Pelosi doubles down! Family separating raids are "not the American way"; illegal aliens make U.S. "more American"

Earlier today, Nancy Pelosi spoke at the U.S.-Mexico Border Issues Conference and did not back down from her earlier comments in which she said that immigration raids that result in family separation are "un-American" (her press release here).

In effect, Pelosi seeks to replace our current immigration laws with a "Pelosi Rule": if you come here illegally and have a child, you get to stay. Needless to say, this would have the impact of greatly encouraging future illegal immigration. And, the comprehensive immigration reform she supports supposedly mandates increased enforcement; does anyone think that if CIR were passed she'd support that increased enforcement?

Here's what she said:

"About a week and a half ago, Congressman (Luis Gutierrez) was in San Francisco on a Saturday night. We were packed and jammed in St. Anthony's Church, hundreds and hundreds of people came. We heard from families who have had raids into their homes and into their families where families were separated. And at the time, I said it there and I'll say it here, that raids that break up families in that way, just kick in the door in the middle of the night, taking father, a parent away, that's just not the American way. It must stop. It's just not the American way. So we need this comprehensive reform, and we need it soon. And we need to stop those kinds of ICE raids in the meantime... ...Every person who comes here and certainly for the Hispanic community, when they come here they make America more American..."

In addition to reiterating her earlier comments, because she's referring to "every person" in the last bit, she's saying that massive illegal immigration makes "America more American".

She's also sending Silvestre Reyes, Ike Skelton, and Howard Berman to Mexico to discuss drug smuggling issues, and she mentioned that both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will be going there as well. She also name-checked the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Al Zapanta of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce

For comic relief, Geraldo Rivera was also there (link) and, as could be expected, he complained about racism. He also supported the DREAM Act and opposed raids.

UPDATE: I could only find video of part of her remarks, and a video I created from that has been added. The full version is here; it mostly features Geraldo's speech. I believe the person seated to Geraldo's left is Juan Hernandez.

Thu, 03/19/2009 - 16:01 · Importance: 9