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[Way late, apologies.
Also a single-issue post, which I know isn't as popular as my general browsing - but given the anticipated deluge of intentionally misleading MSM coverage of May 5, I thought an extra helping of counter-context would be helpful as inoculation ...]
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Monday, May 3, 2010
Top 10 dumbest things said about the Arizona immigration law
Subject: txt 1st immig - msm -
The last few days have seen an extraordinary outburst of criticism of Arizona’s new immigration law. In the nation’s elite media outlets, its most respected commentators are portraying the law as an act of police-state repression. Many, if not all, of the specific criticisms can be refuted simply by reading the law itself, but others are more generalized criticisms of immigration enforcement. In any event, it’s hard to choose the most over-the-top and wrongheaded commentary on the law, but here are ten choices, in no particular order. (If you don’t know why a particular statement is wrong, you can check here, and here, and here, and here.)
1. “The statute requires police officers to stop and question anyone who looks like an illegal immigrant.”
– New York Times editorial
2. “As the Arizona abomination makes clear, there is a desperate need for federal immigration action to stop the country from turning into a nation of vigilantes suspicious of anybody with dark skin.”
– Dana Milbank, Washington Post
3. “I can’t imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation.”
– Cardinal Roger Mahony
4. “This law creates a suspect class, based in part on ethnicity, considered guilty until they prove themselves innocent. It makes it harder for illegal immigrants to live without scrutiny — but it also makes it harder for some American citizens to live without suspicion and humiliation. Americans are not accustomed to the command ‘Your papers, please,’ however politely delivered. The distinctly American response to such a request would be ‘Go to hell,’ and then ‘See you in court.’”
– Michael Gerson, Washington Post
5. “In case the phrase ‘lawful contact’ makes it appear as if the police are authorized to act only if they observe an undocumented-looking person actually committing a crime, another section strips the statute of even that fig leaf of reassurance. ‘A person is guilty of trespassing,’ the law provides, by being ‘present on any public or private land in this state’ while lacking authorization to be in the United States — a new crime of breathing while undocumented.”
– Linda Greenhouse, New York Times
6. “Federal law treats illegal immigration as a civil violation; Arizona law criminalizes it by using the legally dubious mechanism of equating the mere presence of undocumented immigrants with trespassing.”
– Washington Post editorial
7. “I am saddened today at the prospect of a young Hispanic immigrant in Arizona going to the grocery store and forgetting to bring her passport and immigration documents with her. I cannot be dispassionate about the fact that the very act of her being in the grocery store will soon be a crime in the state she lives in…An immigrant who is charged with the crime of trespassing for simply being in a community without his papers on him is being told he is committing a crime by simply being.”
– Bishop Desmond Tutu, Huffington Post
8. “It harkens back to apartheid where all black people in South Africa were required to carry documents in order to move from one part of town to another.”
– Cynthia Tucker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on ABC’s “This Week”
9. “You can imagine, if you are a Hispanic American in Arizona…suddenly, if you don’t have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you’re going to be harassed.”
– President Barack Obama
10. “This week, Arizona signed the toughest illegal immigration law in the country which will allow police to demand identification papers from anyone they suspect is in the country illegally. I know there’s some people in Arizona worried that Obama is acting like Hitler, but could we all agree that there’s nothing more Nazi than saying ‘Show me your papers?’ There’s never been a World War II movie that didn’t include the line ’show me your papers.’ It’s their catchphrase. Every time someone says ’show me your papers,’ Hitler’s family gets a residual check. So heads up, Arizona; that’s fascism. I know, I know, it’s a dry fascism, but it’s still fascism.”
– Seth Myers, “Saturday Night Live”
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Report from Cochise County, Arizona
Subject: txt 1st immig -
I moved to Cochise County after retiring from the Army in 2008 to take a position working at Fort Huachuca. Having lived here in 1991 for eight months while attending an Army school, I soon realized that the place had changed considerably in the eighteen years of my absence...
The Border Patrol presence has grown substantially, so one would think the border area was nice and safe. Not so.
Within a short time after arriving in southern Arizona while on my way to work, I noticed eight illegal immigrants on the side of the road. Fortunately, they were in the custody of capable and attentive Border Patrol agents. Unfortunately, they were less than a hundred feet from my daughter's bus stop...
Much has been discussed about the new law in Arizona making it unlawful to be in Arizona in violation of federal immigration statutes. However, much less has been discussed about the shooting of rancher Robert Krentz. Even less is being said about the eight illegal immigrants and their load of 280 pounds of marijuana seized the day before Krentz was killed...
So Arizona should be boycotted because its people would like to keep it safe?
Somebody please explain the logic of that for me. It doesn't take a bullet from a drug runner's gun to make those of us down here near the border understand that this is drug-related violence -- and Rob's death proves it. Those of us down here facing the danger every day really don't care what some Hollywood actor has to say about the issue...
We just want to stay safe.
This is not about race; it's about facts. Use a few of these facts the next time somebody wants to engage you in discussion about the border. Tell him you learned these things from somebody who can see Mexico from his front porch...
[Highly Recommended >> ]
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POLL: Poll Bounce for Arizona Governor After Signing Immigration Law
Subject: txt immig -
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state shows that 56% now approve of the way Brewer is performing her role as governor. Two weeks ago, just 40% offered their approval.
The new figure includes 22% who Strongly Approve of the governor’s performance. That’s up from five percent (5%) before Brewer signed the law that authorizes local police to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant.
The bounce in the polls is also evident in new numbers on the November election. If Brewer is the Republican nominee, she would get 48% of the vote while her likely Democratic opponent, State Attorney General Terry Goddard, would attract 40%. Two weeks ago, it was Brewer 44% and Goddard 40%. Goddard is an outspoken opponent of the new law.
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Coulter: I've Never Seen Any Issue Lied About As Much As Ariz. Immigration Law
Subject: txt immig - 1st - msm -
Conservative author Ann Coulter Friday said she's never seen the press lie about any issue as much as they have about the new anti-illegal immigration law in Arizona.
"Everyone is blatantly lying about what this law does," ... "I've never seen anything, a law lied about, any public issue lied about so much," ... "And I don't mean commentators on other stations.
I mean, they are delivering the news, claiming that this is going to be racial profiling. The cops can stop anyone. It's like Nazi Germany. Just blatant, blatant lying"
(video follows with transcript and commentary...
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Opinion polls show broad support for tough Arizona immigration law
Subject: txt 1st immig -
Two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Arizona’s new immigration law – and the promise of more to come – represent the latest in a 'surge' of outrage the MSM is 'reporting' over the first-of-its-kind measure to crack down on illegal immigration.
The lawsuits follow high-profile protests, calls for boycotts, and a travel advisory from Mexico urging its citizens to steer clear of Arizona.
But findings from three opinion polls released in the past two days seem to counter the anger and outrage being expressed in and about Arizona's move: • A Gallup poll concludes that more than three-quarters of Americans support Arizona's move to crack down on illegal immigration, and blame Washington for refusing to do what it claims is its job...
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FLASHBACKs >
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A rational approach to profiling
Application of the "80-20" rule is just common sense
The outrage some have expressed over Arizona's government (supported by over 70% of her citizens) to enforce federal foreign citizen trespasser laws by claiming to do so requires unconscionable racial profiling to enforce, is both confounding and irrational.
In fact, racial profiling is the fastest and most humane way to solve the problem and the most fact based method to enable our State Department to justify punitive diplomacy against the most egregious nations from which these trespassers come... [snip]
By the way, it is incorrect to call these trespassers 'immigrants', legal or illegal. Foreign citizens are permitted to cross our borders for a host of reasons - to study, to vacation, etc. But they are not immigrants until they apply for citizenship. 
Until that moment, when they enter our immigration process, and they are within our borders, they are merely visitors. We have no issues with foreign visitors until they break our laws - by crossing our border without the required paperwork for example - at which time it is laterally more accurate to label them invaders...
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From One Hispanic to Others —
Subject: txt immig -
Since the Arizona governor signed an immigration law, Democrats and their fellow alarmists in the MSM are desperately trying to equate it with Nazism and the civil rights abuse of Hispanics. President Obama hinted that the federal government may have to circumvent the law...
As a Hispanic I recognize this ploy for what it is- a desperate attempt to incite militant Hispanic groups into protesting Arizona and liberals into boycotting the state.
Why, you may ask?
Because if what Arizona did spreads to the entire country, the Democrats are toast. And their media pals know this...
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Will Other States Follow Arizona's Lead on Immigration?
Subject: txt immig -
Politicians in at least five states are calling for their state legislatures to adopt immigration laws that mirror Arizona's new measure. State lawmakers and others in Texas, Utah, Georgia, Ohio and Maryland are seizing on Arizona's serious approach to illegal immigration, which has the approval of the overwhelming majority of Americans who say it is necessary in the absence of adequate federal policies...
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Hispanic Americans hope law deters illegal immigration
Subject: txt 1st immig
Phoenix, Arizona -- Sue Schwartz says she's been called a racist so many times she doesn't mind the label anymore. If wanting immigrants to enter the country legally, like her great-grandparents from Mexico, and obey the laws of the land makes her racist, then so be it, she says firmly...
[A very sad state for our 'post-racial' country.]
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Arizona Deputy Wounded in Desert Shootout Found
Subject: txt 1st immig -
Authorities in southern Arizona have found a deputy wounded in a shootout with suspected drug smugglers after a frantic hour-long desert search.
Pinal County sheriff's Lt. Tamatha Villar says the deputy suffered a superficial wound to his abdomen after being shot with an AK-47 assault rifle Friday afternoon. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Casa Grande, about 40 miles south of Phoenix.
Villar says the deputy was doing smuggling interdiction work and found bales of marijuana in the desert. He then encountered five suspected illegal immigrants, two armed with rifles, and was shot...
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FBI: Kidnappings in McAllen QUADRUPLED Last Year
Subject: txt 1st immig 10th -
Kidnappings in McAllen nearly quadrupled last year. That’s according to John Johnson, who is in charge of the FBI McAllen bureau.
He tells us between October 2008 and September 2009, 42 people were kidnapped in the McAllen area. There were only 11 in the year before.
Sixteen people are still missing...
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Arizona treated rougher than Iran
Subject: txt iran immig - nsec -
As I write, I have my papers on me – and not just because I'm in Arizona.
I'm an immigrant, and it is a condition of my admission to this great land that I carry documentary proof of my residency status with me at all times and be prepared to produce it to law enforcement officials, whether on a business trip to Tucson or taking a stroll in the woods back at my pad in New Hampshire.
Who would impose such an outrageous Nazi fascist discriminatory law?
Er, well, that would be Franklin Roosevelt...
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OAS Criticizes Arizona Immigration Enforcement Measure; Press Has Ignored Mexico's Harsher Laws for Years
Subject: txt 1st immig msm -
A short Associated Press item tonight notes that the Organization for American States is not happy with the state of Arizona for passing an immigration law-enforcement measure:
I don't expect AP to expand on OAS's statement any time soon, because in the process of doing so they might feel compelled to look at how some of the countries criticizing Arizona handle their own illegal immigrants...
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Mexican Hypocrisy - U.S. Neighbor Has Its Own Tough Take on Immigration
Subject: txt immig -
Mexican President Felipe Calderon says his government "cannot and will not remain indifferent" [?] in the face of Arizona's new immigration enforcement law, which he says violates human rights.
But Mexico itself has "incredibly restrictive" immigration laws which, according to experts on the topic, make Arizona's 'new' law (which merely mirrors federal statute} seem 'positively gentile' by comparison...
[Recommended > ]
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Reality Check Re: Illegal Immigration
Subject: txt immig 1st -
"[We are] looking at the law to decide exactly how we are going to react to it...we are considering all possibilities, including the possibility of a court challenge." Eric Holder, US Attorney General.
"[The law] could pull away resources from federal immigration enforcement efforts... really look at whether the law meets constitutional safeguards or not." Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security.
"[The] law will be challenged on constitutional grounds. The President called the law misguided. He said it violates a basic of fairness that we cherish as Americans." Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).
"... a law that I think is unconstitutional." Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
Reactions to the Arizona law regarding unauthorized aliens, as reported by Jake Tapper.
Estimated number of unauthorized aliens in the US by start of 2009: 10.8 to 11.9 million*
- Percentage of those who arrived prior to 1990: 19%
- Percentage arriving since 2000: 36%
- Percentage from Mexico: 59% to 62%
- Percentage from the Americas, excluding Canada: 82%
- Percentage from Asia: 9% to 11%
Source: Congressional Research Service.
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[*I've read probably a dozen study summaries addressing the true count of illegal aliens in the US, none of which have put the figure below 20M - and range as high as 40M.
Based on descriptions of method and the fact the two most viable to my eye arrived at the same number, I currently believe the figure of 25M to be the most accurate.
Of course, that would require a "suspension of disbelief" to imagine that government figures could be 100% off...]
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The Real Immigration Solution
Subject: txt immig -
Amnesty backers cannot deny that the 1986 amnesty failed to stop illegal immigration, so they now blame the problem on the fact that we did not increase legal immigration enough after the Act. They argue we can prevent future illegal immigration by simply increasing legal immigration alongside an amnesty. Luis Gutierrez’s amnesty bill includes a special visa to “prevent unauthorized migration” by simply increasing legal immigration from the country where illegal immigrants come from.
When told the facts, the American people almost unanimously support cutting back on immigration. In February, a Zogby poll asked, “putting aside the question of legal status for a moment and focusing only on the totals, is the number of immigrants entering the country each year too high, too low, or just right.” 67% said the number was too high, 14% said it was just right, and only 4% said it was too low.
Individual legal immigrants are not to blame for these problems. They came here in search of a better life and played by the rules. The real culprits are the politicians who put cheap labor ahead of the interests of the American people. With 25 million out of work, it’s time to put the American citizens first by issuing a moratorium on legal immigration...
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Deconstructing the Outrage
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[Victor Davis Hanson]
I have been trying to collate all the furor over the Arizona law, much of it written by those who do not live in locales that have been transformed by illegal immigration. These writers are more likely to show solidarity from a distance than to visit or live in the areas that have been so radically changed by the phenomenon.On the unfortunate matter of "presenting papers": I have done that numerous times this year — boarding airplanes, purchasing things on a credit card, checking into a hotel, showing a doorman an I.D. when locked out, going to the DMV, and, in one case, pulling off a rural road to use my cell phone in a way that alarmed a chance highway patrolman. An I.D. check to allay "reasonable suspicion" or "probable cause" is very American.
On the matter of racial profiling: No one wishes to harass citizens by race or gender, but, again unfortunately, we already profile constantly. When I had top classics students, I quite bluntly explained to graduating seniors that those who were Mexican American and African American had very good chances of entering Ivy League or other top graduate schools from Fresno, those who were women and Asians so-so chances, and those who were white males with CSUF BAs very little chance, despite straight A's and top GRE scores. The students themselves knew all that better than I — and, except the latter category, had packaged and self-profiled themselves for years in applying for grants, admissions, fellowships, and awards. I can remember being told by a dean in 1989 exactly the gender and racial profile of the person I was to hire before the search had even started, and not even to "waste my time" by interviewing a white male candidate.
Again, the modern university works on the principle that faculty, staff, and students are constantly identified by racial and gender status. These were not minor matters, but questions that affected hundreds of lives for many decades to come. (As a postscript I can also remember calling frantically to an Ivy League chair to explain that our top student that he had accepted had just confessed to me that in fact he was an illegal alien, and remember him "being delighted" at the news, as if it were an added bonus.)
On the matter of equality, fairness, and compassion, it is even more problematic. Literally thousands of highly skilled would-be legal immigrants from Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe wait patiently while others cut in front and illegally obtain what others legally wait for — residence in the U.S. Meanwhile, millions of Mexican-American, African-American, and poor white citizens have seen their wages fall because of competition from illegal aliens who will work for far less compensation. It is a bit strange that those of the upper classes are outraged over Arizona without empathy for entry-level U.S. workers or lower-middle-class taxpayers who end up paying the most for illegal immigration. But then, those who express the most moral outrage often are the least sensitive to the moral questions involved (see next).
On matters of Mexico's outrage: The Mexican government has a deliberate policy of exporting human capital on a win/win/win/win logic: Dissidents leave central Mexico in a safety-valve fashion; Mexico saves on social services; remittances come back as the second largest source of foreign exchange; and a growing expatriate, lobbying community becomes nostalgic and fonder of Mexico the longer it is absent from it. To hide all this, the Mexican government usually plays the racial prejudice card, although most arrivals from Oaxaca will tell you that racism is more perncious in Mexican society than north of the border. This is a government, after all, that cannot provide the security, legal framework, or social services for indigenous peoples in its central interior but has no such problems when it is a question of attracting affluent North Americans to live in second homes along its picturesque coasts.
There is plenty of cynicism involved — not on the part of the exasperated voters of Arizona, but rather from domestic political, religious, ideological, and ethnic interests that in patronizing fashion seek new dependent constituents; from Mexico that in amoral fashion censures others for the sins it commits; and from a strange nexus between corporate employers and ethnic lobbyists who see their own particular profit and influence enhanced through the ordeal of millions of poor aliens, and the subsidies of the strapped and now to be demonized taxpayer.
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