detail of image from CNN.com
Elizabeth Dole should take the advice from the Boston Globe journalist who wrote The anti-immigration rabble-rousers haven't disappeared - but none of them will be the next president of the United States.*
As I watched a new campaign ad approved by Elizabeth Dole, I thought about how she is reminding her constituents that North Carolina's most significant concern is to "identify, apprehend and deport these [undocumented immigrant] repeat criminals."
The Sheriffs in the ad have either not read the numerous studies that show the very low incidence of crime among the undocumented immigrant population* or have chosen to misrepresent the information (in other words lie). If you take the comments seriously, you could wonder about "these repeat criminals." You would think they were talking about axe murderers instead of people who have only committed a misdemeanor for entering this country without a proper visa. How many misdemeanors have you (or your kids) committed that no one knows about?
A few examples (I swear on my grandmother's memory I am telling the truth):
a young man who ended up at Harvard decided one day to smash up the car of his high school principal. He did this in the school parking lot. He positioned his car some yards behind the principal's car and rammed it from the back. Did anyone report this? no was the young man charged with anything? no. We know how much auto body repairs are these days, so he not only committed a misdemeanor, you could say that was a felony because it was well over the $50 limits on such crimes.
another young man takes computers from his school and other computer related material from where he works part time. Everyone knew about it, even the school. Nothing happened, which could possibly be related to one of his parent's being the CFO of a major health corporation.
Having had two offspring that were once teenagers, I heard these kinds of stories for years.
These kinds of things happen frequently, everyone that has raised a child to adulthood has probably experienced some of the agony of getting that phone call.
Everyday life is full of things that can go wrong, that are done with or without malice. Yet the Sheriff's of North Carolina have decided to cleanse their state of the most vulnerable. Their uniforms and southern drawls make them sound like the strong men of the South - Final question: when does a bully look like a strong man?
click here for link to Dole's anti-immigrant campaign ad
link to complete Politco article
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May 28, 2008
Categories: Campaigns
Politico.com
Dole focuses on illegal immigration in first campaign ad
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) launched the first advertisement for her reelection bid, which features statewide sheriffs praising her work securing federal assistance for law enforcement officials to crack down on illegal immigration.
The federal program Dole touts in the ad trains local law enforcement officials to act as immigration enforcement deputies.
“Most of us didn’t have the tools to identify and apprehend illegal immigrants who were repeatedly committing crimes. ...So Sen. Dole works out a solution, a statewide partnership between federal officials and North Carolina sheriffs to give us access to the federal tools to identify and apprehend and deport these repeat criminals,” several statewide sheriffs say in the ad.
“She’s one tough lady with major league clout,” two other sheriffs go on to say. “I’m sure glad she’s from North Carolina...”
*See dreamacttexas post "US natives are 10 times more like to be in prison or jail than immigrants."
thanks to A.N. for passing this info along
1 comment:
...in a land drowning in a flood of immigration, this may be true sooner or later. However, your simplification of the election is not entirely accurate. Not only do white Christians still constitute the majority in America (and so, theoretically an appeal to national identity politics is still a recipe for victory), but John McAmnesty actually represented the same policy that Obama does in terms of immigration reform (or lack thereof). This is because the GOP is a party for fools, led by liars. "Don't scold the nativists, but don't upset the illegals" was the GOP's strategy...and so, they failed to appease the nativists, just like the Dems, and more or less hoped to win by playing half of the winning hand that the Dems played (which is just plain stupid).
The GOP is not a national opposition party. If it actually cared about the constituency that votes it into power every time, perhaps it ought to become one.
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