Immigration -- Rejecting Xenophobic Anger

November 8, 2007

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, and Ali Frick

IMMIGRATION

Rejecting Xenophobic Anger

In the months leading up to last Tuesday's elections in Virginia, when conservatives lost control of the state Senate for the first time in a decade, conservatives made punitive measures against undocumented immigrants their central rallying cry. Tuesday's voting results are "proving that, while immigration is a concern to people -- and it should be -- it is not returning the votes that they thought it would," said state Sen. Richard Saslaw (D). The conservative National Review said the results proved that immigration would not be "a silver bullet" for the GOP, and a conservative strategist conceded, "They went for a magic bullet with immigration, and it didn't work." Dan Restrepo, Director of the Americas Project at the Center for American Progress, said, "Instead of falling into the restrictionist, nativist trap of expressing frustration with quality of life issues by lashing out at immigrants and rewarding those advocating harsh enforcement-only measures," Virginians voted on issues that have the most direct effect on their daily lives, such as education and transportation. Voters are sending a message that stirring up fear and hatred of immigrants is neither a means of solving the country's current immigration problems, nor a way to win elections. Americans favor comprehensive and practical approaches to immigration -- tougher border enforcement coupled with restricting certain public benefits for undocumented immigrants and permanently addressing the status of those individuals already here.

VIRGINIA'S PUNITIVE POLICIES: At the start of the legislative session in 2006, state Republicans announced over 40 bills and resolutions intended to crack down on undocumented immigrants. The proposals ranged from prohibiting the admission of undocumented immigrants to public colleges and universities, to requiring couples to prove citizenship before marriage. Del. Thomas Gear (R) said the measures were intended "to send a message. If they come in legally, glad to have you. If not, we don't need them in the country. Go back." This summer, both Loudon County and Prince William County passed stringent laws limiting undocumented immigrants' access to county services. In October, Prince William County passed a law cutting off services to undocumented immigrants who are homeless, elderly, or addicted to drugs. The Washington Post noted that "traffic stops...may carry serious consequences for thousands of residents, as police officers begin checking the immigration status of anyone who breaks the law, weather for speeding or shoplifting, if they believe that person is in the country illegally." As one Virginia resident told the Washington Post, "They're going to pull me over just for being Hispanic." These bills are intended not to solve the problems of immigration but, as Jessica Vaughan from the conservative Center for Immigration Studies acknowledged, to make the United States "a more inhospitable place to be."

ANTI-IMMIGRATION TIES TO RACISTS: A new report by the National Council of La Raza states that harsh, punitive measures are having devastating consequences on children's psychological, educational, economic, and social well-being. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center said that there were 242 more "hate groups" in 2006 than there were in 2000, a rise "that is almost entirely due to hate groups exploiting the issue of immigration." Speaking of white supremacists' involvement in the anti-immigration movement, Potok said, "Immigration, I think, has worked for these groups extremely well because it's such an easy issue to cast in terms of skin color." "Virtually none of the major national [anti-immigration] organizations are untainted by their connections to white nationalist organizations, and as a movement, they have been more willing to play to a white nationalist base, while giving lip service to diversity and tolerance," said Devin Burghart of the Center for New Community and author of a forthcoming book on the recent rise of nativism in the United States. "What that has done has created, in many respects, a backlash to the gains of the civil rights movement," Burghart added. Certainly not all people who oppose immigration are racist, but the tactics of the anti-immigration movement -- including racial profiling, false stories of diseased Mexicans, rampant bullying on talk-radio, and the outrageous, inaccurate statements of government officials -- make it difficult to give anti-immigration forces the benefit of the doubt.

AMERICANS WANT REAL REFORM: "The [Virginia] election results told us that while the American people are unhappy with our broken immigration system, they are looking for leaders willing to step up and solve the problem, rather than simply offering empty rhetoric and scapegoating," New Democrat Network's Simon Rosenberg commented. Virginians "know this crackdown on illegal immigration is posturing," state Sen. Russ Potts (R) said. "The only entity in the world that could solve that problem is the federal government," he said. Poll after poll after poll show a majority of Americans support comprehensive reform that includes an earned pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in this country. Comprehensive reform not only serves the interests of the economy, but also national security purposes. For example, when the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy magazine surveyed national security experts from across the political spectrum, "70 percent said that improving the visibility of the flow of people and cargo through ports of entry is the best way to improve U.S. security, while only six percent said they would opt for building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border." Unfortunately, conservatives appear determined to defeat comprehensive reform, focusing instead on driving up fear and hatred of immigrants rather than offering a viable solution.

IRAQ -- STATE DEPARTMENT BLOG PUBLISHES LETTER CALLING ANTI-IRAQ WAR DIPLOMATS 'WEENIES': The State Department recently announced that it will force at least 50 diplomats to take posts in Iraq next year "because of expected shortfalls in filling openings there, the first such large-scale forced assignment since the Vietnam War." Several hundred diplomats swiftly "vented" their "anger and frustration" over the forced posting, likening it to a "potential death sentence." In response, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said he personally "recommended" President Bush "fire those recalcitrant State Department personnel." On Tuesday, the State Department joined in the bashing. On its Dipnote blog, it published an open letter by career Foreign Service Officer John Matel, who insinuated that diplomats who refuse to serve in Iraq are "embarrassing" "wimps and weenies." "This sound and fury at Foggy Bottom truly signifies nothing," he wrote. "Get over it! I do not think many Americans feel sorry for us and it is embarrassing for people with our privileges to paint ourselves as victims." The State Department's blog post appeared aimed at providing fodder for the right-wing blogosphere, which has been ripping the "diplowimps" who refuse to serve in Iraq.

ADMINISTRATION -- WHITE HOUSE CITES 'PRIVILEGE,' BLOCKS INQUIRY INTO 'EVISCERATED' GLOBAL WARMING TESTIMONY: Last month, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) officials revealed that the White House "eviscerated" the congressional testimony of CDC President Julie Gerberding on the "Human Impacts of Global Warming." Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) subsequently wrote to President Bush "requesting a full accounting of what occurred during that review process." Appearing on MSNBC yesterday, Boxer said the administration has stonewalled her efforts. Bush "gave our letter to Fred Fielding, the chief counsel over there," Boxer said. He "said 'executive privilege, I don't have to tell you what she wrote.'" Fielding claimed that "the request by its very nature seeks communications involving pre-decisional deliberative materials relating to an inter-agency review process...it is clear that the request implicates core Executive Branch interests and raises separation of powers concerns." Despite the administration's refusal to explain what it is hiding, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino maintains Gerberding's testimony "was not watered down."

ETHICS -- KYL DEFENDS MYERS' ROLE IN LAUDING RACIALLY OFFENSIVE HALLOWEEN COSTUME: Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has refused to condemn immigration head Julie Myers for awarding "Most Original Costume" to an employee "who dressed in prison stripes, dreadlocks and dark makeup for a Halloween gathering at the agency." The White House has simply stated it is up to Chertoff to "make any personnel decisions." Yesterday, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and John Kyl (R-AZ) also resisted admonishing Myers. While McConnell avoided directly discussing the issue, Kyl went so far as to praise her performance at the agency. "In terms of job performance, I don't know of anybody, now, that believes that she has not done a credible job," said Kyl. In fact, Myers' qualifications have been questioned from the start. Her appointment was widely seen as an exercise in cronysim. She is the niece of former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Richard Myers and married to Chertoff's former chief of staff, John F. Wood. Myers' time at ICE has seen the agency shift toward a disturbing willingness to retaliate against immigrants who speak up to defend their rights and interests. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has now placed a hold on Myers' Senate confirmation.

The Dow plummeted 360 points and the dollar sank to a record low against the euro yesterday as "investors worldwide grew skittish over rising oil prices and the prospect of a substantial economic slowdown in the United States." The markets are being "driven down by fear that the troubles in housing are likely to continue well into next year, contributing to further losses in credit markets and spreading pain to the rest of the economy."

$9 trillion: Amount of publicly held U.S. debt -- "the first time ever" it has breached $9 trillion. In September, "President George W. Bush signed a measure to increase the debt limit ceiling to $9.815 trillion from $8.965 trillion, allowing the government to keep issuing debt."

A coalition of watchdog organizations will today launch Governmentdocs.org, the first online database of government documents that can be browsed, searched, and reviewed. The goal is to "promote greater transparency into the government's inner workings."

A new study by the National Alliance to End Homelessness has found that one in four homeless people in America are veterans, including more than 400 who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. Aid workers say that "Iraq and Afghanistan veterans appear to be turning up sooner than the Vietnam veterans did."

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) "is drafting a compromise" on retroactive immunity for telecoms involved in the administration's warrantless wiretapping program. Specter's amendment "would make the federal government -- instead of the phone companies" -- the defendant in pending lawsuits.

Two separate bills offered by Sens. Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) would outlaw waterboarding, along with other extreme interrogation techniques. The legislation would make the Army manual the standard for all U.S. interrogators.

FEMA press secretary Aaron Walker yesterday resigned after participating in the agency's staged press conference on wildfires. Walker is the second press official to "suffer the repercussions" of last month's stunt.

"Strained by extended tours in Iraq, growing numbers of military reservists say the government is providing little help to soldiers who are denied their old jobs when they return home." A Pentagon survey of reservists in 2005-2006 "details increasing discontent among returning troops in protecting their legal rights after taking leave from work to fight for their country."

And finally: Even Congress has cliques. The House floor is like a high school "cafeteria," a place "where lawmakers gather and sit with the same people every day." Politico has a map of the seats HERE.

Yesterday, House passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in a 235-184 vote, marking "the first time ever that either chamber of Congress has passed employment protections based on sexual orientation."

CALIFORNIA: Oakland city council unanimously passes a symbolic resolution opposing any U.S. attack against Iran.

FLORIDA: "Department of Justice is reviewing the latest changes to state election laws to make sure they don't impede voter registration drives or violate the rights of minorities."

MISSOURI: New plan from Department of Mental Health would axe 484 state caseworkers who work with the disabled.

THINK PROGRESS: President Bush: If I were Iraqi, I'd be saying, "God, I love freedom."

FOX ATTACKS: Fox attacks decency with Bill O'Reilly leading the way.

FIREDOGLAKE: Right-wing writers sue right-wing publisher over use of right-wing tactics.

COMMON SENSE: Conservative minority obstructs more in one half of this Congress than the minority did in all of the last Congress.

"It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM. ... I have read dozens of scientific papers. I have talked with numerous scientists. I have studied. I have thought about it. I know I am correct."
-- The Weather Channel founder and long-time "TV weatherman" John Coleman, 11/7/07

VERSUS

"If The Weather Channel isn't talking about climate change and global warming, who is?" said Kaye Zusmann, the vice president for program strategy and development for the network. "It's our mandate."
-- The New York Times, 6/4/07

Think Progress

Rejecting Xenophobic Anger

Blogroll