Illegal immigration and the 2012 campaign

Posted on February 16, 2012 By Shannon K ONeil Election 2012

I wrote a piece for CNN Global Public Square entitled “Illegal Immigration and the 2012 Campaign,” which highlights the role illegal immigration plays in the 2012 U.S. presidential race. In it I discuss how the rhetoric does not always match up to current immigration realities, and how the Hispanic vote will affect the upcoming election. Here is a brief excerpt:

A man stands with a sign stating “Do I look Illegal”. (Photo/ Campaigns That Matter)

As the country begins to turn to the general election next November, immigration remains a difficult issue for both political parties. During the early Republican primary debates, candidates talked enthusiastically about mass deportations and expanding, doubling, and even electrifying the U.S. southern border fence to keep people out. As the field has narrowed, the leading contenders have continued with a hard-line. Romney in particular, though widely seen as a centrist candidate, has taken an unyielding stance on immigration, supporting Arizona’s and Alabama’s restrictive laws and aligning himself with their architect – well-known anti-immigrant official Kris Kobach.

The tone got so strident in the lead up to the Florida primary on January 31 that Florida Senator Marco Rubio (who many say is a potential candidate for Vice President) chastised the Republican candidates for “harsh and intolerable and inexcusable” anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The Democratic Party’s discourse has been more measured. Though all condemn illegal immigration, most speak of immigrants as “folks … just trying to earn a living and provide for their families,” no different from so many forebearers. But in concrete terms, President Obama has little to show immigrants – and more importantly Hispanic voters – from his three plus years in office.

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  • Dave Francis

    The American people, namely ‘ the increasing fathomless numbers of THE TEA PARTY” must unseat all radical Politicians, Governors, mayors, judges police chiefs and every elected official, city manager and councilman who are anti-sovereignty and pamper illegal aliens with taxpayer dollars. Their oaths of allegiance are meaningless to them as they have shown by their pro-illegal immigration agenda’s. Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles county mayor, the way he demonizes pro-sovereignty, anti-illegal alien activists should be one of the first to be recalled, as he answers to a government south of our border? Both political parties have been complicit in the flood of illegal migrants and immigrants that is estimated to be well over 20 million, not the numbers calculated by the US census bureau? Our only chance of stopping this scattering pestilence is to support the business mandatory E-Verify program and the Birthright citizenship Act that must be introduced in Congress right now.

    Frank Sharry, Founder and Director of pro-amnesty group America’s Voice and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) went was caught up in a verbal confrontation in The Huffington Post. Sharry calls Chairman Smith’s mandatory E-verify bill “anti-immigrant legislation” and “unworkable and expensive bureaucracy.” Sharry claims the bill would “grant the federal government the authority to approve or disapprove every new hire in America.” That is how it should be, and rejection from being hired. A relatively simple solution that guarantees foreigners begin Mitt Romney’s ‘self-deportation’ antidote, better known as Attrition through Enforcement. Of Course Sharry doesn’t individualize between a legal immigrant and illegal immigrant as it should be acknowledged or the Liberal media.

    Rep. Smith defended E-Verify by saying the web-based program “quickly identifies illegal workers and protects jobs for citizens by checking Social Security numbers and ID of newly hired employees” and describes E-Verify as “free, quick and easy to use.”

    Rep. Smith cites a Rasmussen poll which found that 82% of likely voters think all businesses should be required to use E-Verify. Sharry, this open border individual and is now so frustrated and angry that millions of businesses have chosen to use E-Verify–both voluntary and state mandatory, that this far left progressive is reduced to name calling.

    Sen. Lamar Smith’s E-Verify, “The Legal Workforce Act” is just tipping the scales and only needs a little more momentum from American voters to get this bill into Congress. The potential law has 74 co-sponsors and needs a final push of only 26 more lawmakers with a backbone; four of the co-sponsors are Democrats.

    Join the TEA PARTY, as the refugees from every other delusional political voter and vote a Tea Party senate and house into office, displacing all those politicians and elected officers who protect illegal migrants and immigrants and betrayed the lawful U.S. Populace. These old party agenda is profit, votes and exploitation, and are in collusion with churches, unions, foreign governments and radical organizations and special interest groups. Illegal immigration has been forced on taxpayers through ‘UNFUNDED MANDATES’. These acts include free health care, free schooling, and has attributed to the loss of safety-net for Americans; coerced on citizens and lawful residents by liberal influenced courts.

    Frosty Wooldridge said in his latest article:

    Every indicator that our country is failing shows up daily with 15 million unemployed, 7 million underemployed, 46 million Americans subsisting on food stamps, $700 billion annual trade deficit, $15 trillion national debt, endless wars that cost $15 billion monthly and thousands of kids dropping out of high school daily. I have said it before: illiteracy defines a third world country. With 42 million functionally illiterate Americans, we are well on our way. Nonetheless, Congress pumps over 125,000 immigrants into this country every 30 days. I am beyond exasperated as to why and how we can do this to our country.

    Learn more at NumbersUSA, how the government is defying the U. S. Constitution and the laws that govern us. Investigate even more the terrible penalty our nation pays, for unending spending on foreign nationals by Googling—“AMERICAN PATROL.” Seek out your politician either by phone at 202-224-3121, or go their office in person. Proclaim to them they are–OUT–if they vote for any kind of AMNESTY, disguised as Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Remember–this is not about any racial make-up, nationality or color, its strictly about illegal immigration, that America cannot afford any more. Even if your from Europe, the Pacific rim, Africa, Canada or any South American country; if you illegal, they should be detained and deported.

    When the States of Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Utah, Indiana and South Carolina is being financially crippled by the illegal alien invaders, it is undeniable that something smells of government corruption. These states have spoken out on behalf of their taxpayers, especially the border state of Arizona. Using fake ID, of exceptionally good quality unlawful nationals are able to qualify for food stamps, WICC and other public assistance programs. It is way past time that many incompetent administrations stopped this fraud? The only possible way is to issue every eligible US citizen and others able to qualify a National ID card, which can be substantiated?

    Our Social Security numbers and other documentation has been compromised, as seen in the overwhelming amount of victims that is unceasing spreading across our nation.

    Important: Voter fraud does exist and our only chance of fair and impartial elections, from now until the November Presidential is every citizen show official Identification. Non citizens have been registered to vote and will again in all electoral cycles, which could cause major issues in a close vote. Fake ID has been around for years, but is more prevalent now than ever before?

  • susanaVOXXI

    The brief excerpt is really not enough to see the essence of the article Ms. O\’Neil wrote for CNN except for her choice of words, so I won\’t comment on that. However, it seems Mr. Francis was well prepared to slash in with his not so brief comment, evidently a Tea Party memo of some kind.
    It is probable that Mr. Francis, as member of the Tea Party, is also a good Christian, one that believes in Christian compassion and preaches the good deeds of Jesus every Sunday at his Church. Notwithstanding, like many other Tea Partiers, he does not hold back words of hatred when it comes to talking about immigrants. How is it possible that the religion of the poor and vulnerable became the hub of the rich and arrogant?
    The country Mr. Francis describes started in the Reagan era, and has not stopped failing since then. The economic backbone was deregulated and the new stage of “wild capitalism” was left in the hands of unscrupulous people both in government and the financial sector. It was the time to make money in America.
    With the abundance of money, a new generation of modern slaves was needed, the ones that worked on the fields long hours under the sun or in factories in dreadful conditions. I invite Mr. Francis to visit one of the Tyson plants for chicken processing or the tomato farms in Florida to have a better idea of what he is talking about when he despises the “illegal alien invaders.”
    We would not be discussing this issue if we had an immigration system that actually worked, but immigration reform has also been resisted by both parties and fed by manufacturing and agricultural lobbyists. The few attempts of passing a non-nonsense bipartisan immigration reform were dismissed, and as always, we had to find “scapegoats,” those that cannot defend themselves because they don’t have money or rights or a voice.
    My grandmother used to say “Cuando no hay pan, todos son gritos.” We have done it to ourselves; nobody is out there to be blamed. It is also advised in the Christian faith to do “a fearless and moral inventory of ourselves and find our shortcomings.”