Dean: GOP will make immigrants 'scapegoats' in '06

[dhinojosa]

Dean kicking ass again.


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Saturday, August 6, 2005; Posted: 8:16 a.m. EDT (12:16 GMT)

EDINBURG, Texas (AP) -- Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean argued Friday that Republicans will make immigrants the "scapegoats" in the next election.

At a rally, Dean garnered the loudest applause when he said Republicans would make immigration a pivotal issue during upcoming elections, as they did gay marriage and affirmative action in previous elections.

"Do you know who the scapegoats are going to be? Immigrants," he said. "In Colorado, the chairman of the Republican Party endorsed Tom Tancredo for re-election. That is morally reprehensible. The governor of California, a supposed moderate Republican, invited the Minutemen to visit California. We do not need vigilante justice."

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, has drawn the ire of Hispanic groups in calling for tougher immigration enforcement and a proposal to tax some of the money immigrants send home.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a radio interview in April, said the civilian border patrols known as the Minutemen "have done a terrific job."

Dean spoke at a rally on the eve of the Democratic National Committee's Hispanic Summit in San Antonio. Edinburg is located just a few miles north of the Mexican border and is more than 80 percent Mexican-American.

More....
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/06/dean.immigrants.ap/index.html

[Carolab]

1. The AP did a fair and balanced job reporting this.

About time.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. And this does not suroprise me at all

[Raiden]

3. Dean speaks for me

He's kicking ass and taking names. Go Howard! :toast:



:kick: :kick:

[skids]

4. ...and the Dems will shoot themselves in the foot on this.

Predictably, despite overwhelming support amongst the common voter, Dems will come out swinging for immigrant rights (as morally, they should) but totally neglect to adopt any sort of "get tough" approach to the problem, as the population wants.

Look, even a sizeable number of latinos want illegal immigration curbed. The least the Dems could do here is to start lambasting the smugglers -- hard. But they won't. And in the end they will end up on the losing side of several local ballot initiatives and successfully pigeonholed into the "soft on immigration" category in everyone's minds, even though it's the rich business owners that benefit from illegals.

It's so predictable. And so unstoppable. Sigh. Sad to see Dean blinded by those in his immediate vicinity.

Maybe if they actually hired a good, large, and thorough issue poll on the matter, Dean would notice the big trap being laid here.

[Carolab]

5. But Hillary said...

In an interview on WABC radio, she said: "I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants."
"Clearly, we have to make some tough decisions as a country, and one of them ought to be coming up with a much better entry-and-exit system so that if we're going to let people in for the work that otherwise would not be done, let's have a system that keeps track of them," she said.

Unlike many pro-business Republicans, Mrs. Clinton also has castigated Americans for hiring illegal aliens.
"People have to stop employing illegal immigrants," she said. "I mean, come up to Westchester, go to Suffolk and Nassau counties, stand on the street corners in Brooklyn or the Bronx. You're going to see loads of people waiting to get picked up to go do yard work and construction work and domestic work."
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041213-124920-6151r.htm

[Alcibiades]

6. Let's make Mexico a great nation

the kind that people won't have to leave in search of a better life. Can we--without scapegoating or racism--engage the subject of illegal immigration constructively?

I propose that illegal immigration is bad for America, bad for Mexico (yes, I know there are illegal immigrants from other countries, but Mexico accounts for most), bad for American workers and bad for the immigrants themselves. I am tired of hearing people, including other liberals, say things such as:

1. "They are doing jobs Americans don't want to do."
That may have been true when the average illegal immigrant worked stoop labor in agriculture, but now many are in restaurant work and construction. The effect of this has been to lower wages for American workers, it's that simple: increase the supply of labor, and you decrease the price.

As for the jobs they take, restaurant work used to be the "Plan B" of the American working class. You lose your job, you can get a job in a restaurant and get back on your feet again. No more--around here, you wouldn't get hired, because you don't speak Spanish and cannot communicate with your fellow workers. Meanwhile, the immigrants are hyper-exploited, because the boss can take advantage of their status. And the construction jobs are another example of lose-lose. Many are on a subcontract basis, and pay no benefits, and their bosses don't pay the appropriate payroll taxes. These subcontractors undercut the ones who abide by the law, making it hard for them to stay in business.

2. "Immigrants have a fire in their belly. They work harder."
Complete BS. If you turned this around, and claimed that immigrants were lazy, you'd be a racist. And, guess what, this idea is racist, because it claims that native-born workers are lazy compared to immigrants. Anyway, I've worked various types of laboring jobs with immigrants, and I've found they don't work any harder than we do, but they will work for less.

3. "If you oppose illegal immigration, you must be a racist."
What a crock. I cannot go to Belgium, let's say, and go and work there, and enjoy the many fine benefits of the Belgian welfare state--why should Mexicans get to come here? Hey, let's keep the Canadians out, too, eh, I've no problem with that.

We are not getting Mexico's best and brightest, here. The people who can make decent lives for themselves in Mexico stay in Mexico. The ones who cannot come up here. It's often claimed that these immigrants are contributing to the greatness of America. Why not let them contribute to the greatness of their own country? I am sure most people would rather stay at home--it is only desperation that drives them north.

I don't thin Dean is right, anyway. The Bush Republicans have been to Mexico, and they like what they saw. They would love nothing better than to create a perpetually poor class here in the US that they could exploit. Though they may make some noise about illegal immigration, I don't think they will do anything about it.

[Still_Loves_John]

7. No they won't

The Republicans are gunning for the Hispanic vote like nothing else, and they know they would ruin all their past work on this by coming out against immigrant rights. I mean, they're not gonna open the border or anything, but they're way to aware of how much it would turn voting hispanics against them if they campaigned against immigration.

[Donny247]

8. Disagree with Dean

This is one issue where I stand firmly against Dean. If the Democrats want to really lose the mainstream, then go ahead and support illegal immigration. I just don't understand how some progressives can be so supportive of illegal immigration when it is the corporate Wal-Mart type fat cats that are so strongly in favor of it. It's a bizarro world alliance between corporate-jet conservatives who like the cheap labor, and limousine liberals who dream of a utopian multi-cultural society. Illegal immigration undermines legitimate immigration, lowers wages, and hurts unions.

Also, anyone who has studied the issue knows that the minute-men are far from "vigilantes." They haven't even been involved in a single violent confrontation, and have been quite effective. They are simply "undocumented" border patrol agents...hahaha.

[kentuck]

9. An "immigration policy" should be in the Democratic platform...

We are a nation of immigrants. We are for controlling the immigration in rational way - not with guns and thugs on the borders. We believe can still be the land of opportunity and we are not ready to close our doors to those that wish to come for a better life. But the Republicans have no policy. We can do better surely.

[JohnnyBoots]

11. we need to juxtapose a regimented, documented land

of opportunity for immigration, with the fact that bush has not closed the borders for cheap labor for corporate America, this also shows him to be soft on defense. The dems need to be pro security, pro immigration through enforced measures of border closure coupled with immigration through the proper processes.

[AJH032]

10. personally, I agree with the taxation proposal

I think Tom Tancredo's idea to tax money sent over the border isn't a bad idea. It's not that I'm against people helping their families however they can. Of course, I think they should. But I also don't think we should be sending money out of our economy for free.

[kentuck]

12. Like $9 billion unaccounted for in Iraq?

:shrug:

[AJH032]

13. yes n/t

[AirAmFan]

14. But aren't 'immigrants' too numerous to make a good scapegoat at election

time, without risking backlash at the polls? Gays (15 percent of 50 percent) or black men (50 percent of 12 percent) may be much wiser choices for Rethug ballot initiatives and 'Willie Horton' ads