Immigration -- Mainstream Extremism

June 19, 2009

by Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, Nate Carlile, and Andrea Nill

IMMIGRATION

Mainstream Extremism

This week, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund (LCCREF) released a new report tying the immigration debate's vitriolic rhetoric to the growing number of hate crimes against Latinos and "perceived immigrants." The report warned of a connection between hate crime incidents, extremist anti-immigrant groups and hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric's "infiltration of the mainstream media." Concerns arose late last year when FBI statistics showed another sharp increase in hate crimes targeting Latinos for the fourth year in a row. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a controversial report warning that the frustration of right-wing extremist groups "over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration" might incite violence. Right-wing pundits and politicians quickly attacked the report, calling it "laughable" and "funny." Less than a month later, no one is laughing about DHS's warnings. In what appears to be a chain of hate-related violence, Shawna Forde, an Arizona Minuteman leader and head of the Minuteman American Defense (MAD) group, and two of her associates were charged this week with murdering a nine-year-old Hispanic girl and her father. The trio allegedly broke into a home dressed as law enforcement officers looking for money and drugs to finance the Minutemen group. The same week that the LCCREF's report issued its warnings, information arose tying Forde to prominent Republican leaders and mainstream anti-immigration organizations.

A TSUNAMI WAVE OF VIOLENCE: Hate crimes against Latinos have been rising for four consecutive years, jumping from 426 to 595 incidents in the last year alone with a 40 percent overall increase between 2003 and 2007. It soon became apparent that Forde's alleged crime was much more than a robbery. Forde's family reports that she had long been railing against immigrants and threatening to start "a revolution against the United States government." A chilling video appeared of Forde pledging her commitment to fight immigration: "We will not stop until we get the results that we need to have." DNA tests have also linked Forde's alleged accomplice, Jackson Eugene Bush, with the murder of a Latino homeless man in 1997. Suspicion arose after he bragged to police informants about "killing a Mexican." Several other alleged hate crime defendants faced sentencing this week. Two men who admitted to pouring a flammable liquid in the shape of a cross and the letters "KKK" on the front lawn of a home leased by an African-American and his Hispanic wife were sentenced to 41 and 51 months in federal prison. An 18-year-old who pled no-contest to tying a noose around the neck of a Hispanic 17-year-old and dragging him several feet while tied to a truck was sentenced to only 10 days in jail. And two white male teens were sentenced to serve 7 to 23 month sentences for their roles in the brutal murder of Mexican immigrant, Luis Ramirez. The jury foreman, witnesses, and legal experts all condemned the all-white jury's overall verdict.

MAINSTREAM BACKING: The LCCREF's report calls out the anti-immigration groups Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and NumbersUSA for their negative portrayal of immigrants and their links with extremists. A disturbing video of Forde speaking on behalf of FAIR was leaked on Wednesday. Forde also served as the 2008-2009 Border Director for Jim Gilchrist's Minuteman Civil Defense Corps' splinter group, the Minuteman project. Gilchrist has appeared as a guest on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight and Fox News's Glenn Beck and Hannity & Colmes. It has also surfaced that Shawna Forde co-hosted "the pinnacle Conservative event of 2007," which featured Gilchrist along with GOP presidential candidates Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson. Tancredo made sure to send a representative from his campaign and a letter extending his regrets for being unable to attend the "Illegal Immigration Summit." Tancredo's campaign chair has dismissed the letter as a "boiler plate" response.

GOVERNMENT-REGULATED DISCRIMINATION: In the absence of federal immigration reform, state governments have started taking action. But many of their attempts at immigration enforcement encourage massive discrimination and fan the flames of racism. This week, the senate in Forde's home state of Arizona passed a bill that would expand the state's trespassing law to include immigrants who enter the country without documents. Oklahoma's state legislature passed a law last month that will require arrested undocumented immigrants to submit a DNA sample before they are even convicted of a crime. Georgia has passed a law prohibiting community policing policies that help police maintain cooperative relationships with immigrant communities. MSNBC has also documented a recent "revival" of the controversial pro-English movement, which some say is motivated by anti-immigrant sentiment and reeks of "self defeating" "simple racism." Meanwhile, the recent wave of hate crimes has prompted Attorney General Eric Holder to renew his call for expanding hate crime legislation. The Matthew Shepard Act has passed the House of Representatives and is currently being held up in the Senate by right-wing resistance.

NATIONAL SECURITY-- GATES CALLS REPUBLICAN ARGUMENT FOR FUNDING F-22 'NONSENSE': In a briefing to reporters yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the efforts in Congress to restore funding for the F-22 fighter jet "a big problem," and labeled the argument that the elimination of the program will threaten national security as "nonsense." Gates's statement came after the House Armed Services Committee approved $396 million to continue the production of the F-22 on Wednesday, over the Defense Department's objections. Gates originally proposed ceasing production of the F-22s at the current 187 planes, but Sens. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), among other conservatives, argued that the elimination of the planes would cause the loss of thousands of jobs. However, this is unlikely; the F-22 is just one of many projects that thousands of defense industry employees work on. The Republicans' demand for the planes is also hypocritical, as Paul Krugman noted, because "the very same Republican congressmen who were denouncing the stimulus, saying government spending never creates jobs" are now saying that "cutting defense spending costs jobs." Conservatives also argue that de-funding the F-22 would weaken national security.Yet, not a single mission flown in Iraq or Afghanistan has used the F-22 and the planes have become increasingly costly to operate.

"In his first public response to days of protests, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sternly warned opponents [today] to stay off the streets and denied opposition claims that last week's disputed election was rigged, praising the ballot as an 'epic moment that became a historic moment.'" "The Islamic republic state would not cheat and would not betray the vote of the people," he said.

Google announced that it would add Farsi, or "Persian," to its Google Translate service. "The company said it hoped the service, which it rushed because of the turmoil in Iran, would be used by people inside and outside of that country to communicate and stay abreast of events." The service is available here.

Speaking at a Democratic fundraiser last night, President Obama addressed critics of his health care reform proposal. "I sincerely hope that there are members of both parties who will participate in reform," Obama said, "But for those who simply criticize without offering new ideas of their own, I have to ask -- what's your answer?"

The Washington Post's Ezra Klein reports that the latest outline of the Senate Finance Committee's health care reform proposal does not mention a public plan option "anywhere in the document." Klein calls the proposal "comprehensive incrementalism" that is neither "radical" nor "root-and-branch reform."

"Sen. John Ensign [R-NV] helped his mistress's husband get two jobs during the time the rising Republican senator acknowledges carrying on an extramarital affair, an Ensign spokesman said Thursday." Ensign also gave his mistress, Cindy Hampton, a pay raise in both of the two positions in which she worked for Ensign. Additionally, the NRSC, under Ensign's leadership, "made twice-monthly payments, generally $500 apiece, to Brandon Hampton," Hampton's son.

At a hearing yesterday, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan "sharply questioned an assertion by the Obama administration" that former Vice President Cheney's "statements to a special prosecutor about the Valerie Plame case must be kept secret, partly so they do not become fodder for Cheney's political enemies or late-night commentary on 'The Daily Show.'"

According to Army statistics and interviews, "the rate of Army soldiers enrolled in treatment programs for alcohol dependency or abuse has nearly doubled since 2003 -- a sign of the growing stress of repeated deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan." Soldiers diagnosed "with alcoholism or alcohol abuse, such as binge drinking, increased from 6.1 per 1,000 soldiers in 2003 to an estimated 11.4 as of March 31."

The Supreme Court said in a ruling released yesterday that prisoners "do not have a constitutional right to DNA testing after their conviction." The five conservative justices wrote that they believed guaranteeing such tests would overthrow "the established system of criminal justice."

Yesterday, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution apologizing for slavery. "The Senate's apology follows a similar apology passed last year by the House. One key difference is that the Senate version explicitly deals with the long-simmering issue of whether slavery descendants are entitled to reparations, saying that the resolution cannot be used in support of claims for restitution."

And finally: Whatever you do, don't call Rep. Jim McDermott's (D-WA) scheduler, Elizabeth Becton, "Liz." An executive assistant at McBee Strategic recently learned this lesson the hard way, e-mailing her and addressing her with the nickname accidentally. The result was an exchange of 19 e-mails, with Becton angrily telling the apologetic assistant, "I think it's rude when people don't even ask permission and take all sorts of liberties with your name."

The guy John McCain says is "the smartest man in the world" thinks Obama is right on Iran.

Glenn Greenwald wants to know why the Washington Post fired its best columnist.

How many votes do Dole and Daschle actually have?

The Senate Finance Committee serves up a nothing burger.

Watch out for fake tweeters from Iran.

When they talk Iran, it's important to remember how wrong conservatives were on other foreign policy issues.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is a meme.

The Pentagon no longer thinks protesting is "low-level terrorism."

"When it comes to slow-moving government spending programs, it's clear that it doesn't create the jobs."
-- House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), 1/21/09, referring to the economic recovery plan.

VERSUS

"I'm pleased that federal officials stepped in to order Ohio to use all of its construction dollars [allotted by the economic recovery plan] for shovel-ready projects that will create much-needed jobs."
-- Boehner, 6/15/09

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