Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas on Thursday lashed out at the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix for depositing money in the jail accounts of nine people arrested last June in an immigration raid at a valley water park.
Thomas called the deposits – which are not illegal – an instance in which “The Mexican government is trying to come in and undermine American law, Arizona law in this case, in relation to illegal immigration.”
Mexican Consulate officials released a statement that said the office has the right to assist Mexican citizens who are in the United States. That includes lending financial help. The money given helped the group purchase things such as tooth paste and deodorant, according to the statement.The purpose of the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix is to assist Mexican citizens in this country-just as U.S. consulates assist U.S. citizens abroad.
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Since 1913, Fighting Anti-Semitism, Bigotry and Extremism
The Anti-Defamation League has a new report out on anti-immigration nutbars entitled, “Immigrants Targeted: Extremist Rhetoric Moves into the Mainstream.” Naturally, AZ was well-represented, with Rascist Minuteman Chris Simcox and Rusty Childress’ United for a Sovereign America getting mentions, and urban cougar Michelle Dallacroce scoring a whole section to herself. Of Dallacroce, the report states,
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Mexican Vaqueros process cattle on a ranch in Lasalle County Texas
Someone, acting on advice and consent from the very top, concocted a plan for Department of Homeland Security bureaucrats to entice unauthorized (illegal) immigrants to turn themselves in for self-deportation.We lost count of the number of unauthorized immigrants who thought the program was a joke, if not one dumb idea.
“Perhaps someone thought it was a good idea, but it was not. Now we know why the government stopped the whole thing,”
a visiting resident alien said.
“I’ve been around so long waiting that I think I’ll wait a little longer to get things right. It’s about the papers (los papeles). I’ve been waiting for years, spending money and paying the notarios. For what? To go back? Go back to what?”
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Rush Limbaugh appeared on Fox News this week and insulted Los Angeles’ Hispanic mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Limbaugh said the first time he saw Mayor Villaraigosa he thought the Latino was a “Shoe Shine Boy.” He was shocked to learn this Latino held such a high office and was, in fact, the Mayor of Los Angeles. Limbaugh repeated the same comment yesterday on his show.
I guess we should not be surprised by any outrageous, sexist or racist statements Limbaugh makes. As a reminder, some of Rush´s famous quotes include:
Barack Obama a “Magic Negro.”
“I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark
.
- We’re not sexists, we’re chauvinists — we’re male chauvinist pigs, and we’re happy to be because we think that’s what men were destined to be. We think that’s what women want.
Limbaugh has made numerous outrageous remarks. These media zealots! They make a mockery of all Journalists.
Today, Penn Jillette was on Morning Joe. He joked and called Hillary the B word. Why are misogynistic insults ok? Why are racist terms ok? Have we degenerated to such low levels of communication that we view them all as ok? Are Sad Times Ahead?
Interesting comments on Immigration talk with a Mexican American Blog
Mario Solis-Marich is a radio talk show host who also had an excellent rejoinder to Limbaugh’s racist rants.
I say this so that you can understand that my reaction to Rush Limbaugh’s comment that he mistook Mayor Villaraigosa as a “shoeshine guy” is not a knee-jerk reaction based on partisanship. It is a reaction as an American of Latino decent that quite frankly is tired of the media’s Latino rules.
As a member of the largest minority ethnic group and a member of the media, I am continually puzzled and outraged by the idea that anyone can say anything about Latinos without fearing any consequence. While it would be out outrageous for anybody to have said a similar thing about an elected official of almost any other ethnicity, Rush will certainly not receive any heat at all for supposedly “mistaking” the Latino Mayor of the nation’s second largest city as a shoeshine guy.
There will be no national debate about whether he should step down as there was when Imus referred to a women’s basketball team in a derogatory fashion. There will be no national outrage like there was following the racist vocal vomiting of “comedian” Michael Richards. There will be no slam down and painful lame excuses like those offered by Mel Gibson after his anti-Semitic comments. The rules for Latinos are different.
Rush, Lou Dobbs, and a host of shock jocks are well aware of this different set of rules. Dobbs & Rush inc. can freely accuse Latinos of spreading Leprosy and TB, of raping children, and even planning the violent overthrow of the US, without any proof whatsoever.
While the silence around these comments is consistent, media heads are wrong to believe that they bring no negative impact. Someday, CNN will understand that most Latinos laugh when we hear the slogan ” the most trusted name in news”. Radio advertisers will eventually come to the realization that there is a correlation between radio market share loss, the growth of Latino populations in certain and important markets, and anti-Latino hate speech dominating the airwaves.
And as always, you can read the rest of Mario’s excellent discourse at Nuestra Voice. That’s “OUR VOICE” in Spanish for those of you without a brain, which is the majority who idolize Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing looney toons.
On April 16, 2008, Lou Dobbs took his “advocacy journalism”1 to a new low in mischaracterizing Pope Benedict XVI’s recent visit to the United States.
False Claim: Pope Benedict supports “amnesty” and wants the U.S. to “ease any enforcement.”
DOBBS: Well, Pope Benedict XVI is in the nation’s capital tonight, there to help the Catholic Church and the Council of Bishops push the amnesty agenda.
Pope Benedict himself, obviously, supporting that approach and calling upon the United States to ease any enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.
The Facts:
The Pope, in fact, did not announce that he supports an “amnesty agenda,” nor did he call upon the U.S. to “ease any enforcement.” Pope Benedict’s actual statement from the White House that aired later in Dobbs’s program was:
As a nation faces increasingly complex political and ethical issues of our time, I’m confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and an inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible, and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society.
Pope Benedict has never supported any specific piece of American legislation, but instead has called upon the American public to engage in a rational immigration debate. Dobbs’s accusations have no basis in reality.
False Claim: Pope Benedict is anti-American
DOBBS: Also, Pope Benedict XVI meeting with President Bush at the White House, calling upon the United States to be more humane to migrants, as he put it. The Pope, obviously, considering the United States something less than its actual standing as the most welcoming country in the world to immigrants, legal and illegal.
The Facts:
Pope Benedict never suggested the U.S. was an unwelcoming country. The joint statement released by the White House states:
The Holy Father and the President also considered the situation in Latin America with reference, among other matters, to immigrants, and the need for a coordinated [international] policy regarding immigration, especially their humane treatment and the well being of their families.
Even while en route to the United States, Pope Benedict spoke to reporters of the need to treat immigrant families humanely:
The separation of families “is truly dangerous for the social, moral and human fabric. . . The fundamental solution is that there should no longer be a need to emigrate, that there are enough jobs in the homeland, a sufficient social fabric,” he said. Short of that, families should be protected, not destroyed, he said.
In Washington, Benedict encouraged the American bishops and their communities “to continue to welcome immigrants who join your ranks today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their new home.” That, he said, was the American tradition.
Again, the Pope’s message has consistently been about reason and humanity, not secular details such as legalization or border fences. Dobbs also fails to mention how Pope Benedict repeatedly spoke of America in positive terms during his visit:
POPE BENEDICT XVI: I come as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel, and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society. America’s Catholics have made, and continue to make, an excellent contribution to the life of their country. As I begin my visit, I trust that my presence will be a source of renewal and hope for the Church in the United States, and strengthen the resolve of Catholics to contribute ever more responsibly to the life of this nation, of which they are proud to be citizens.
Mr. President, dear friends, as I begin my visit to the United States, I express once more my gratitude for your invitation, my joy to be in your midst, and my fervent prayers that Almighty God will confirm this nation and its people in the ways of justice, prosperity and peace. God bless America.
Tancredo Chimes In
Lou Dobbs wasn’t the only anti-immigrant spokesperson to comment on Pope Benedict’s visit. In an attempt to overshadow previous controversies, like when he referred to Miami as a “Third World country,”8 or when he attempted to pull Spanish-language books off the shelves of the Denver Public Library,9 Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo issued this press release during the Pope’s visit:
“I suspect the Pope’s immigration comments may have less to do with spreading the gospel than they do about recruiting new members of the church,” said Tancredo. “This isn’t preaching it is ‘faith-based’ marketing.”
It is no surprise that the Pope’s call for “reasoned, responsible, and respectful dialogue” has offended Dobbs and Tancredo. As main contributors to the current anti-immigrant atmosphere in the United States, it is expected that they would attack anyone who calls for the humane treatment of immigrants and the need for reasoned debate on immigration.
What a pair of horses asses! And this is the face of the anti immigrant lobby!
It’s always good to wake up and find something that sets the tone for the day.
Republican Texas Grandma – American and proud on the Greensboro NC blog, Greensboring.com, an appropriate name I think.
So this 88 year old woman from Texas calls the place where this young lady works, lonely probably, but who knows, and she has all the answers to societies ills.
Immigration for instance.
Basically, the Mexicans are living here for free eating our food and taking away part of the “pot” of white Americans, as is “those Asians”, and people “from England”. Oh, and “those people” from Afghanistan. She just kept referring to this “pot” which everyone wants a piece of. Ironically she’s still a bit upset the “blacks” having part of the “pot” as well, and that those damn Katrina victims are living in her city and not paying rent.
Yep, this little old lady had all the basis covered!
Oh yes, for 40 minutes I heard “These people need to get a job”, “I shouldn’t have to pay for them to live free”.
And of course, everyone and their grandmother is an expert on the Mexican truck issue.
Then she rambled off about Mexican truck drivers with no insurance coming across the border and running her off the road. She states “they can’t even read the signs” and “not use to to driving on our side of the road.”
Hmmm, 88 years old and she probably shouldn’t be on the road in the first place, don’t you think.
And then she gets back on the immigration kick!
I must say though, my favorite part was when she talked about “British Immigrants”…. which according to her theory is that, Britain was so lax on immigration, they are “overflowing the English borders” now & they have no where else to go but America. And then she stated her best little line yet “If your going to move from a country like Britain to live in America… then you better learn to speak like us.”
You gotta love em, dumb as a box of rocks, but ya gotta love em!
Editors Notes: What utter crap! With our economy in the crapper, Bush’s Iraq fiasco. And now this meaningless piece of legislation, which with luck, will never clear committee.
Let’s see, 2 years imprisonment for crossing the border a second time, as if our prisons are not already overcrowded. Can’t open bank accounts when most don’t have bank accounts and have no desire for one, and the kicker, speak English when dealing with a Federal Agency, as if they have any dealings with Federal Agencies other than the Border Patrol?
And one wonders why the GOP is getting their ass kicked in the elections. But, I guess pandering to the right wing zealots is about the only trick they have left in the playbook.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans are set to announce today the hardest-hitting package of immigration enforcement measures seen yet — one that would require jail time for illegal immigrants caught crossing the border, make it harder for them to open bank accounts and compel them to communicate in English when dealing with federal agencies.
Most of the bills stand little chance of being debated in the Democrat-controlled Congress, but the move by some of the Senate’s leading Republicans underscores how potent the issue of immigration remains, particularly during a presidential election year.
The bills give Republicans a way to put pressure on the presidential candidates of both major parties to take a tougher stance on immigration.
They also reflect a shift toward harsher immigration rhetoric and legislative proposals from both parties since Congress failed to pass a comprehensive overhaul in 2007.
The package, an enforcement smorgasbord assembled by at least eight lawmakers, consists of 11 bills but could expand to include as many as 14. Some elements echo House bills, but others go beyond House proposals.
One would discourage states from issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants by docking 10 percent of highway funding from states that do. Another would extend the presence of National Guard on the border. A third would end language assistance at federal agencies and the voting booth for people with limited English ability.
A bill by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who is leading the effort, would impose a maximum two-year jail sentence on someone caught crossing the border for a second time.
“The point is to reinforce the idea that most of us here feel that we need to make enforcement and border security a first step to solving the overall problem,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., one of three Senate sponsors.
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