliot backs in-state tuition for illegal aliens
Former Arkansas state representative Joyce Elliott - after November a state Senator - has signaled that she'll re-introduce legislation to give in-state tuition to illegal aliens. This will have the impact of taking college educations from U.S. citizens, and I urge everyone in that state to work to discredit her.
Elliot was the author of a previous bill, one supported by Mike Huckabee; the mainstream media frequently lied about the details of what he supported.
Current Arkansas governor Mike Beebe says her plan won't work due to federal laws providing that any such offer given to an illegal alien must also be given to a U.S. citizen. She's relying on attempts in other states to evade the spirit of that law.
What she doesn't know is how incredibly vulnerable she is on this issue. If anyone in AR wants to do a public service, go to one of her appearances, ask her tough questions about this issue, and then upload her response to video sharing sites. For instance, ask Joyce Elliot this question.
Tysen Kendig (associate vice chancellor of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville), University of Arkansas at Fort Smith Chancellor Paul Beran, and Tom Courtway, interim president of the University of Central Arkansas didn't want to comment on Joyce's proposed bill.
However, Robert Potts - chancellor of Arkansas State University in Jonesboro - says that, speaking only as a private citizen, he supports her efforts.
And, there's this ironic note:
Lawrence Davis, chancellor of the predominantly black University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, compared the current plight of undocumented Hispanics to the plight of black students in the South before integration.
What he's actually supporting is taking college educations from poorer, largely black U.S. citizens in order to give them to poorer citizens who are here illegally and who should be supported by their own governments. Someone should make that point to him publicly.
Feds investigating San Francisco over sanctuary policy
From this:A federal grand jury is investigating whether San Francisco's policy of offering sanctuary to undocumented immigrants violates U.S. laws against harboring people who are in the country illegally, city officials say.It'd be great if they were however.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera said his office has hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent employees who might be questioned or asked for documents. He and Mayor Gavin Newsom said they would cooperate with the investigation...
Herrera's office was notified of the investigation several weeks ago when the grand jury issued a subpoena for documents. It's not clear whether prosecutors are seeking evidence of possible criminal violations by city officials...
New York Times: if the "nativists" weren't really "anti-immigration", they'd support massive immigration
The New York Times editorial board is back with yet another very special editorial (link):
One of the false pieties uttered by anti-immigration politicians is that they love immigrants. If that were true, Congress would not be having so much trouble passing a simple law to smooth out a serious kink in the legal immigration pipeline.
Seriously, does anyone - even those in their target market - buy this? One doesn't have to support all types and all levels of immigration in order to "love immigrants". That should have been obvious to even the writers of their screed.
What they're advocating for is "visa recapture", where visas that weren't used for one reason or other can be applied to the current year's limit. If this were a video they'd have a Harry Shearer-narrated animation of their sales job:
Every year thousands of potential green cards vanish, like unused cellphone minutes.
The visas they're discussing are green cards, although I haven't checked whether H1Bs and the like would be covered as well. The two bills they mention are sponsored by immigration lawyer Zoe Lofgren and Robert Menendez, so there's probably a lot more they aren't mentioning; see also this.
Bob Menendez, Teddy Kennedy still trying to hamper immigration enforcement (S.3594)
Senator Robert Menendez has introduced S.3594, the "Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act", co-sponsored by Teddy Kennedy (link). The PCRURDA appears to be as bad as you might expect; some of the differences between his bill and the current law are more in the realm of those who are immigration lawyers. However, some are clearly designed to tie the hands of ICE in order to make immigration enforcement very difficult, which is a recurring crusade by Bob Menendez.
In fact, one of his provisions could undercut enforcement efforts entirely:
In any immigration-related enforcement activity that is expected to target more than 50 individuals, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall... notify State and local child welfare authorities of such immigration-related enforcement activity not later than 24 hours before the commencement of such activity...
In one case, an illegal immigration supporter was proud about being tipped off to a raid by the spouse of a local official. Menendez is proposing what could become an early warning system for illegal aliens and crooked businesses.
He also wants illegal immigration supporting groups like CHIRLA to be involved in the process:
"State and local social service providers to [be allowed to] determine whether nongovernmental organizations may participate in screening individuals detained by the Department for humanitarian purposes"
In addition to being very immigration lawyer-friendly, there's also a sop to another profession:
ensure that not fewer than one independent certified interpreter who is fluent in Spanish or any language other than English spoken by more than 5 percent of the target population of the operation for in-person translation is available for every 5 individuals targeted by an immigration-related law enforcement activity
And, there will be a talk:
[The DHS should] provide a legal orientation presentation for any individual detained through an immigration-related enforcement activity through the Legal Orientation Program administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review
More on the EOIR here.
He also wants to get the Department of Labor and state counterparts involved, including this wide open provision under which even more illegal aliens could be allowed to remain:
An alien against whom removal proceedings have been initiated pursuant to chapter 4 of title II, and who has filed a workplace claim or is a material witness in any pending or anticipated proceeding involving a workplace claim, shall be entitled to a stay of removal and an employment authorized endorsement unless the Department establishes, by a preponderance of the evidence in proceedings before the immigration judge presiding over that alien's removal hearing, that (I) the Department initiated the alien's removal proceeding for wholly independent reasons and not in any respect based on, or as a result of, any information provided to or obtained by the Department from the alien's employer, from any outside source, including any anonymous source, or as a result of the filing or prosecution of the workplace claim; and (II) the workplace claim was filed in a bad faith with the intent to delay or avoid the alien's removal.
I have a sneaking suspicion that there would be many "anticipated" claims made in entirely bad faith that would clog up the system and let many illegal aliens remain here.
But, wait, there's more. He also wants to:
- extend Miranda-like rights to those caught in immigration raids; note that they'd have to be read those rights in their own language and in some cases that might be an obscure Indian language. Any statements made if they aren't read their rights would be inadmissable in removal proceedings...
- have ICE agents hand out a list of free legal service organizations to detainees...
- allow detainees to be represented throughout the process...
- impose time limits that might result in some illegal aliens being released...
- "An official of the Department of Homeland Security may not issue a detainer unless the official (A) has confirmed that the individual who is the subject of such detainer is not a United States citizen; and (B) notes the information collected regarding the individual's alienage on the detainer." I'm going to guess that that would also result in many illegal aliens being set free...
- the DHS Secretary should "avoid the apprehension of persons on the premises or in the immediate vicinity of day care centers, schools, legal service providers, courts, funeral homes, cemeteries, colleges, victim services agencies, social service agencies, hospitals, health care clinics, and places of worship; and (B) [require agents to] tightly control investigative operations at the places described in subparagraph (A)."
- prevent moving detainees from one facility to another in some cases and weigh a long list of conditions before making a move...
Pew: enforcement, economy caused fewer illegal aliens to enter U.S. in 2007
From this:Illegal immigration appears to have fallen last year, marking the first drop in years and coinciding with Congress' failure to pass a legalization bill and the Bush administration's stepped up raids and enforcement.Ginger Thompson of the New York Times has a similar story here. Note that the NYT has acknowledged that attrition would work, they've just falsely tried to claim that it would be inhumane.
In a study released Thursday, the Pew Hispanic Center estimates the illegal immigrant population fell by 500,000 from 12.4 million in March 2007 to 11.9 million this year.
The study's authors caution that the finding is "inconclusive" because of the margin of error of the estimates, though the findings mirror those of the Center for Immigration Studies, which also estimated a drop in illegal immigration.
The Pew study says there could be many reasons for the drop: a slowdown in U.S. economic growth that has dried up opportunities for illegal workers, economic growth in Latin American countries that has kept some workers at home, and heightened enforcement in the U.S...
ICE: Houston, Phoenix blocking immigration enforcement against gangs
From this:[Julie L. Myers, the assistant secretary of homeland security in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE] on Wednesday released a report that showed Houston has fallen short in a nationwide crackdown on violent, predominantly Latino street gangs that draw strength from undocumented immigrants.Somewhat surprisingly, someone from ICE's Houston office defends that city's efforts. Myers was also unable or unwilling to discuss specific instances of those cities blocking enforcement.
Houston, the nation's fourth-largest city, accounted for just 71 of the 1,759 arrests in the roundup in 53 cities over the past four months...
Myers said the reluctance of police departments in cities such as Houston and Phoenix to fully cooperate had forced federal immigration authorities to negotiate narrow, targeted enforcement efforts.
[Myers said] "We have had certain instances where the cooperation has not been as full as we'd like... It's definitely a problem for us if local law enforcement are encouraged not to cooperate with ICE or not to work with ICE even when we're talking about known gang members who may have committed very, very serious crimes..."
However, considering that the mayor of Phoenix is a corrupt illegal immigration supporter (Phil Gordon), I'm sure they've put up as many roadblocks as they can get away with. Also see "'Sanctuary' practice in Houston draws fire" from 2004.
Barack Obama supports community college for illegal aliens (North Carolina, "good citizens")
North Carolina is studying whether to allow illegal aliens to enroll in community colleges, and over the weekend Barack Obama brought his pander express there and told Greensboro's WUNC this:
"For us to deny [illegal aliens] access to community college, even though they've never lived in Mexico, at least as far as they can tell ... is to deny that this is how we've always built this country up"... Obama said many children of Mexican immigrants have spent nearly their entire lives in the U.S., and "for all practical purposes, they are an American kid... I think we don't want them in the underground economy... We want them contributing, and it makes sense for us to provide them some pathway. If they've been here a certain period of time, and they've been good citizens, let's try to figure out how we can work them into the fabric of our society."
1. If I were inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, I might say that "good citizens" doesn't necessarily imply that he thinks that citizens of Mexico are citizens of the U.S., it could just be a cutesy locution. However, based on his other statements, I'm not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think he really is confused over the entire citizenship concept.
2. Needless to say, we haven't "built this country up" through illegal immigration and through allowing a corrupt neighboring country to send us 14% of their working age population.
3. The only solution to this problem that is good public policy is to encourage/"encourage" Mexico and other countries to take their citizens back and give them educations. Anything else will lead to more problems as more people bring their children here illegally and as educations are taken from U.S. citizens in order to give them to foreign citizens who are here illegally.
1150+ arrested in SoCal immigration fugitive sweeps
From this:U.S. immigration authorities said Monday they arrested more than 1,150 people in California in a three-week sweep, the state's largest of its type since since 2003.Expect the usual suspects to whine in 3, 2, 1...
The sweep targeted immigration violators including those who have ignored deportation orders or returned to the U.S. illegally after being deported...
[U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice] said of the 1,157 immigrants arrested statewide, 595 had outstanding deportation orders and 346 had prior criminal convictions. Those arrested were from 34 countries, she said.
UPDATE: As it turns out, this was part of ICE's annual Operation Community Sweep where they go after gangs. Cynthia Dizikes of the Los Angeles Times offers straightforward coverage here. Solomon Moore of the New York Times offers straightforward coverage here. I'm going to guess that the vast majority of their readers won't notice what's missing from both. If the raids were of, say, a sweatshop both sources would wave about sympathetic "victims" of the raid in order to support sweatshops and illegal activity. The LAT and the NYT might want to do that in cases like this, but if so they probably realize that would be going too far. (The LAT article does quote New Jersey Union City police department chief Charles Everett as saying something sanctuary city-like).
From the NYT article: "[a GA state official] said the government had provided invaluable assistance in an investigation of eight killings, from 2000 to 2006 in Cedartown, Ga., that were related to a methamphetamine-running operation". That town has a population of barely 10,000 and appears to be about 70 miles from Atlanta.
Also see the CIS report "Taking Back the Streets: ICE and Local Law Enforcement Target Immigrant Gangs" (link).
And, Julie Myers says Houston and Phoenix are trying block even this type of immigration enforcement.
Irish government gives $1.5 million to help immigrants to U.S., including lobbying for illegal aliens (ILIR)
The Irish government has given $1.5 million to 16 groups in the U.S. that help both legal immigrants and illegal aliens. That comes on top of an earlier $3.16 million they've given towards that effort this year.
Around $50,000 of the new amount went to the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (source link), a group that lobbies for immigration "reform" (i.e., amnesty) and to which several major politicians have given speeches (John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and so on).
Per Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin (link):
"The allocations that I am announcing today are to organisations that are to the forefront in providing essential frontline services to Irish communities across the US, particularly to the elderly and those in need. They also work with the undocumented Irish, whose status remains an issue of the highest priority for the Government and which I have raised with key US legislators in the course of my visit."
Related:
John McCain promotes illegal alien amnesty to Irish group; Irish government link; no Barletta
Latino, Irish Catholics in illegal immigration march (Archdiocese of San Francisco, Irish government)
What Paula Zahn forgot: the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform gets money from the Irish government
Barack Hussein Obama promotes illegal immigration... to the Irish
Allen Martin of CBS 5 failed to note where ILIR gets its money, as did Tyche Hendricks of the S.F. Chronicle
Felipe Calderon bringing Mexican consulate to New Brunswick, New Jersey (Jim Cahill, Richard Kaplan)
On his way to a U.N. meeting, Mexican president Felipe Calderon recently visited their colonies (link) and met with the mayor of New Brunswick, New Jersey, Jim Cahill. That's him pictured right along with Calderon and his wife.
Among other things, Calderon promoted what's called "regional integration" and promised to build a new consulate in Cahill's city. You can contact him through officeofthemayor *at* cityofnewbrunswick.org
Not only that, but Calderon said that at a public school (Lord Stirling Elementary School). Contact the NBPS superintendent Richard Kaplan at richard_kaplan *at* nbps.k12.nj.us
Apparently the promise of the consulate was prompted by some groups [1], with Calderon saying:
"It seems to me a fair demand, so this is what we'll do, we'll put a consulate here in New Brunswick"... he said a regional approach is needed to build sound economies in North America, including the United States, Mexico and Canada. "Relaunching the economy will not happen if we don't think as a region," he said, adding that a strong in the United States must include immigration reform... "It is my personal conviction that migration is a natural social-economic phenomenon that cannot be stopped by decree... What we need to do is channel it and direct it for the prosperity of our society... One day Mexico will have the conditions to generate work and schools sufficient so that never again you have to leave due to hunger... [however, just not now]."
[1] Those quoted include the following:
* Cesar Zuniga, "who is in charge of health programs at New York City-based Casa Puebla"
* Teresa Vivar, 'the president of Lazos America Unida in New Brunswick"
* "Perth Amboy's Fernando Garcia, a construction worker studying small business management at Middlesex County College... [and] the treasurer of the Mexican Association of Perth Amboy
"Temporary" Protected Status extended until 2010 (El Salvador)
The government conducts "Temporary" Protected Status programs under which hundreds of thousands of those who are fleeing natural disasters, political turmoil, and the like get to stay in the U.S. on a "temporary" basis. And, oddly enough for a "temporary" program, its specific instances keep getting renewed when they expire, as they were in May 2007, February 2006, and earlier. However, it might not be available for all countries and all incidents; Alcee Hastings (recently in the news for despicable comments) wants it for those from Haiti (link). On the other hand, FAIR thinks the whole program should be terminated (link).The latest extension of the "temporary" program for those from El Salvador follows our beloved president George W. Bush meeting with that country's president Tony Saca. Here it is in all its absurdity (whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080924-2.html):
...PRESIDENT BUSH: I want to let my friend know, and the people of El Salvador, that the United States will extend TPS status to El Salvadoreans living in our country. This is a decision that was made to improve the lives of El Salvadoreans.I'll leave figuring out what Saca meant by "integration" to your imagination.
I'm proud to make this announcement with you standing by my side. You've been a very strong and courageous leader, and you have been a friend. And I know this is an issue of concern to you, because you care deeply about the people of your country. And so when you get back home, you can tell the people that TPS has been extended.
PRESIDENT SACA: (Remarks are partially translated.) Thank you very much. Thank you very much, President, for extending for 18 months more the TPS for the people of El Salvador. This is going to benefit our Salvadorian people with -- (inaudible) -- in liberty, in democracy, and in integration.
Thank you very much this morning for this extension.
Arizona Chamber of Commerce, MATT.org, Raul Yzaguirre start immigration "reform" ad campaign; Mexican government link?
Earlier today, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce (chief executive: Glenn Hamer), hosted a press conference where they announced an ad campaign in support of immigration "reform", presumably including some form of "guest" worker scheme (link). The ads will run in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver and Las Vegas and they're spending "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on it. One of their guests at the announcement is the former president of the National Council of La Raza, Raul Yzaguirre. He's also a former co-chair of this year's Hillary Clinton campaign.
The ads are from MATT.org ("Mexicans and Americans Thinking Together"), a group headed by Lionel Sosa, someone who's working for John McCain. Earlier in the year he hinted that the Mexican government was going to give him money to conduct an ad campaign, and a very good question would be whether this is what he was refering to. Needless to say, it's one that Craig Harris of the Arizona Republic doesn't ask.
Others there were:
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, former Congressman Henry Bonilla [a spokesman for MATT]... Tucson Electric Power Chief Executive Jim Pignatelli and Ironco Enterprises president Sheridan Bailey.
UPDATE: On the midnight immediately before the press conference, the Arizona Republic printed the editorial "Arizona must lead" (link) promoting the effort. Needless to say, it reads like a hand-out from the AZ Chamber of Commerce.
UPDATE 2: From March comes this:
On January 16, 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported the following: “Mr. Sosa says he has raised $25 million for the campaign from one group he didn’t identify.” This massive donation concerns me and it should trouble every American during a presidential year. I’m all for political activism and free speech, but I want to know who is bankrolling efforts to alter our immigration laws.
More recently from the same paper comes this:
Although Sosa left the corporation [presumably MATT] to work with McCain, the organization’s entanglements with Sosa and Cesar Martinez — a video producer who has created Spanish-language TV ads for McCain (notably, one that depicts Barack Obama as a naïve fool willing to hang out with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez) — have created the appearance of a 501 organization that is acting more like a 527 political action committee... QueQue paid a visit to MATT.org’s downtown limestone-and-log-cabin offices this week and was told by staffers that Martinez maintains a video-production office at MATT.org and keeps his equipment there. With Sosa and Martinez working together to create Latino-targeting ads for McCain, and Martinez using MATT.org facilities to do his production work, this doesn’t pass the smell taste as defined in the organization’s Certificate of Formation, filed with the Texas Secretary of State... The issue is further complicated by the fact that new Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade, the person whose office accepts corporate filings, formerly served as executive director for MATT.org...
CNN "fact check" misleads about John McCain comprehensive immigration reform stance
Dear CNN:
JOHN MCCAIN SUPPORTS AMNESTY/COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM.
Sorry to shout, but I see that your "Fact Check: Is Obama ad right on McCain's immigration stance?" (link) continues the same lie that several of Barack Obama's other minions have tried to promulgate.
While McCain has said a wide range of things (including support for "reform" one day before you posted this), and his overall tactic at present is to support a secure border now followed by "reform" later, his overall goal of getting "reform" continues.
I don't know what game you and those others who push this lie are playing, but the simple fact is that McCain, Bush, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Mexican government, and Barack Obama all want the same basic thing. They might differ in the specific details and how they intend to get what they want, but their overall goal is the same.
P.S. Maybe you should mention the lies in the rest of the ad too.
John McCain promotes illegal alien amnesty to Irish group; Irish government link; no Barletta
Speaking at the Irish-American Presidential Forum earlier today in Scranton PA, John McCain promoted giving an amnesty to not just the supposed 50,000 Irish illegal aliens in the U.S., but others as well. The video is below, and per this he said:
"[There are] 50,000 Irish men and women in this country illegally who want to become citizens... we have to give them a path to citizenship... [My previous support for McCain-Kennedy] didn't make me the most popular member of my own party and it almost cost me the nomination of my party... To preserve that fragile coalition, I had to sometime take votes which were not popular... Senator Kennedy took votes that were not popular. Senator Obama took a hike... This nation is all the stronger -- this nation is stronger, this nation is stronger -- for the infusion of fresh blood and vitality that has come to this nation wave after wave: Irish, Italian, Poles, everybody who's come to this nation has enriched our nation, including our Hispanic citizenry. OK? That's what America's all about...
America is all about support for massive illegal activity and public corruption?
But, wait, it gets worse. According to this, there was no support evident for fellow Republican Lou Barletta, apparently due to his opposition to illegal activity. Instead, one of the other speakers at the event heads a group that's partly funded by the Irish government:
"Most of your parents and grandparents came here as poor immigrants and were welcomed here," said Ciaran Staunton of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. "Immigration is not a dirty word. Immigration is our fathers' word."
Of course, the report from Sasha Issenberg of the Boston Globe doesn't indicate where ILIR gets their money.
If anyone wants to do something about this, go ask McCain a tough question about this topic and upload his response to Youtube. If he's forced to foreswear against pushing amnesty it would actually help him, and if he or his surrogates were then able to attack Obama on this issue in a pro-American way it would help McCain and have a very negative impact on the BHO campaign.
Should immigrants be required to disavow Sharia law? (Tancredo, Jim Harper/Cato)
Rep. Tom Tancredo has introduced H.R. 6975 (link), a very short bill that would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to say:
(G) SHARIA LAW SYSTEM- Any alien who fails to attest, in accordance with procedures specified by the Secretary of Homeland Security, that the alien will not advocate installing a Sharia law system in the United States is inadmissible.
I'm mostly all for it, and for a lot of similar things. While we certainly want to avoid requiring loyalty oaths of those who are already citizens, there's no reason we should admit those who don't buy in to our fundamental concepts, whether Constitutional or, in the case of Aztlan, our terroritorial claims.
Needless to say, the usual suspects won't like it, and one of those is Jim Harper from the Cato Institute, a supposed libertarian group with some interesting funders and which has put forth some odiously anti- and un-American ideas. Says Harper (cato-at-liberty.org/2008/09/20/fear-of-sharia-oh-please):
But more importantly, a law like this communicates precisely the wrong thing to new immigrants and the world at large. It tells the world that we’re a weak, fearful country, and that we believe Sharia law is possible in the United States. It tells the world that we’ve come off our traditional moorings and that we no longer believe in free speech and tolerance of all opinions, no matter how wrong.
Unfortunately, we have to a certain extent come off our "traditional moorings", both because of those who put money before fundamental American concepts (see Cato) and because of those on the far-left who've been mainstreamed (see the ACLU, etc.) And, of course, Sharia law barely failed in Canada but is apparently now part of England's laws.
Why take the risk just to prove something?
However, Harper is willing to make a guarantee:
There is no possibility — none — that Sharia law will be established in the United States. Not by any government body at any level.
Of course, his guarantee means nothing; if he's wrong would anyone notice? If anyone did, he'd probably just say he was wrong or just move somewhere else. It's better to be safe than sorry, and a guarantee from Harper is worthless.
Border Patrol agent allegedly intentionally poisoned (Tucson)
Earlier this year, a Border Patrol agent in the Tucson sector named Denton Moberly was allegedly poisoned using a pesticide while eating at some sort of restaurant. The details haven't been publicly released, but a summary is here and a site with updates is here. Supposedly several agencies are involved in the investigation, and presumably his co-workers are correctly hinting that it was an intentional poisoning at a restaurant.
Related:
Barack Obama at National Council of La Raza convention (ICE as terrorists)
Enrique Morones threatened Minuteman members that their food might be poisoned
Nancy Pelosi accused ICE of conducting "terrorizing raids"
Rhode Island Catholic uses strawman argument, smear in support of illegal activity (Bishop Thomas Tobin; a challenge)
The Rhode Island Catholic newspaper offers an editorial called "Rabid response to Bishops is chilling" (link). They discuss the backlash to the U.S. Catholic Church's hierarchy strong support to illegal activity, including RI Bishop Thomas Tobin's suggestion that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents should be able to have a conscientious objector option before doing raids.
However, rather than engaging the perfectly valid arguments of their opponents, they've chosen to engage in a strawman argument and also to smear their opponents:
Vile comments in letters and vicious attack e-mails have not stopped Bishop Thomas J. Tobin from speaking out against immigration enforcement raids... This latest foray by the U.S. Bishops into the national debate on immigration will most likely result in a rather “uncivilized” response by many who oppose not only their position but also that they dare speak out at all. The usual suspects, as Bishop Tobin so sadly discovered, who utter racist and offensive broadsides against immigrants, Hispanics, Bishops and the Catholic Church will shout the loudest and with the most venom. They rail against immigrants with such savagery that their commentaries are not fit for publication. However, other, more measured responses from anti-immigrant groups often maintain that Catholic Bishops should not speak about the issue of immigration, claiming it is a violation of the separation of church and state...
I'm sure they've received a lot of hate mail. However, I'm sure they've also received a large number of "measured" responses. Oddly enough, all are not fit for publication. And, separation of church and state is certainly one argument, but not the only "measured" one from opponents.
So, here's a challenge to the Rhode Island Catholic, based on this post. Let's see if they can take on this argument without resorting to logical fallacies:
1. The "comprehensive immigration reform" that the Bishops support will send the message that we don't respect our immigration laws and we don't expect anyone else to either. Despite what it's called, it will be seen around the world as an amnesty.
2. That will lead to more illegal immigration, and from many other countries besides Mexico.
3. That will lead to more people trying to cross the desert. Aside from putting pressure on Mexico - something that generally doesn't work or our leaders are too squeamish and corrupt to try - there's very little we can do about Mexicans flocking to their northern border and people from other countries coming to Mexico in order to attempt a crossing.
4. More people trying to cross the desert will lead to more people dying along the way.
5. The borders will be even less "secure" after reform and the enforcement provisions of "reform" will be largely ignored because those pushing reform have always fought attempts to secure our borders, and they will have even more power after reform from which to fight attempts to secure the borders.
Contact their editor and suggest they try their hand at a logical counterargument to the above: mobrien *at* thericatholic.com
Kos promotes misleading New Democrat Network immigration poll
Subcommandante Markos Moulitsas Zuniga - better known as "Kos" - offers "Comprehensive immigration reform favored by those most affected"; "those affected" refers to voters in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Florida. The post is a wrapper around a new poll from the New Democrat Network. You can download their PDF from here: dailykos.com/story/2008/9/18/141449/465/722/602353
Once again, Kos has selected a useless poll and used its biased findings to match his ethnic power-based goals; see the previous example in the case of this Quinnipiac University poll. That link also discusses some of the ways Kos is wrong on the general immigration issue.
As with other polls, the NDN version misleads about what exactly "comprehensive immigration reform" means. While there are several related questions, all miraculously showing support for CIR, this is the one that Kos highlights:
The federal government would grant illegal immigrants with conditional legal status permanent residency and a path to citizenship if they maintain a strong employment record, undergo a background check, learn basic English, pay any back taxes and $2,000 in fines and fees.
Those supporting that range from 72% of all voters in Nevada to 84% of all Hispanic voters in Florida. However, if the NDN had disclosed to the respondents all the fine print (and more) the results would probably be far different.
For instance, that legal status would only be "conditional" in a small number of cases; almost everyone who gets into the program would be allowed to stay if they wanted. FBI-level background checks for 10 million people would take between five and ten years at the current rate; there might be millions of new illegal aliens by the time we've finished doing checks on all the ones who applied for "reform", and the push to give those new illegal aliens their own amnesty would be on.
The recent CIR bill also only required those admitted into the program to show that they've signed up for English classes, it didn't require them to learn English. And, groups like NDN would fight to weaken English requirements in future bills. That CIR bill also briefly included a provision allowing illegal aliens to forego two out of five years of back taxes.
And, any form of amnesty would lead to more illegal immigration and more power inside the U.S. for the Mexican government.
The NDN poll, like almost all of the rest, isn't really seeking attitudes about immigration. The polls are designed to mislead those being told about them, to comfort those who support illegal and/or massive immigration, and also to guage how groups like NDN and hacks like Kos can successfully lie about this issue.
Lou Barletta - running on anti-illegal immigration - opens nine point lead against Democrat Rep. Paul Kanjorski
From this:Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, who is an 11-term incumbent in the congressional district centered on Scranton-Wilkes Barre... is now in serious jeopardy of losing his seat to an anti-immigration upstart.(Note, of course, that Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Daily News incorrectly calls his campaign "anti-immigration".)
A new Franklin & Marshall poll shows that Lou Barletta, the Republican mayor of Hazleton, has opened a sizable nine-point lead on Kanjorski, even though the economically depressed district is leaning toward Democrat Barack Obama in a year when few Democrats in Congress are seen as in jeopardy.
On a related note, see the other recent loss by Rep. Chris Cannon; that may have been related to immigration although some have claimed that other issues were in play. However, those same people also tried to portray losses by those such as Randy Graf as indicative of immigration being a losing issue when the GOP in effect almost threw that election to his opponent. And, they're doing something similar with Russell Pearce.
30% of Mexicans think U.S. was behind 9/11 attacks (second highest behind Turkey)
A recent World Public Opinion survey (link) shows that 30% of Mexicans think the United States was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the second highest percentage in the entire survey, just behind Turkey at 36%. 33% said it was al Qaeda, 1% Israel, and 37% were Other or Don't Know.See also the Zogby poll in which 58% of Mexicans said that the U.S. Southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico.
See also another poll showing that only 36% of Mexicans view Americans favorably, only 26% think Americans are hard-working, 73% see Americans as racist, and only 16% see Americans as honest.
Obviously, these are the types of polls that "liberals" and other corrupt supporters of illegal and/or massive immigration would prefer to ignore. In fact, one "liberal" was kind enough to give us a glimpse into his thought processes, such as they are. Over to Ilya Somin (link):
Obviously, I know that there is anti-Americanism in Mexico and that Mexicans have various historical grievances against the US government, some of them legitimate. At the same time, Mexico derives many benefits from its relationship with the US, including extensive trade, and remittances from the large Mexican immigrant population in this country. Certainly, I didn't expect this level of anti-American prejudice in Mexican public opinion on 9/11.Although I think that Somin would consider even Barbara Jordan's recommendations "draconian", regarding the rest it's too late.
I strongly support free trade with Mexico and continued Mexican immigration and decry the recent nativist attacks on Mexican and other Hispanic immigrants. A positive relationship between the US and Mexico is, I think, very much in the interests of both countries. Before writing this post, I even wondered whether I should avoid highlighting the Mexican data, so as not to give more fodder to opponents of NAFTA and advocates of draconian restrictions on immigration.
Barack Obama lies about Rush Limbaugh in Spanish-language ads
The Barack Obama campaign has a new Spanish-language ad that features racial demagoguery and a distortion of Rush Limbaugh quotes. You can see the ad here:"They want us to forget the insults we've put up with, the intolerance," the television ad's announcer says in Spanish as a picture of Rush Limbaugh appears onscreen with quotes of him saying, "Mexicans are stupid and unqualified" and "Shut your mouth or get out."This isn't the first time that Obama smeared Limbaugh, and there's much to discuss about this ad. First let's deal with the misleading Rush quotes. The first quote is actually from 1993 (link):
"They made us feel marginalized in a country we love so much," the ad continues. "John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote and another, even worse, that continues the failed policies of George Bush that put special interests ahead of working families."
[The radio ad goes on:] "Don't forget that John McCain abandoned us rather than confront the leaders of the Republican Party. Many of us were born here, and others came to work and achieve a better life for their families -- not to commit crimes or drain the system like many of John McCain's friends claim. Let's not be fooled by political tricks from John McCain and the Republicans. Vote so they respect us. Vote for a change."
"If you are unskilled and uneducated, your job is going south. Skilled workers, educated people are going to do fine 'cause those are the kinds of jobs NAFTA is going to create. If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people, I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do -- let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work."The Obama campaign misquoted Rush by omitting the context; the context certainly doesn't show Rush in a good light, but it's far different from what the Obama campaign is trying to do: pretend that Rush said that all Mexicans are "stupid and unqualified". The BHO campaign is lying.
The second quote is just as bad; it was actually from a satire in which Rush proposed a series of draconian immigration laws, only to reveal at the end that those were the actual laws of the Mexican government (link). "Shut your mouth or get out" was actually his distillation of one of Mexico's laws; see for instance this example of meddling foreigners being ejected from Mexico. For video of Rush's satire, see this.
And, the first quote referred to "Mexicans" in the sense of "Mexican citizens who live in Mexico". Democrats frequently have trouble understanding the fact that (according to our laws), Mexicans can't vote in U.S. elections. Only U.S. citizens can, including those of Mexican descent. Certainly, those U.S. citizens of Mexican descent will sympathize with actual Mexicans, but some in the former camp look down on, say, illegal aliens. Obviously, to the BHO campaign there's little difference between an actual Mexican and a U.S. citizen of Mexican descent.
And, of course, some segment of immigrants do come here to engage in criminal behavior, and all those in the U.S. receive a wide range of public benefits. Those who are low-wage workers - the great majority of illegal aliens from Mexico - do take more than they pay in. And, the crimes committed by immigrants would not occur if they weren't here in the first place. As is their habit, the BHO campaign is trying to shut down a discussion of vital matters rather than having an open debate.
As for who's helping Barack Obama spread his lies:
* The first link is to an Ed O'Keefe post at the Washington Post. Needless to say, he just passes the ad on without doing what I did: spend a few minutes searching. Please write the WaPo and ask them to stop helping BHO lie: ombudsman *at* washpost.com
* Ben Smith of the Politico likewise can't be bothered to do even basic research; he also refers to the largely non-existent "anti-Immigration wing of the Republican Party": politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Obama_vs_Rush_en_Espanol.html
* Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune (mdsilva *at* tribune.com) also can't be bothered to do simple searches: swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/limbaugh_latinos_tv_ad_wars.html
* Eric Kleefeld is yet another searchophobe: tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/09/obama_spanishlanguage_ad_ties.php
UPDATE: Rush comments on this here; he also calls Obama a liar who took Rush's quotes out of context.
UPDATE 2: The end is nigh! Worthless hack Jake Tapper fact-checks the ad and the BHO campaign's response to his concerns, finishing by saying "the Obama campaign has crossed a line into misleading the viewers of its new TV ad" (blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/from-the-fact-1.html).
Meanwhile:
* Mori Dinauer passes along the lies (prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name=lightning_round_fiorina_gets_w)
* Jeralyn Merritt does the same, only worse (talkleft.com/story/2008/9/17/172619/529)
* Alex Koppelman comes close, but does including Rush's objections to the ad (letters.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/09/17/obama_limbaugh/view).
UPDATE 3:
* Eunice Moscoso of the Austin American Statesman does provide the McCain camp response to the ad (defending their previous support of amnesty, a support that continues) but fails to note that the BHO campaign lied. A comment I left has not been approved (link)
* Nick Timiraos of the Wall Street Journal includes some of the response from Limbaugh here, but also downplays the extent to which the BHO campaign took the quotes out of context. A quote I left was deleted; I left it again and that might be deleted as well.
* Beltway lightweight Ana Marie Cox links to the Tapper piece, but fails to note that taking quotes out of context was involved, only saying "An ad attempts to tie McCain to some particularly unpleasant Republicanness [in this case, a closed borders approach to immigration], but it turns out McCain was not at all associated with that particular nastiness." (link)
* Kathleen Hennessey of the Associated Press discusses a BHO campaign stop and works this in as well: One [BHO] commercial airing in Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado links McCain to comments apparently hostile to immigrants made by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh. (link)
UPDATE 4: Even a day after Jake Tapper called the ad misleading, others are valiantly struggling with the truth.
* Tim Gaynor of Reuters offers "Controversial Obama ad revives immigration issue". He includes the muted response from McCain and correctly points out that, at the end of day, BHO and McCain are basically on the same page on this issue. However, Gayner completely fails to point out the problems with the quotes. A comment I left was not approved. (link).
* "shovelhood" shows the level of thinking at DailyKos by noting that Rush says the quotes were taken out of context... then using other quotes in an attempt to show that Rush is a racist and without dealing with the quotes in the ad. Whether that's an intentional attempt at distraction or an issue with the thinking processes of "shovelhood" isn't clear. Some commenters don't care about the ad being misleading, but a couple do seem to expres qualms about the BHO campaign lying (dailykos.com/story/2008/9/18/154144/680/122/602969).
UPDATE 5: Ed O'Keefe at the Washington Post - the blogger who first started promoting BHO's lying ad - offers a bit of a non-correction correction in "McCain Camp Decries Obama Spanish Ads" (link), which links to both Rush's comments and those from Tapper. I suppose the latter were key; when another member of the "club" points out that you've promoted a lying ad you just have to admit defeat.
UPDATE 6: The end is nigher! In an editorial, the New York Times says "Mr. Obama’s retaliatory ad, also in Spanish, was just as fraudulent. It slimed Mr. McCain as a friend and full-bore ally of restrictionists like Rush Limbaugh, even though Mr. Limbaugh has long attacked Mr. McCain’s immigration moderation. It quotes Mr. Limbaugh as calling all Mexicans stupid and ordering them to “shut your mouth or get out,” which he never did.".
UPDATE 7: Rush offers "Obama Is Stoking Racial Antagonism" here. This has provoked a new round of those willing to lie for Obama at any cost to whatever reputations they had.
* Digby (digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/black-kettle-by-digby-limbaugh-is-so.html) offers "Black Kettle". It uses the "shovelhood" technique (see above) without even acknowledging the bit about the BHO campaign taking quotes out of context. The quote she provides as a distraction from the original lies is probably taken out of context as well.
* Jonathan Stein from MoJo links to the Rush piece, and continues to take his second quote out of context. (link) Unbelievable? No, just in line with his previous "thinking".
* Adam Serwer first admits that the quotes were taken out of context and that' was "stupid". Then, he launches into the "shovelhood" technique (link).
UPDATE 8: Joe Klein offers "Take It Down, Barack" (link). Klein is such an obsequious hack that even Jake Tapper calling BHO out wasn't enough. It took a far greater authority to spur him to action: "The New York Times editorial board--once again calling a lie a lie--slams both McCain and Obama for their Spanish-language ads about immigration policy. I've given up any hope of McCain running an honest campaign, but if Obama really wants to present an honorable alternative to McCain's non-stop sleaze, he should take down his immigration ad immediately."
UPDATE 9 (9/22/08): * Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune (mdsilva *at* tribune.com) - even after all the above - continues trying to help BHO lie (swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/john_mccain_immigration_reform.html) by saying "McCain's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, has been going after McCain lately on immigration -- attempting to tag the Republican with radio's Rush Limbaugh and intolerant words that the talk show host has had for immigrants in Spanish-language ads airing in hotly contested Western states."
Does Tanya Schevitz understand and support fundamental American concepts? (Chris Patti, Claudia Keith)
Tanya Schevitz of the San Francisco Chronicle offers "Undocumented students' college aid in jeopardy" (link) about the recent ruling reinstating a suit over the California law giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens. That law is explicitly anti-American: it gives citizens of foreign countries who are here illegally a better deal than some U.S. citizens, and laws like that prevent some U.S. citizens from going to college. In other words, illegal aliens take a chance at college from U.S. citizens. Such laws are a direct attack on the fundamental concept of citizenship.
The title of the article is about what you'd expect from San Francisco in general: putting the interests of foreign citizens ahead of U.S. citizens. While Tanya Schevitz might not be the one that come up with headline, the article itself is as bad as the title.
Before getting out your handkerchiefs, Tanya Shevitz does do one service: letting us in on the fact that the politicians who crafted the law (AB540) did it in such a way as to evade the spirit of federal law:
"The central issue in the case is whether or not the criteria for in-state fees is based on residency or not, and the Legislature carefully constructed the statute so that it was not based on residency," [University of California attorney Chris Patti] said. "It is based on whether you went to a California high school and graduated from a California high school, and those criteria are not based on residency."
The rest of the article wholy sympathizes with those illegal aliens who would be affected and doesn't show any concern for those U.S. citizens who will have their college educations taken away from them:
A state appellate court has put a financial cloud over the future of tens of thousands of undocumented California college students... ...If the law is struck down, it has the potential to financially devastate undocumented students, who are not eligible for state or federal aid. For many, it may mean the difference between attending school and dropping out, Patti said... ...The ruling was disturbing news to those undocumented students who need the subsidy to stay in school...
Unlike Schvitz, my concern is with the U.S. citizens who are victimized by laws like this. Those who are "undocumented" should be encouraged to repatriate themselves and their home countries should be encouraged in one way or another to take care of them. Needless to say, the California State University doesn't agree:
"What we are concerned about are the students who are caught in the middle of this legal dispute," said CSU spokeswoman Claudia Keith.
Near the end of the article Tonya Shevitz plays a common trick in articles like this, quoting a sympathetic "undocumented" victim. As has been done in countless other articles, the "undocumented immigrant" doesn't give her last name, and also stresses that she's only used to the U.S. Considering all the other articles containing those exact same components, a real reporter might consider whether they were being played:
Gesel, who declined to give her last name because of her immigration status, has lived in California since she was 9 but is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico with no path to legal status under current immigration laws... "We were raised in this country. Most of our life is here," she said.
Considering the number of times that something very similar to the above has been used in other articles, does anyone think Schveitz is a real reporter?
Note also that Tyche Hendricks was involved in some way with the article.
Send your polite thoughts to tschevitz *at* sfchronicle.com
Nicole Gaouette/LAT: leftwing groups on the "lookout for immigration raids"
Criminal enterprises that have fixed locations usually employ lookouts in the neighborhood where they operate who warn them of impending police raids and they frequently pay off local officials or cops. There's (perhaps) only one form of illegal activity for which the Los Angeles Times would consider that acceptable: illegal immigration, of course.
Thus it is that Nicole Gaouette of the Los Angeles Times offers "On the lookout for immigration raids" (link) about various leftwing groups that organize phone trees and collect intelligence from those in small towns regarding possible Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. For "balance" (LAT-style), she includes four paragraphs relating to those who don't support these efforts, starting at the twelfth paragraph. The rest of the two-pager comes close to a how-to guide.
She also fails to go into the social fabric-related aspects of this issue. Is it healthy for our society to have millions of people - led by a small number of "community organizers" - who don't think our laws apply to them? Doesn't the embedding of support for illegal activity in one subsector of our population have a huge social cost? Shouldn't newspapers do exposes on those involved in these attempts rather than acting as a sympathetic ear? Apparently to the LAT all that matters is that there's profits to be made.
Gaouette also says that Leos from MIRA said that one of their tips came from "spouse of a local official"; whether that's true or not isn't known, but assuming it is, isn't that a potential example of public corruption? Shouldn't the LAT look into that? What if, for instance, the spouse of an FBI agent tipped off the bad guys to a drug raid? Would that be enough to make the LAT concerned, or would they turn out to be corrupt in that case as well?
Should the LAT want to stop advocating for illegal activity and start doing some real reporting, they could look into one of their quote sources: Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. She could, for instance, point out that their president is linked to the Mexican government, and she could look into their links to local officials, their lawsuit which would have supported Western Union, and so on.
Others quoted:
* Julien Ross, director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition
* Bill Chandler, executive director of the Mississippi Immigrants' Rights Alliance
* Socorro Leos, a community organizer from that group
* Sandra Sanchez, "an immigrants' rights advocate with the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization." (also has an indirect link to the Mexican government)
* Diego Bonesatti, "a community organizer in Melrose Park, Ill."
"Tour of the Faithful": Catholic Church, others try to change immigration laws (America's Voice)
In September and October, the Catholic Church and others will be holding interfaith events [1] across the U.S. designed to support "comprehensive immigration reform", aka amnesty. This "Tour of the Faithful" (catholicsinalliance.org/node/20123) was apparently organized with the help of Frank Sharry's America's Voice [2] and includes an appearance by former president Jimmy Carter and many others [3]. On October 13 they'll be holding a forum featuring unnamed Illinois politicians; one of those will probably be Luis Gutierrez.
If you want to do something about this, go to one of their events and make points like these and get their responses on video. The only way these "leaders" are able to continue to support "reform" is by avoiding a real debate. Even a line of questioning that isn't "prosecutorial-style" would show the fallacy in their thinking. And, that would have a very great impact on this issue.
For instance, during the conference call announcing the tour, Rabbi David Saperstein said:
"In addition to our historic experience, our tradition also demands of us concern for the stranger in our midst. The Torah contains over 36 references to this principle, including Leviticus' command, 'When strangers sojourn with you in your land, you shall not do them wrong..."
Point out to him that the "reform" he supports would lead to more illegal immigration, and thus would lead to more people trying to cross the desert - with some dying along the way. If he responds that "reform" would include tougher border security, point out to him that those pushing reform have always fought attempts to secure our borders, and that they'd have even more power after reform from which to fight attempts to secure the borders.
[1] From catholicalliance.org: One of the events, "Voting American Catholic 2008: Platform for the Global Common Good," will be held Sept. 27 in Omaha, Neb., as part of the Archdiocese of Omaha Social Ministry Commission's 10th annual Faithful Citizenship Conference at the St. Cecilia Institute in Omaha, a conference co-sponsor... Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is scheduled to speak at an Oct. 9 Christian immigration forum in Lexington, Ky. The tour takes in cities like Boston, Washington, Denver, Los Angeles and Phoenix -- as well as smaller venues such as Lutz, Fla.; Conway, Ark.; and Kalamazoo, Mich. -- before winding up in Chicago Oct. 19 with two U.S. representatives and two Illinois state representatives speaking at a candidate forum on immigration.
[2] americasvoiceonline.org/press_releases/entry/
national_faith_leaders_launch_tour_of_the_faithful/
[3] Those speaking on the conference call were, per [2]:
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Dr. Jim Ryan, Council Executive, Colorado Council of Churches
The Most Reverend Bishop John C. Wester, Archdiocese of Salt Lake City and Chair of Committee on Migration and Refugee Services for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Mexico linked groups complain about "hate group" FAIR (FIRM, SEIU, America's Voice, NCLR)
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is currently conducting the "Hold Their Feet to the Fire" rally in Washington DC where radio hosts from across the country and their listeners lobby their representatives to support pro-borders causes. Needless to say, the other side doesn't like that too much, and four such groups have joined together to place a scurrilous advertisement in the Politico and Roll Call. You can see the ad linked from seiu.org/media/pressreleases.cfm?pr_id=1753, which says:Today the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), America's Voice, Center for New Community, and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) launched a print ad denouncing known hate group, FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform), for poisoning the immigration debate with bigoted, xenophobic hate speech. In support of the ad, SEIU Executive Vice President Eliseo Medina issued the following statement:There is, of course, more ranting at the SEIU page. You can read FAIR's response here. The ad juxtaposes supposedly inflammatory comments from FAIR-related persons with pictures of Angry White Men, none of whom are presumably those being quoted. For instance, I don't believe that Dan Stein from FAIR is a skinhead. The comments also deserve a grown-up discussion, something that the SEIU and their friends don't want to have. In fact, as the quote above makes clear, they want to silence FAIR and others who oppose them by calling them names. The ad including a headline noting that the SPLC has designated FAIR as a "hate group". The ad also includes a link to the National Council of La Raza's WeCanStopTheHate.org.
"It's time that everyone learns who FAIR’s founders, leaders and followers truly are. They are not reformers, but a group of extremists whose leaders are fostering a bigoted, anti-immigrant, anti-American agenda that we must stop... ...By continuing to fan the flames of hate and fear, FAIR has contributed to rising levels of hate crimes and discrimination... ...Crude attempts to shut down our border and round up anyone who looks a certain way do not begin to solve our broken immigration system..."
What the ad doesn't note is that FIRM includes one member group that's allegedly collaborated with the Mexican government and another group headed by someone who serves on an advisory council to that government. The SEIU paid someone to organize immigration marches, and that person serves on that same advisory council to the Mexican government. In addition to occasionally attempting to mislead and being the subject of at least two exposes, the Southern Poverty Law Center has an indirect link to that government. And, of course, the NCLR funds extremists and gave an award to a vile racist among many other things.
Agriprocessors charged with over 9000 child labor law violations
From this:The Iowa attorney general's office filed child labor charges Tuesday against the owner and managers of the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant, the site of one of the nation's largest workplace immigration raids.If many on the left - including national Democrats - had had their way, there would have been no raid. While there were several investigations under way at the time of the raid, some or all could have come to little, and the abuses might have continued with the investigations were underway. For more on this issue, see the links at the end of this post.
The complaint alleges more than 9,000 violations of Iowa's child labor law at the plant in Postville, saying the violations involved 32 children under age 18, including seven who were younger than 16.
An affidavit said children were exposed to dry ice and chlorine solutions and were operating conveyor belts, meat grinders, circular saws, power washers and power shears.
The attorney general's office said the violations occurred from Sept. 9, 2007, to May 12, 2008, when the plant was raided by federal immigration agents.
GOP asks young Republicans to take down "Build The Fence" signs?
Here's the caption of the following video:
Organizers of the Republican convention demanded that a group of young Republicans take down their "Build The Fence" signs, a reference to a border fence to fight illegal immigration, while at the Xcel Center last night [Sep. 3].
NCLR, LULAC, MALDEF, NALEO, SVREP send letter to John McCain about immigration
John McCain is too corrupt to stand up to the far-left and those who support illegal immigration, prefering instead - like Bush - to court those who will never support him. Now, some of those groups [1] have sent him an angry letter (PDF link):
On behalf of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, composed of 26 leading national Hispanic organizations, we write to urge you to lead your party's platform away from the deportation and detention path that deprives newcomers and the nation of immigrants' positive economic and societal contributions.
Translation:
We want race-based power, and any form of immigration enforcement impedes our power-grasping. While we support enforcement and "reform" and we don't want open borders, we don't really support any enforcement at all and we more or less want somthing like an open border.
Back to their letter:
The Republican Party Platform language regarding immigration repudiates your efforts to provide a legal opportunity for immigrants who have lived steady, productive and crimefree lives in the United States to come forward, pay a fine, and demonstrate they are learning English. The platform language would split families, make our communities less secure by placing federal responsibilities to enforce immigration law on local police thereby harming police/community relations, and close the door to higher education to young people who have been raised here and graduated from local schools and whose parents or themselves paid local and state taxes. It also wades into the divisive English Only debate but fails to emphasize the importance of more English language classes for adults and youth.
Needless to say, it's virtually impossible for an illegal alien to lead a "crimefree" life, but I guess that depends on how they choose to define "crime". Apparently it doesn't include things like using forged documents, identity theft, and the like.
The "learning English" parts of at least McCain-Kennedy were full of holes; they didn't have to learn it first they just needed to sign up.
It's not the "platform language" that "would split families", it's those who've made the conscious decision to come here illegally that did that.
If our laws were enforced, there would be fewer illegal aliens and thus their concerns about "harming police/community relations" would approach irrelevance.
They complain about closing the door to illegal alien students, without acknowledging that every college slot or discount given to an illegal alien is one that's taken away from a U.S. citizen. Obviously, they don't care that Americans are harmed by their policies.
And, the RNC platform says:
We support English as the official language in our nation... ...To ensure that all students will have access to the mainstream of American life, we support the English First approach and oppose divisive programs that limit students’ future potential. All students must be literate in English, our common language, to participate in the promise of America.
That's definitely stronger than I would have given the GOP credit for, but I suspect that part of the letter writers' complaints conceern the implied opposition to bilingual education.
Related:
100+ Hispanic groups send letter supporting illegal immigration, opposing raids
[1] The signatories are (see if you spot a common theme in each group's name):
* League of United Latin American Citizens
* Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
* National Council of La Raza
* National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (relatively minor link to Mexican government)
* Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (leader attended "revolution in the U.S." conference in Venezuala)
* American GI Forum
* Dominican American National Roundtable
* Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
* Hispanic Federation
* Hispanic National Bar Association
* Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
* National Association of Hispanic Publications
* National Hispanic Council on Aging
* National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts
* National Hispanic Media Council
* National Hispanic Medical Association
* National Institute for Latino Policy
* U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
* U. S. Hispanic Leadership Institute
Miguel Bustillo,Richard Fausset/LAT confused about legal vs. illegal workers (Howard Industries raid)
Last week, Howard Industries in Louisiana was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement; as the raid was happening the legal workers at the plant reportedly cheered ICE, and the raid was initiated by a complaint from a union worker.Needless to say, such cannot stand to those who support illegal immigration. Thus, we find Miguel Bustillo and Richard Fausset from the Los Angeles Times offering "Immigrant raid divides a Mississippi town" (link), which includes this subhed:
Many black and white residents of Laurel applaud the crackdown; it sends fear through the Latino community. Political change may end such raids.The LAT is trying their best to racialize this issue, as well as trying to emotionalize it and make those who aren't familiar with the details of immigration feel sympathy for illegal workers. As discussed below, the last sentence shows that the LAT has been trying to fool people. Continuing with the article:
But helicopters were not what shocked [Fabiola Pena, the go-to illegal alien featured in a couple stories] the most on her last, fateful day at Howard Industries, the largest employer in this small Southern town. It was the black co-workers who clapped and cheered, Pena said, as she and hundreds of other Latino immigrant laborers were arrested and hauled away.So, basically she's saying that the black workers were lazy. Thank goodness she's not a Republican, or she'd end up being more than deported. And, it's interesting to see presumed "progressives" supporting Dickensian work hours, considering that that's one of the things yesteryear's "progressives" fought against.
"They said we took their jobs, but I was working from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.," said Pena a day after the raid last week that resulted in the arrest of nearly 600 suspected illegal immigrants. "I didn't see them working like us."
As for the Los Angeles Times trying to fool people:
But the raids might not have much of a future after the swearing-in of Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama, both of whom have staked out moderate-to-liberal stances on immigration reform.One of the selling points of that "reform" is that it includes stepped-up enforcement. Yet, here the Los Angeles Times is telling us that "reform" now wouldn't include so much enforcement. Either "reform" includes magic powers, or the LAT has been trying to fool people.
If the next president decides to curtail or end raids similar to the one at the Howard Industries, it will not sit well with many residents of Laurel. The raid was welcomed by a number of native-born residents in this manufacturing hub of about 25,000 people that has been transformed in recent years by the influx of Latino workers, many of whom are undocumented.
The end of the last paragraph uses a stock device: an influx of illegal labor transformed an incipient ghost town. The rest of the article contains similar stock devices, such as someone saying the illegal aliens were just there to work, and so forth.
For an example of what Los Angeles Times would be if they weren't such wimps, see the Socialist Worker's "ICE brings panic to a Mississippi town" (link).
Ask John McCain about the impacts of amnesty ("comprehensive immigration reform")
Here's a question you're urged to ask John McCain at one of his public events. Make sure and videotape the question and the answer, and then upload it to Youtube and other sites. If anyone asks this I can provide follow-ups, and of course feel free to adapt it to your speaking style or remove parts of the first paragraph as necessary:
Senator McCain: the immigration "reform" you support will give a great deal of political power to groups on the far-left (ACLU, SPLC), racial power groups (NCLR, LULAC, MALDEF), the Democrats, the Mexican government, and others. And, all those groups currently fight against almost all forms of immigration enforcement, whether through law suits, the media, or other means.
If "reform" passes, which of these do you think is more likely:
1. Those groups will support "reform"-mandated enforcement.
2. Those groups will use their greatly increased political power to even more effectively fight against immigration enforcement.
Shipley Do-Nut president pleads guilty (hiring illegal aliens, light sentence)
From this:The sudden guilty plea to charges of hiring illegal immigrants by the president of Shipley Do-Nuts — one of Houston's most well-known institutions — is likely to send a strong message to employers about the pitfalls of hiring undocumented workers.Despite what the DOJ and the article says, six months probation and a relatively small fine aren't going to send a message to other employers. If the company is fined a large amount that might send a message, but they might also get off with something far less than half a million.
...On Thursday, prosecutors announced that Lawrence Shipley III — the grandson of Shipley Do-Nuts' founder — was placed on probation for six months and fined $6,000 after pleading to a misdemeanor charge of allowing illegal immigrants to be hired.
Three Shipley managers were also charged Thursday for employing undocumented workers.
Next week, the doughnut company itself is scheduled to enter a guilty plea to a felony conspiracy charge and could be fined up to $500,000.
First Panderer: Michelle Obama says Hispanics shouldn't have to live in fear of immigration raids
From this:Hispanics should not have to live in fear of raids by immigration agents, Michelle Obama told a Hispanic caucus to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.Unfortunately, AP "reporter" Steven Paulson didn't provide MO's exact quote in regards to the first paragraph, making it a bit difficult to discuss exactly how she's wrong, and I've been unable to find a transcript of that part. Another part of the speech is here: my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/laurinmanning/gG5l8b
..."We would have an immigration policy that brings 12 million people out of the shadows," she told cheering caucus members who shouted "Yes we can" in Spanish.
Hispanics are often the first to suffer in an economic downturn and the last to benefit during a recovery, she said.
She told the caucus that blacks and Hispanics share an interest in providing access to affordable health care, education and economic opportunities for all Americans, not just a select few.
"We all know our country's journey toward equality isn't finished yet. We have more work to do," she said.
And, needless to say, Paulson didn't do any real reporting by pointing out to MO that she's either peddling a fantasy or she's supporting open borders. The "comprehensive immigration reform" plan that Barack Obama supports supposedly includes stepped-up enforcement. If that enforcement is performed, then those Hispanics who are here illegally would still "live in fear". If no or little enforcement is performed, then she's supporting something approaching open borders.
Howard Industries immigration raid: largest in history; tip from union member; legal workers applauded
The largest immigration raid in U.S. history occured yesterday at a Howard Industries plant in southern Mississippi where they make transformers (link). There were almost 600 arrests, with around 100 of those being released for humanitarian reasons.
And, according to Holbrook Mohr of the Associated Press (AP), one of those arresated said that fellow workers applauded as the raid was happening. Not only that, but the raid was apparently initiated by a tip from a union member.
Expect leftwing supporters of illegal immigration to tip-toe around the last two data points. As for the reporter, he spends most of his time trying to portray the illegal aliens as sympathetic victims of our laws rather than looking into the legal workers whose wages were impacted by the large presence of illegal labor.
UPDATE: There's more in "Factory had tension between union, immigrants":
Union members said they resented immigrants, who were often allowed to work as much as 40 hours of overtime a week when other workers were discouraged from doing so. All declined to give their names, saying they feared for their jobs... Robert Shaffer, head of the Mississippi AFL-CIO, said Wednesday that members have long complained that companies in southern Mississippi hire illegal immigrants... "Jackson, Hattiesburg, Laurel and all areas along the coast, it's a little Mexico," Shaffer said. "I'm not against people trying to make living. I have a compassion for those folks. But at the same time, the taxpayers of Mississippi shouldn't be subsidizing a plant that won't even hire their own workers." ...Shaffer said offering immigrant workers union membership would depend on the situation, but he doubted it could be done if immigrants were in the country illegally.
Census Bureau releases 2007 poverty/lack of health insurance numbers: watch out for liars
The Census Bureau has released their report with the numbers of those below the poverty line and without health insurance for 2007; see this PDF file. What you'll probably hear from the mainstream media and others is that 45.7 million "Americans" are without health insurance (down from 47 million in 2006), and that there are 37.3 million "Americans" below the poverty line (up from 36.4 million in 2006).
Both of those are subtle lies: not all of those people are Americans; millions of them are citizens of other countries. A small number of them might be short-term visitors with more being legal immigrants. However, a good percentage of both figures are illegal aliens: the Census Bureau counts them as well and doesn't break out their figures by someone's immigration status.
For a more in-depth discussion of that topic using 2006 numbers, see this Barack Obama lie, and see also this related DNC lie.
Those below the poverty line in 2007 are:
* 12.5% of all those counted (37.3 million)
* 32.5 million are citizens
* 4.7 million are not citizens
The poverty rate for various statuses in 2007:
* native born: 11.9%
* all foreign born: 16.5%
* naturalized citizens: 9.5%
* non-citizens: 21.3%
Those without healthcare in 2007 are:
* 15.3% of all those counted (45.7 million)
* 35.9 million are citizens
* 9.7 million are not citizens
The withou