Category Archives: Immigration

The Great miStake Of Arizona.

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There are now 15 states considering an immigrant-bashing bill similar to Arizona’s.  Some are also considering legislation similar to a bill currently in the Arizona legislature that challenges the 14th amendment.  And many states are trying to match Arizona’s insane gun laws.

Living in Arizona, all I can say is that other states should be more careful in selecting role models.Since President Obama selected Arizona’s Governor Napolitano to lead the Homeland Security Department, the state has gone bonkers.  After turning our citizens against each other by passing SB 1070, Republican legislators passed a bill that allows anyone to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.  Faced with an enormous budget crisis, Republicans have continued to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy.  And having labeled public education as another form of socialism, they have made draconian cuts to education budgets.

Now these same geniuses have turned their wrath on the federal government.

They plan to challenge the Medicaid program by denying health care access to nearly 300,000 Arizona citizens.  They are in the process of suing the federal government over the health care mandate.  They have passed a “birther” bill that requires federal candidates to produce their original long-form birth certificate in order to be listed on the ballot in Arizona.  (Never mind that, although most of us can easily obtain a copy of our birth certificate, we would find it virtually impossible to get our hands on the original.)  They are in the midst of passing a bill that denies any future cooperation with the EPA.  Now Arizona Republicans are sponsoring a bill that would allow a state legislative panel to ignore any federal laws or mandates it deems unconsitutional.  (In other words, they would usurp the power of the U.S. Supreme Court!)  And the Arizona legislative session is just getting started.

What’s next?  Secession?

If so, Arizona is certain to be the next third world country.

Arizona’s SB1070 7 Months Later.

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In April of this year, Jan Brewer signed Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant bill into law.  It was hailed by conservatives far and wide as a great first step in closing our border to keep Mexicans from taking our jobs and using our services.  And at least 12 more states are considering similar legislation.

So how is 1070 actually working out?

In the 7 months since its signing, many of the most controversial parts of the law have not yet gone into effect, and the state has spent more than $10 million to defend the law in courts.  An estimated 100,000 undocumented workers have fled the state to find jobs elsewhere, taking with them the money they paid for rent, clothing, groceries, gasoline and more.  A very conservative estimate of the financial loss to the state would be somewhere in the vicinity of $4 million.  And their contributions as a workforce to the state could be estimated at more than 10 times that.  In addition, the law has led to boycotts from other states and cities which has already cost our tourism industry more than $141 million.  Add to that the jobs lost in the tourist industry and the cost rises to more than $250,000.  Based on the latest estimates, the new law has cost Arizona nearly $500 million!

“But certainly the state has seen some benefits from the law, too,” you say.

Not really.  It has served to create distrust between Arizona’s white population and Latino population.  The law has turned many other states and cities against us.  And the drug war still rages along the border, fueled by American guns and our insatiable appetite for illegal drugs.

The only ones who seem to have benefited from the law are Jan Brewer, John McCain, Russell Pearce, and other right-wing Arizona politicians who used scare tactics related to the law to get themselves re-elected.  Which is no doubt the over-riding reason for passing the law in the first place.

The Politics of Fear.

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Following World War II, Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist, was granted access to all of the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. During one of his conversations with Nazi leader, Hermann Goering, Gustave said, “I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.”

“Why, of course, the people don’t want war,” Goering responded. “Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? It is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.”

Gustave countered, “There is one difference. In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.” “Oh, that is all well and good,” said Goering, “But, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”

You could easily see this philosophy at work in Bush’s run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq when those opposed to the war were questioned for their patriotism, and our long-time ally, France, was vilified for not participating in the war.

And today, in the midst of mid-term elections, we can see Goering’s principle at work again. Despite much evidence to the contrary, Republicans like John “McNasty” McCain and Jan “Clueless” Brewer have focused anger on Mexican immigrants, blaming them for everything from crime to unemployment to our budget woes.

Led by Fox Noise Channel, Republicans have created a similar right wing outcry against Muslims for daring to propose a community center near Ground Zero. The ensuing “debate” has fueled anti-Muslim fervor across the nation, resulting in the arson of a Tennessee mosque and wingnuts calling for an “exception” to our Constitutional right to freedom of religion.

Conservatives have fueled anti-Obama hatred with vile emails accusing him of being an un-American-Socialist-Communist-Nazi-racist-Muslim. They have falsely accused him of banning prayer in military academies, of forcing the removal of crosses from military cemetaries, of promoting Muslim holidays…the list is too lengthy to continue.

As a result of this nonsense, it appears that Republicans are poised to win many more seats in Congress despite policies that led to two wars, an economic collapse and the raping of the middle class by the wealthiest two percent of this nation. I guess the lesson is that it’s easy to win elections by creating hatred toward minorities. It’s much more difficult to win elections on ideas and relevant issues.

The Border Fence.

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Throughout his primary campaign, U.S. Senator and teabagger wannabe, John McCain, has repeatedly called on President Obama to “finish the dang fence.” Of course, he’s referring to the fence being built along the border between Arizona and Mexico that has already cost billions of dollars.

McCain and Gov. Jan Brewer would have you believe that illegal immigration is the source of all our problems – crime, unemployment, the drain on social services, and the deficit. They would also have you believe that the fence, along with stationing thousands of National Guard troops in the desert will solve all of our problems. After all, who could get through a fence?

Well, for starters, how about the three escaped murderers who recently left an Arizona medium security prison by cutting a hole in a fence? Or how about the Mexican drug cartels that have breached the border fence by cutting holes in it and building ramps to drive over it? Or how about the human smugglers who have tunneled under it? How come McCain and Brewer never talk about that? And when they talk about adding National Guard troops at the border, why don’t they ever mention the nearly 10 border security guards per mile already stationed there?

Throughout history, there are plenty of examples of fences and walls that failed their purpose. The Great Wall, the Roman wall across England, the Berlin Wall…there are many more. What makes McCain and Brewer think this border fence will be any different? The point is that, if people are desperate enough, they are not going to let a fence stand in their way.

The immigration issue is extremely complex, driven by poverty on one side of the border and by the greed and need of employers on the other. In Arizona, as well as in other states, many of our homes have been built with the help of cheap labor provided by illegal immigrants. Much of our food is harvested, prepared and served to us by illegal immigrants. Many of our hotel rooms are cleaned by illegals. The list of products and services provided, wholly or in part, by undocumented workers is quite lengthy.

Who’s at fault? The workers? The employers? The Mexican government? The succession of administrations and Congresses that have failed to deal with the issue? The U.S. and Mexican economies? The Central and South American economies? Or those of us who knowingly purchase goods and services provided by undocumented workers? There is plenty of blame to go around.

Ramping up racist hatred through jingoistic campaign commercials does not help.

Immigration Update From The Front.

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Whatever happens to Arizona’s notorious SB 1070 in the courts, I believe the real problem with illegal immigration is that corporations continue to hire undocumented workers. (After all, why pay $10/hour to a US citizen, when you can hire an illegal for $6/hour or less? And the illegal won’t complain about the hours, demand benefits or expect raises.)

To deal with this problem, the tough-talking AZ State Legislature passed the “Legal Arizona Workers Act” in 2007 which then-Governor Janet Napolitano signed into law.  This law demands that all Arizona employers verify a prospective employee’s status before hiring. The penalty for hiring an undocumented worker is a fine for the first violation and the revocation of the company’s business license for the second offense. Yet two and a half years after the law went into effect, The Arizona Republic states that “only about half of new hires in Arizona have been vetted by a federal system that checks their status.” And lest you government-haters start blaming Obama, the newspaper also found that only “about a third of the state’s estimated 100,000 employers have signed up for the E-Verify program.”

So where is Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe, the so-called “nation’s toughest sheriff” when you need him? He’s big on arresting and deporting illegal workers. But, apparently, he could care less about the businesses that hire them. In Maricopa County (the county that encompasses most of the Phoenix metro), only two businesses have been sanctioned for hiring illegals. And none have lost their licenses. This despite Homeland Security estimates of more than 460,000 illegals living (and working) in the state.

So the magnet that draws illegals to Arizona is still in place.

But if, like me, you’re thinking that preventing businesses from hiring undocumented workers would be more effective and less costly than building multi-billion dollar fences along the border, or maintaining a force of 10 border patrol agents per mile, Gov. Brewer and Senator McNasty would tell you that’s Socialist thinking. Like most Republicans, they believe businesses should be unencumbered by regulations to feed their greed.

Brewer And McCain Telling Racist Lies For Political Gain.

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You know how Gov. Jan Brewer and teabagger wannabe, John McCain, talk about the “illegal immigrant crisis” in Arizona? You know how they portray the state as the most dangerous in the nation as a result of illegal immigration?

Well, I hate to get in the way of a good political campaign theme, but the facts tell a very different story.

Truth is, violent crime has been dropping in AZ for decades. In 2009, violent crime was the lowest since 1983. And property crimes were the lowest since 1968. Some crime wave, huh? By comparison, for 2007, there were 177 more violent crimes in Sarah Palin’s Alaska than in Arizona. And there were 241 more violent cimes in neighboring Nevada.

In Nogales, AZ which sits on the border with Mexico, there were 23 violent crimes in 2000 and only 19 in 2009. In fact, the Sheriff of Pima County, Clarence Dupnik, has been quoted as saying “…the border has never been more secure.” Statistics back that up. According to a report in the Arizona Republic, there are nearly 10 federal agents per mile of Arizona border – more than any time in our history. And President Obama just dispatched more than 500 National Guard troops to the Arizona/Mexico border – twice what Gov. Brewer requested. Yet she continues to say that the current administration has done nothing to curb illegal immigration and violence along the border!

Brewer and McCain also imply that illegal immigrants commit a disproportionate percentage of crimes. Although the state and federal government do not track the number of crimes committed by illegals, there is one indication that’s another lie. In Cochise County, which borders Mexico, only 4 percent of the crimes are committed by illegal residents – roughly equal to their proportion of the population.

So, as it turns out, you have little to fear from illegals by coming to AZ. And though I believe we must do even more to curtail illegal immigration, there are many other things of more pressing concern for our state – like Arizona traffic. There were 1066 traffic deaths in the state for 2007. But many of the same people who are screaming about illegal immigration have demanded that the state remove its photo radar cameras which target those who speed and run red lights. Now those people are scary!

AZ now stands for Assinine Zealots.

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For the past 15 years, Arizona Republicans have cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy in an attempt to intentionally bankrupt the state. At the same time, they’ve transferred funds through tax credits to private and parochial schools while hacking away at public school funding. And as the state’s population blossomed, they did little to expand the economy, choosing to rely instead on home building and tourism.

So what are they doing now that both industries have collapsed? In addition to raising sales taxes (in my locale, the current rate is 10.5 percent on all purchases) and further slashing funding for public schools (funding that already ranked 51 out of 50 states), they’re blaming our problems on illegal immigrants.

For centuries, oppressive regimes around the globe have deflected criticism by blaming minorities. Of course, illegals are in no position to defend themselves. They have no ability to vote. By necessity, they don’t even want to admit their status.

So instead of trying to create new jobs in Arizona or even eliminate government waste, the Republican–dominated Legislature and Governor Jan Brewer deflect attention from their abysmal performance by villainizing illegals. Even the wannabe teabaggers, John McCain and Jon Kyl have gotten into the act. They falsely claim that Phoenix ranks 2nd in the world for kidnappings. They falsely claim that most of the undocumented workers are drug dealers or mules. They falsely claim that the Obama administration refuses to take action to seal the border. And they falsely claim that undocumented workers contribute nothing to the state’s economy while flooding social services.

The truth is that undocumented workers contribute a great deal to the state’s economy through hard work, purchases and taxes. Many pay income taxes, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes despite the fact that they will never benefit from them. All rent or purchase homes. They also pay sales taxes on purchases of cars, appliances, furniture, clothing and food. And now that SB1070 has been passed into state law, those contributions are fleeing the state putting even more stress on the state’s economy. Home values continue to drop. Owners of apartment buildings report record vacancies. Employers in numerous industries report that they are having difficulty filling jobs. On top of that, thanks to SB1070, cities and groups around the country have cancelled meetings and conventions in our state. Even if they aren’t directly boycotting Arizona, many don’t want to become embroiled in the controversy.

Of course, there are angry, old white people from other states who have organized a few “buycotts” in Arizona. Indeed, a group from Texass recently sent a busload of rednecks to Phoenix in support of SB1070. They spent a day touring the city admiring the soutwestern architecture and culture ending with a rally in, of all places … a Mexican restaurant.

Immigration News from Ground Zero.

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The zero stands for the combined IQs of Governor Jan Brewer, the Arizona Republican legislators and Senator John McCain. That couldn’t have been more apparent following Brewer’s statement that most undocumented immigrants are drug dealers.

Never mind that these people take landscaping jobs that require them to work in the sun on 110-degree days for less than $10 an hour. Never mind that they’re hired by hotels to clean up after tourists for minimum wage and no benefits. If these people are drug dealers, they must be the most unsuccessful drug dealers in history!

Thanks to McCain’s and Brewer’s desperate attempts to be re-elected, the immigration issue has been politicized as never before. These two nincompoops continue to portray Arizona as the second-ranked kidnap capital of the world – as a place of complete lawlessness with a parade of human smugglers and drug smugglers pouring across the border, a drug dealer on every corner and illegal immigrants pushing citizens aside to claim their jobs. And their lies have cost Arizona businesses millions in lost tourism revenue.

The truth is that most illegals enter the U.S. legally and overstay their visas; that drug trafficking and illegal immigration are very different, and separate, issues; that illegal immigration has dropped significantly in the past 2 years; that crime in Arizona has dropped dramatically; and that many illegals left our state when a law was passed to punish the businesses that hire them.

Despite the facts, McCain and company would have you believe that President Obama has completely ignored border issues since taking office. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, during the past year, since The President’s Strategic and Integrated Southwest Border Strategy was launched, the Administration has:

1- Doubled the personnel assigned to Border Enforcement Security Task Forces.

2-Tripled the number of ICE intelligence analysts along the Southwest border in April 2009.

3- Begun screening, for the first time, 100 percent of southbound rail shipments for illegal weapons, drugs, and cash.

4- Deployed 13 additional cross-trained canine teams, which identify firearms and currency, to the Southwest border to augment the five teams already in place.

5- Deployed 326 additional Border Patrol agents between ports of entry and 58 more Customs and Border Patrol officers at the ports of entry.

6- Deployed five additional Z-Backscatter Units, which help to identify anomalies in passenger vehicles, to the Southwest border to augment the six already there.

7- Seized $85 million in illicit cash along the Southwest border—a 22 percent increase over the same period during the previous year.

8- Seized 1,404 firearms and 1.62 million kilograms of drugs along the Southwest border—increases of 22 and 14 percent respectively from the same period during the previous year.

9- Seized $29.5 million in illicit southbound cash along the Southwest border— a 39 percent increase over the same period during the previous year.

10- Deployed two new DEA Southwest Border Enforcement groups in El Paso and Phoenix, and added 25 new DEA intelligence analysts.

11- Deployed two new FBI Border Corruption Task Forces in Del Rio and Houston.

12- Added 200 new U.S. Marshal service positions at the Southwest border.

13- Surged ATF agents to Arizona to target gun trafficking to Mexico.

14- Hired nearly 50 additional Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys to prosecute drug and arms trafficking and bulk cash smuggling, and added five DOJ attorneys to focus exclusively on extradition requests from Mexico.

15- There were 107 extraditions from Mexico to the United States in 2009 compared to 12 in 2000.

16- Increased cooperation with U.S. and Mexican law enforcement to target money laundering and bulk-cash smuggling.

17- During the past year and a half, “Project Deliverance” resulted in more than 2,200 arrests, seizure of approximately 74 tons of drugs and $154 million in cash; “Project Coronado” resulted in 303 arrests, seizure of $3.4 million in cash, 729 pounds of methamphetamine, 62 kilograms of cocaine, 967 pounds of marijuana, 144 weapons and 109 vehicles; “Operation Xcellerator” resulted in more than 750 arrests and the seizure of 23 tons of narcotics and $59 million in cash.

All of this money and effort has resulted in a significant reduction in the number of people attempting to illegally cross our borders, with apprehensions having dropped 23 percent in FY2009.

But no amount of Border Patrol, National Guard troops and fences will be able to seal the border as long as there is a large disparity in economic opportunities from one side of the border to the next.

One way to equalize those opportunities is to help lift the fortunes of people on both sides of the border. The other is to keep spending billions in a futile attempt to “close” the border until we’re as poor as the people trying to cross it.

Mis-Informed, Armed and Dangerous.

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I spent part of the day searching through right-wing Web sites – the on-line homes of the American Patriot Party, the teabaggers, even the Republican National Party – and I feel like I need to bathe myself in soap and turpentine to get rid of the slime and stench.

These are people who hate.

They hate President Obama. They hated President Clinton. They hate the government. They hate Democrats. They hate the Left. They hate the Centrists. They hate immigrants. They hate gays.

They hate damn near everyone and everything.

They call themselves patriots, but true patriots don’t hate our government. After all, the government was democratically elected by the majority of voters. (And if you don’t vote, you have willingly conceded your say in the matter.) True patriots don’t hate the court system, the FBI, the ATF, Census takers and even the US Postal Service.

True patriots don’t try to make their point at the end of a gun. They don’t threaten elected officials. They don’t encourage the murder of doctors performing legal abortions. They don’t refuse to pay taxes. They don’t threaten to “take back our country, with force if necessary.” They don’t use hate speech. They don’t talk about “reloading.” They don’t talk about “2nd Amendment remedies.” They don’t talk about “taking out” their political opponents. They don’t hate minorities. And they don’t blame our problems on immigrants.

Uh-oh.  Now I’ve done it.

© LaMaster Propaganda – All rights reserved.

Corporations Fueling Immigration Problem

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With all the controversy created by Arizona’s new immigration bill, I think we should consider the role corporations have played in creating this problem. For the past 30+ years, our large corporations have been “outsourcing” manufacturing jobs to places like China, India, Indonesia and Mexico. Our TVs are now made in China, Korea and Japan. Our DVDs are made in China. Our clothes and toys are made in China. Our shoes are made in China, Indonesia and Mexico. Our computer software is created in India. Our appliances are made in China and Korea. Many of our cars are made in Japan and Korea. The list goes on and on.

We’re told the reason our corporations have exported our jobs is that American consumers demand lower and lower prices. Really? Of course, consumers want to pay as little for products as possible. But at what cost? High unemployment? Lower wages? Fewer benefits? No health care? No pensions?

Face it, the real reason corporations export jobs is to maximize profits by avoiding reasonable wages and benefits. Most of all, they want to avoid organized labor, which has forced corporations to treat employees fairly.

Now, let’s look at the industries which hire most of the undocumented workers – fast food outlets, meat-packing plants, roofing companies, landscaping businesses, corporate farms and other labor-intensive businesses. Why do they hire illegals? Because these are industries which, for a variety of reasons, are unable to export jobs to other countries. So, the only way for these industries to cut salaries and benefits is to hire illegals. After all, illegals have no voice. They are so desperate to find a job that they are willing to endure long, dangerous treks arcross the desert or to deal with human traffickers in the hopes of being hired. They can’t organize unions. They can’t pressure the government for higher minimum wages. They can’t sue the corporations. All they can do is work for the salaries and benefits the corporations are willing to offer them.

As long as we allow corporations to continue to hire illegal workers without serious consequences, this problem is unlikely to change. They know that the federal, state and local governments will continue to cut corporate taxes and reduce regulations in an attempt to replace jobs that our corporations have exported. They know that investors won’t care as long as their stock values continue to rise. They know that the majority of consumers will never boycott products made by illegals as long as prices are low. They know governments will provide education, health care and other benefits for their employees and their families at no cost to the corporations. And if their illegal workers are deported, these corporations know that there will be plenty of other illegal immigrants to take their place.

So my question is this: Why are we punishing illegal workers when we should be punishing unethical corporations?