Craig’s loss hurts immigration battle
Larry Craig’s Brave Stance on Immigration
By Nathaniel Hoffman, 9-15-07
When the nativist hissing sounds start at the back of the room, most politicians run.
One hint of a question about “amnesty” and the instinct is to either play to the crowd or move on to a question about social security or the postal service.
But at a recent forum on immigration, when someone aggressively broached the subject of putting welfare recipients to work in the fields, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig stepped up to the mic, armed with facts and figures.
That’s according to Craig Regelbrugge, vice president for government affairs at the American Nursery and Landscape Association, a group that has worked for more than a decade for reasonable immigration reform in the agricultural sector.
Regelbrugge said Craig defused the room by citing the number of people taken off the welfare rolls during the Clinton administration and then arguing that there is no evidence that transitioning welfare recipients to field work makes sense or would fill the dire need within American agriculture.
“He’s taken the principled stand and defended it,” Regelbrugge said.
It’s not a stand that Larry Craig, a career conservative Republican now scrambling to clear his name after a June arrest in a sex sting in the Minneapolis airport, came to easily. Craig developed his nuanced position in support of immigration reform in recent years, based on discussions with growers that began in about 1999.
Any Idaho Republican that is appointed to replace him will have a steep learning curve and be more apt to go with the party line (or the AM radio line) – border security and enforcement, rather than “comprehensive” immigration reform.
After a large immigrant legalization program passed Congress in 1986, many ag workers who earned green cards quickly moved out of the fields and into other sectors. By the mid-1990s the number of undocumented workers in agriculture was again on the rise, Regelbrugge explained.
In 1998, more than half of the agricultural workers across the nation reported that they did not have a U.S. work permit.
American farmers went to a hostile Congress to try to get more temporary guest worker visas. They were opposed by immigrant rights groups, organized labor, Democrats and a wedge group of xenophobic Republicans.
“Over time you had the emergence of a sense that you cannot solve this problem from the more extreme position in either party,” Regelbrugge said.
Some time around 1999, Idaho growers went to Craig and told him that Idaho’s labor-intensive crop and livestock industries needed more workers.
National producer groups had been talking to the United Farm Workers union and to other immigrant and labor groups for several years. It took Larry Craig a few more years before he started listening to that growing coalition as well. The first version of his AgJobs bill, the agricultural guest worker program that Craig has crafted and ushered into Congress several times, was first going to be introduced in 2001, without input from labor groups.
Then the World Trade Center fell and any talk of immigration reform was derailed, Craig spokesman Sid Smith told me a few months ago.
“It was a bad climate for major immigration reform,” Smith said. “That put AgJobs on the backburner.”
But it also gave groups like the Idaho Migrant Council, now called the Community Council of Idaho, a chance to weigh in.
“For years I would have opposed a guest worker program,” said Sam Byrd, an Idaho-based immigrant advocate.
Immigrant advocates have long been suspicious of guest worker programs that were designed by growers with a tendency to exploit workers and then send them home. They did not want an immigration program to be used as an excuse to depress wages for all workers either.
But Byrd and others worked with Craig for the last three years, hashing out a guest worker program that had adequate worker protections.
“Craig is a big part of this,” Byrd said in a conversation several months ago. “I take my hat off to him – he has done a complete about face.”
Byrd said that groups like the Migrant Council and farmers had already found some common ground between the need for field labor and the need to protect workers rights and wages. The first version of Craig’s AgJobs bill would have skirted those agreements in favor of farmers.
Even the United Farm Workers union and groups like the Idaho Community Action Network – organizations that opposed the most recent round of immigration reforms because they did not offer a large enough amnesty, now back AgJobs.
AgJobs was one component of the larger Senate immigration package that was derailed earlier this year. Farm, labor and immigrant groups are all pushing to have the AgJobs bill introduced on its own merits this year. California Sen. Diane Feinstein is a co-sponsor of the bill, but Craig was a strong conservative advocate for the bill and his loss is a challenge for supporters.
Craig has said he is looking for other senators to carry his bills, assuming he resigns from the Senate at the end of the month. Several names have been floated to replace Craig, but most do not have huge records on immigration with which to judge.
Idaho’s Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch, an early prospect for a replacement, has had a few public actions that do not bode well for immigrants. During his brief tenure as interim governor last year, Risch decreed that state offices purge their ranks of unauthorized immigrant workers using a dysfunctional federal database. The executive order even pointed government offices to the wrong database to use.
This largely symbolic gesture came during the height of tension of immigration reform in Washington and was seen by immigrant advocates as a reactionary
move.
A few years prior, Risch reacted harshly to a student group that staged a sit in on the Idaho Senate on behalf of a farm worker minimum wage bill. The bill ulitmately passed the Legislature.
Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, a former Canyon County prosecutor, is seen as more approachable on immigration issues. One of his deputy attorney
generals did defend the office’s publication of Spanish language materials earlier this year as the Idaho Legislature proceeded to make English the state’s official language.
State Sen. John McGee, another potential appointee, was a co-sponsor of the English language bill.
Idaho-based anti-immigration activist Robert Vasquez, who had initially planned to run for Larry Craig’s Senate seat next year, said that none of the people Gov. Otter is considering for the appointment will go far enough in combatting illegal immigration.
“If any one but me is appointed to Larry Craig’s seat, there will be absolutely no change in the status quo vis a vis the illegal aliens in America and Idaho,” Vasquez told me in an email.
But whomever Idaho Gov. C. L. Butch Otter appoints to fill Craig’s shoes will not have the clout that Craig had, nor the cojones he has displayed of late on the issue.
[End of article]
What is so brave about supporting the cheap-labor lobby? Agribusiness and other supporters of cheap labor give tons of money to politicians.
Insourcing, bringing in foreigners to work for low wages, is the same as outsourcing, having foreigners work for low wages overseas. In both cases, American workers get screwed.
Amen.
Comment By Daryl L. Hunter, 9-15-07His immigration position is much worse than his foot position, or ah, "wide stance".
I voted for him twice but was no longer going to support him because of his amnesty advocacy.
I am glad to see him go, but I sure wished he hadn't disgraced the whole Republican Party while making his exit.
Daryl L. Hunter
So you think Larry Craig is standing up for America???? No, you don't! Declare your support for foreign nationals over US Citizens, just like Larry Craig and be done with it! Traitor!
Comment By wanda, 9-16-07Imagine how the Idaho economy and state would look if growers paid a wage that enabled people to strive toward a middle class life instead of importing illegal aliens like they have been doing.
Sounds to me like these folks are direct ancestors who used to lament, "But who will pick the cotton?"
Good riddance to Larry Craig. And let us hope his replacement choses to represent America instead of Mexico and AgroBusiness.
Only in the past 15 years or so, have we allowed this suicidal insanity of letting criminals colonize our nation. Craig ignored the roar of hundreds of millions of real American Citizens shouting HELL NO!
It's obvious that lying hypocritical politicians like Craig have sold their votes to big business and racist organizations like LaRaza (the race). Good riddance.
It's spelled "cojones," not "cajones."
Comment By Erik Kengaard, 9-16-07Correction. Congress has not been hostile. Quite the contrary. For 40 years and counting congress has been all too willing to take the money from business and agriculture and vote to open the borders. P. J. O'Rourke had them pegged. Thomas Jefferson foresaw that it would come to this.
It was the public, we the people, not a radical minority, that at last rose up this summer and let congress know that we had had enough of their war on the middle class. For too long, emboldened by a silent public, congress has pandered to business and ethnic voting blocs in disserving the public.
The class war between the people and the elite never ends. It may wax and wane, but it is always there. The 19th century saw business triumphant; the 20th saw labor, through union, achieve some balance in the first half, overcome by business through globalism and cheap imported labor in the latter half. The 21st will see the battle renewed.
We need to rise up again right now!!!
This week they are attempting to attach the Dream Act, the SKIL bill, and increase seasonal nonfarm workers to the Defense Appropriations Act on Monday or Tuesday. The Dream Act gives taxpayer subsidized in-state tuition and benefits to any illegal who can prove they have been in the US since they were 16 and after 2 years of college or military they can become citizens and then bring in their relatives thru chain migration. Unfair to American students, open to fraud and an unending magnet for illegals.
The SKIL bill raises the cap on skilled foreign workers per Bill Gates. This will act to further suppress American wages and stop our kids from going into high tech fields already filled with foreign workers!
The third amendment is unnecessary because we already have an over supply of skilled workers in the US!
In short, get on the phones to the Senate and stop these egregious unfair amnesties that target our children, ASAP!!!
CALL CONGRESS ABOUT THEIR BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN CITIZENS FOR ILLEGALS ALIENS, RACIST ORGANIZATIONS AND CORPORATE BUSINESSES IMMEDIATELY!
U.S. Senate switchboard: (202) 224-3121
U.S. House switchboard: (202) 225-3121
Find your House Rep.: http://www.house.gov/writerep
Find your US Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Take a look at their hidden agenda: http://www.mexica-movement.org
80% of the American people want an end to anarchy!
Illegal workers are criminals, those who hire them are criminals and those who aid-and-abet them are criminals.
Illegal aliens in America have NO rights. We are required by law to arrest and prosecute, deport them.
No, matter your political party affiliation, and setting aside your thoughts on issues. We all need to remember what it is to be an American Citizen. We need to make sure our elected representatives obey their Oath of Office and keep their Oath of Allegiance.
See http://tinyurl.com/2znnvl Know whom you are voting for.
Brave Stance? What a dastardly distortion of the truth. Craig's stand on illegal immigration was is a slap in the face, no a knife in the back, to every legal citizen and their families. His courage came from his payoffs and the selling of his office to the slave labor operators. In truth he is a sell out and a traitor.
Comment By Eric Smoczynski, 9-16-07This shrunken-head former Californian should be considered an illegal from California. Only refugees from the immigration nightmare in CA should be allowed settlement in Idaho. Oh wait...I forgot that we cannot do that in the United States. Fudge... In fact, a hight percentage of the other Californians coming here are Left wing multicultural activists in alliance with the slave-labor Right. They've been booted from their own homes, but still can't give up the big push. We'll just have to wait until CA breaks away from the US to purge them from Idaho, which shouldn't be long, considering that 100% of CA's population growth is from immigration and that the growth of the white, formerly-middle-class residents of California has been negative for a decade. (http://www.census.gov) If you are totally befuddled that anyone with a few active synapses still espouses this junk after the amnesty drowning and the concomitant barrage of formerly-hidden immigration information, reference the song "53rd and 3rd" by the Ramones. That's all anyone needs to know about Nathaniel and his gang.
Comment By mike, 9-16-07I'm still waiting to find out what field of study Dr. Coles' doctorate covers and from where he got it. I've asked at least three or four times and, although he expresses opinions on a wide range of topics and leaves the impression that he is educated in those fields, I still can't get an answer to my questions.
Comment By Robin Corkery, 9-17-07Was it brave for Sen. Craig to take campaign contributions from Budweiser which employs illegal aliens in it's hops growing operation in Boundary county? To take contributions from the roofers trade association which takes the position that no houses can ever be roofed without third world wages for labor? Bravery would have been taking a job in the productive sector and competing against illegal aliens in one of the indutries that they have impacted, such as meatpacking. Craig has had a government job all his life, and is detached from the reality that the poorest Americans face every day as they try to earn a living wage.
Comment By Jay Kanta, 9-17-07Good job, Nathan, you got enough foam flecked bigoted responses to an honest debatable question to last a lifetime.
Try tossing in references to the legalization of hemp and pot next time and really watch this kettle boil over.
This is a group of commenters that doesn't understand NAFTA or CAFTA, nor their necessity in slowing the bursting of the tech bubble and maintaining our economic stability. This is a group that doesn't believe that an illegal migrant still has basic rights in this country. This is a group that will watch Lou Dobbs and believe that the instances of leprosy are on the rise and we have to break a few eggs in order to make an omelet (deporting American citizens by accident).
This is a group that doesn't understand habeas corpus nor how important it is to the basic foundation of America.
Again, congratulations, Nathan, you've uncovered the Tom Tancredo fan-club commenters on this site.
Are legal immigrants nativists? Legal immigrants oppose the AgJobs bill, amnesty for illegal aliens, and birthright citizenship for illegal alien babies. Read about it here:
http://www.legalimmigrantsfirst.org.
I fixed cojones... gracias jrsposter.
Smoczynski: I lived in California for a few years. I'm no Californian. Just a refugee from the housing/gridlock nightmare.
And Robin... I hear the Senator allegedly did some meat packing on the side...
I'd love to hear from some small farmers in Idaho on this issue... did Craig respond to a real need or to campaign contributions from Agri-business? Perhaps he was tempted by the latter, but from the interviews I did for this story, I am almost convinced he came around to an honest compromise.
-Xutos
Although I do believe that something needs to happen to make it easier and more streamline for LEGAL immigrants to enter this great country, I would have to agree that those here illegally are criminals and need to be prosecuted and deported to fullest extent of the law.
Enforce the laws we have now, stop illegal immigration and prosecute those that hire illegals!
Today traitor Senators(Feinstein, Durbin and Craig if he had not been caught in lies) whose purpose of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (AMNESTY) was designed to override all of the immigration enforcement efforts by over 40 states, are sponsoring the DREAM Act (SA2237), another AMNESTY scheme.
Attaching the DREAM Act to the National Defense Bill, is a flagrant attempt by avaricious Senators to get the amnesty that failed this summer passed without the public realizing what is happening.
Sen. Durbin's SA2237 is a nightmare for many American students whom cannot afford higher education themselves; the DREAM Act will replace American kids in the limited seats in College with illegal aliens and makes American taxpayers foot most of the costs! It gives in-state tuition for illegal aliens and puts American children at a distinct disadvantage by not allowing them the same.
The Senate and Congress have a rule that amendments should be Germain or relevant to the bill being discussed. Obviously, AMNESTY and in-state tuition for illegal aliens has NOTHING TO DO WITH DEFENSE SPENDING! This Amendment violates the rules of the Senate.
CALL YOUR SENATORS and the sponsors of this 'Bad Dream Act' immediately and let them know their deceitful corruptness will be remembered.
Sponsors are...
DURBIN (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Graham, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Obama, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Feingold, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Bayh, Mr. McCain, Mr. Menendez, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Martinez and Mr. Dodd.
They are coming to take our jorbs!
And those libislamofascist traitors are behind it all!
For those of you who say that big-Agro are pushing for this amnesty (and thats what it is, I tell you!) and then take notice that big-Agro always donates a lot more to Republicans are just ignoring that the Democrats are traitors and they hate white people!
This country was founded by white people, with white people religion and white people money. If we let others enjoy this country that don't appreciate the whiteness of it, then where will we be down the road? I'll tell you! We'll be like France! And you know we're still not supposed to buy French goods. How would you like to not be able to buy our own goods because we're too French and non-white?
Thats not how I want America to be, thats for sure.
My biggest mistake was moving from Idaho to Florida. In the last 5 years our illegal alien population has doubled. Our crime has skyrocketed. Illegal gangs of hoodlums run the streets and jails. I've been sent home from menial paying jobs due to lack of work as the alien crews kept working. Fresh out of the Marine Corps with the work I was getting paid 6.00 $ hr.being given to illegals for ? I am now moving back to Idaho to escape this mess. I just hope it doesn't become like Denver, excessive crime due to the surge of illegals. Hopefully Craig is gone upon my arrival, I've witnessed enough havoc and loss to last a lifetime. Bravery? What an amusing play on words
Comment By Jay, 9-21-07They got yer jorb too! See! The brown menace approaches. Only those with the big white cojones will survive this invasion!
Of course, there is little to no mention of using the Armed Forces educational benefits and re-skill training, I wonder why?
Legal, illegal, it doesn't matter. Someone is going to take your jorb if you are a lazy ass that doesn't stand out above the others.
Gangs? Oh, we have plenty of legal citizen gangs. How about those Minutemen? Or College Republicans? How about the white gangs that hang nooses from trees on high school campuses?
Ooops, I almost forgot the focus! Stop the brown menace now, before we all lose our jorbs!
Please, you all sound like Idahoans-We the People and Not a radical Minorty You say. Tell me again, how it became, We the People, how many Indians had to be sluttered and driven from their homes. Yea Yea that's the Past today is today, So the government wants the foreigner to asimulate to The American way and speak English to be accepted, Bull The Africans slaves did just that and some off your relatives are still lynching them.
The people of hate in this great Country that I will die Defending are the ones that brought down the Twin Towers. It is people of your mentality that make the whole world hate us.
You insist that America Is yours-according to Race What permission did the Mayflower have to land here. What, No Documents-were they not the first Illigals Oh I am Sorry the 1st Undocumented.
Take your stupid Mayflower comparison and put it where the sun don't shine. You do not belong here and are not welcome here. The loud and clear message from Americans to illegals is GET OUT NOW AND GO HOME. This is not your country.
Comment By Jay Kanta, 9-21-07You tell 'em Chuck! You must be a heterosexual man like myself, full of the white rightness and holiness!
Look at Rico, he probably isn't white like us, he doesn't have one of those white names, even! He probably thinks that people of different races deserve respect and humanity despite their status in this country. Well you tell them the way, Chuck! You tell them to go home to their countries where they have to live in slums, because that must be all they deserve, not being white and all, right Chuck?
Nooses hanging from trees? Just a little practical joke, see? Internment camps for swarthy scary brown people? Justified because the white guy has never destroyed or terrorized anything!
So just get out of this great White Country, you swarthy scary brown people that are stealing our jorbs!
The media and corrupt Senators need to stop with the lies concerning comprehensive immigration(AMNESTY). Americans are 3-1 opposed, sometimes 4-1 opposed to this invasion. (3 respected polls: Zogby, Gallup and Rasmussen, not liberal mouthpieces).
RASMUSSEN REPORTS
Rasmussen Reports found that just 23% of Americans supported the latest fraudulent comprehensive immigration legislation. Republicans, Democrats, and un-affiliated voters are opposed to amnesty or a single benefit for illegals who have broken our law.
ZOGBY(WASHINGTON)
69 percent said it was a good or very good idea to make the illegals go home by fortifying the border and building the border fence, forcing employee verification and employer fines, insisting local law enforcement enforce all existing laws (including aiding illegals by renting to them) while not increasing legal immigration; 26 percent said it was a bad or very bad idea.
1)One reason the public does not like legalizations is that they are skeptical of need for illegal-immigrant labor. An overwhelming majority of 78 percent said there are plenty of Americans to fill low-wage jobs if employers pay more and treat workers better; just 15 percent said there are not enough Americans for such jobs.
GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
Strong opposition (69%) outweighs support of comprehensive immigration by a three to one margin among Americans who do have an opinion on this issue. There are only minor differences between Democrats and Republicans in terms of views of the bill. Independents are most likely to be opposed.
Since every nation could be called a nation of immigrants (or a nation of invaders) if you go back far enough, consistent application of the principle that a nation of immigrants must be open to all future immigrants would require every country on earth to open its borders to whoever wanted to come. But only the United States is said to have this obligation. The rule of openness to immigrants turns out to be a double standard, aimed solely at America.
Except for open-border/corporate business advocates and corrupt Senators, everyone knows that there is no rational benefit for America through open immigration. Their aim is not to strengthen and preserve America; their aim is to demonstrate themselves to be good, non-racist people—by surrendering America to the ILLEGAL immigrant invasion.
Chuck apparently the Sun does not shine on your face.
I pledge allegiance to the Flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation under God, indivisible,
With Liberty and Justice for all.
Under God we speak many languages Chuck
Did you know English is a foreign Language, Chuck?
You Comprendi Boy.
Don’t make me hate you just because you are different Chuck.
I was not brought up that way.
And What country do you suggest I go to if this is my only Country.
Same Country my great Uncle And Uncles died for.
For You Chuck For You.
Wages have been declining in the US for decades. Wealth in this country is an illusion, and working people have been placated with cheap junk from China at the expense of the industrial and manufacturing work that provided them with an entry into the middle class. Now, with offshoring and outsourcing increasing, the elite still insist on turning this nation into a third world slum even faster with millions upon millions legal and illegal immigrants crushing wages and forcing Americans to pay more in endless public entitlements. It's a huge Ponzi scheme. The elites assume that in the end they'll be on top of a technocracy that's solely for them, so the profits from cheap immigrant labor can only get them where they want to go faster as well. The working and middle classes are of no concern to them, knowing the law of diminishing returns in economics. Meanwhile, we have to swallow a society with millions of illiterate immigrants and their American-born offspring, who drop out of high school, get pregnant as teenagers, and go to prison as a matter of coming of age. Those in Idaho have legitimate concerns about immigration, but they haven't seen anything yet. If the immigration disasters in LA, Chicago, NYC, Dallas, etc. were transported here as is the case in many formerly-mid-sized cities, there would be a civil uprising. It's that bad.
Comment By Anna Loleta, 9-21-07Hey Rico-English is not a foreign language. If you hadn't dropped out of high school to pay for your pregnant teenage girlfriend, you may have picked up on that. I agree with Chuck-who wants to argue about this anymore? Assimilate or be steamrolled. Speak English or DIE! Ha!
Comment By Jay Kanta, 9-21-07You tell him, Anna! The best way to deal with the brown threat is to threaten them right back! Death threats may raise a few eyebrows but you've shown that you have no social conscious towards those that would poo-poo your entertainment.
Don't let the brown man get you down, Anna, you're too white for that.
Oh, and Alex, great way to juxtapose class warfare and racial stereotypes, it was masterful and deserves a big thumbs up!
Hey Ana, German From Germany-French from France, Spanish from Spain, English From England-Dah!
Learn to live among the Human race or die alone! ha!
By looking at newspaper message boards on immigration, from a mid-sized city such as Boise, it's good to know that this huge problem is being addressed everywhere and that the common consensus is for no amnesty and a large reduction in legal numbers of immigrants, who really benefit no one but the rich. I love the label "xenophobe". It's a cool "x" word, too. I gotta find a t-shirt with that on it!
Comment By Anna Loleta, 9-21-07Hey Rico-I got my stereotypes from daily observation after two decades of living in a Chiago suburb. Are you telling us that we cannot recognize patterns? There are no differences among peoples in Rico's Marxist Wackoland. Rico-make sure your mother reminds you to put on your pants before you leave her basement in the morning. Just a helpful suggestion :)
Comment By Jay Kanta, 9-21-07You go girl! You told him, using only the finest of "I hold no responsibility, I'm the majority" arguments!
We have to stop this brown menace and the only way to do it is through keeping them poor, in slums and then make them feel like they should all just leave America, right? Personal responsibility within the majority is only for liberal suckers.
Hey Ana-Could you be That Stupid or is that Just You? Are You Telling Me--ME- Not Us, that there should not be differences among people. Because that is the message I get from your imperialistic views. That if we don't fit your way of life we do not belong here. I love my Country USA, to much to let go and become one of You.
Go out and work for a living instead of depending on Welfare and the WIC program or get off the pill and have a baby instead of killing one, Just a Helpful Suggestion:)
Now Anna if you want to speak English you best go back to the Islands where you came from. Out here in Idaho, it's my understanding that the spoken language is American.
Haven't you heard about the Prime Minister of Canada? There are few folks who say that he doesn't speak English nor French very well...
It is not difficult to understand, that in fact English is a Foreign language and that American is Spoken in America , This nation is Unique there is no other Nation like it.
So why all of a sudden everyone seems to be so negative and hateful towards the people who are here illegal. When the problem is not them but that of your elected officials that have looked the opposite way while workers crossed illegally . So many years the door was left opened because of your lazy Klan of Rich farmers and industrialist not wanting to pay our own Americans to work, making them richer and richer and more powerful and world power hungry. and all of a sudden someone who hated their way of life came over and terrorized our Nation. Have we forgotten Hiroshima-Vietnam-The Southern States
And who got Punished for it, our Neighbors to the South, who according to some are all brown.
What color are our neighbors to the North and how can we tell if they are here illegally.
and Osama is still out there Free, While We are here spending a lot of money Building a Fence.
We all come from a family of criminals until the law is changed by We The People-It was against the law to enter a restaurant if you were not White. We changed that Law.
In America We Speak American in what ever language I desire because that is my prerogative as a citizen. The Immigration Issue is just a venue for people who can't speak freely like they could before the federal government shut them down with the civil rights act. Hello People no one is leaving. Rico is right. he should run for President he is more american than most of us.
Sudden negativity and hatred towards illegals? Try talking to my best friend's mom who was as a child and of Japanese descent with her parents were put into an internment camp in SE Idaho during the war. Her parents were also of Japanese descent and all legal U.S. Citizens who played the game of coming into this country legally and started their own business only for all of it be to taken away at the wink of an eye...
More hatred and negativity can be found on comments from this article:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/164305.html
Might be time to start looking up the phone number for the Southern Poverty Law Center again...??
THE DREAM ACT - THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN CHILDREN BY AMERICAN SENATORS
AMERICANS......Besides AMNESTY for millions, the DREAM Act is unacceptable because these numerous rewards for the children of ILLEGAL ALIENS is detrimental to AMERICA'S CHILDREN. For most middle and working class families, paying for college is one of the biggest concerns. A slot at a state university, where tuition is heavily subsidized, is for many families the best, if not the only, viable option. These limited seats at public universities and colleges are becoming ever more highly prized and admission is often as competitive as it is to Ivy League schools. Thus, with the admissions of a newly legalized DREAM Act beneficiaries to a state university...AMERICAN CHILDREN will NOT BE ALLOWED THE OPTION OF ATTENDING and RECIEVEING AN EDUCATION, or THEY WILL BE PUT AT A SEVERE DISADVANTAGE in that state. AMERICAN CHILDREN who have worked just as hard, has just as admirable goals and dreams, and whose family didn’t break the law."
The Amnesty battle (DREAM ACT) will be going full force this weekend and on Monday or Tuesday. The Open Borders Lobby has thousands of ILLEGAL ALIEN students lobbying the Senate today. These students are their best weapons because they tug at sympathy votes and are funded by millions of dollars from racist organizations like LA RAZA aka "The Race" (it would be unthinkable if the US government gave millions to the KKK, but they do to "The Race") and big corporations.
These ILLEGAL ALIEN students EXPECT AMERICANS TO CONTINUE TO PAY FOR THEIR EDUCATION and are eager to be used as political pawns in this battle. Go to ALIPAC and help support( not with your money, just a little bit of time) your children and AMERICA'S children.
The Dream Act is Amnesty and rewarding people who have broken our laws. They just don't get that "we the people" of the United States do not owe an education to anyone who comes in here. This is not about hatred it is about our U.S. children coming first, it is about our tax money going for our children as it should, because it is our money and our country, sorry but that's just the way it is!!
They think of it as them alone (1) person not in the context of we the citizens subsidizing hundreds of thousands of people for a higher education, please why do you feel like we owe you, because your irresponsible parents brought you here illegally and then on top of that, we pay full tuition for our American kids to go to an out of state college. Out of state, NOT Out of country!!!!
Greedy Senators who have sold their souls to Special interest groups deaf to the roar of hundreds of millions of American citizens shouting HELL NO! American will not stand for this any longer.
----------------------------------------------------------
I've given up on ever seeing understanding and change among Americans regarding what they see as a "free handout" to undeserving individuals. The ignorance and the punitive spirit are sickening, especially when they grab every freebie they are (and are not) entitled to. Ignorant.-----
Go ahead and keep spiting that crappy section 8 voucher, the food stamps that don't last the month, the Medicaid card that buys the the minimum and often inferior product. If hard times ever befall you and your family - and don't say it would never happen to you, because Fate is a mf'er - she goes especially after jerks like you - I want to see you cry and whinge because you are an American and you are getting so gosh darn little. Pathetic.
An inarguable dynamic of this whole debate is that in time amnestied workers will move out of undesirable jobs and into those desired by Americans. Of course by then the politician’s un-amnesty will have made them citizens and it will be time for another tsunami of illegal aliens to replace our upwardly mobile new Americans, the beneficiaries of the un-amnesty
Daryl L. Hunter
Inarguable only by simpletons that vote for simple politicians. A long term solution is available but requires that we stop spending billions on illegal invasions and occupations and instead use American power to build up our neighbors economies and governments in order to make them protectors of our border. Of course, this would end the tide of cheap labor, so those beholden to the mighty Ag-dollar would oppose it.
Before you call something inarguable, maybe you should try opening your mind.