(PCG note: Developing story, the best information source I've found is a Twitter search for #Dream9. There's also a NYT piece for background.)
Although my fellow allies on the right have been routinely criticized for our aggregate opposition to immigration reform, the fact remains that Obama has overseen record numbers of deportations.
In my Inbox:
"ATTN: ICE is planning to deport our friends as soon as possible, who are currently detained at Eloy Detention Center in Arizona. TODAY is D-Day. We need calls to your Congresspersons asking them to sign on TODAY to a letter in support of the #Dream9 currently circulating in the House.DO NOT back down — DO NOT buy "the Member supports immigration reform" and other horseshit that helps them escape culpability for 1.7 million broken families. The lives of our friends are on the line here. Do it for our friends or for someone you love because WE ALL DESERVE TO BE AT HOME, no matter where that is. WE ALL NEED TO GO HOME. #bringthemhome
Look up and call your Representative:
http://m.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
"Hi, I was calling to ask the member to not just sit by and watch as the 9 DREAMers who crossed the border in Nogales are being held at the Eloy Detention Center. Will the member send a letter of support? Make a statement on their behalf? Make calls asking for their release via humanitarian parole? Does the member support undocumented immigrants or not?""
I called up Cory Gardner's office at (202) 225-4676. His assistant did not know Gardner's position. I also called into Coffman's office at (202) 225-7882. His office was unable to commit as well. I urge all of you to consider calling your representative, and if you are so inclined, to advocate for the following: the granting (if legal) of advance parole for these Dreamer 9 Kids so long as they pass a background check to demonstrate that they are neither a security threat or a risk of being an economic burden.
UPDATE:
Obama has denied the Dream 9 humanitarian relief.
Good point about Obama's rampant deportations. Who is better for Hispanics again?
Obama's immigration policy was bad in his first term, but he didn't advocate for self-deportation. Take that for what you will.
Tell you what, Immoderatus, if you think the GOP's Latino outreach is on track for success, you guys can just stick right with it. 🙂
If you think the outreach is on track you should have gone to the Issues that Unite event last week sponsored by several organizations (plus Heritage). At one point Jerry Natividad (prominent Hispanic Republican and huge Romney supporter) said something to the effect (probably butchering this) that he sometimes feels like dogs are more welcome in GOP than Latinos. And you could then hear a pin drop.
The only people who think the outreach is on track are ones who have totally drunk the kool-aid. The GOP has huge problems on this and unfortunately the people in power are too afraid of the nativists to fix the situation. So the beatings will continue until moral improves.
I feel for you, Elliot; I really do. No snark or sarcasm intended. The GOP is making it harder and harder on Conservatives who aren't far-right racist lunatics.
Its not just a political issue for me and conservatives (used loosely in the sense that libertarians are included) like Justin Longo, Alex Nowrahsteh, and Mario Lopez who are fighting for immigrants. We all really believe that it is the right thing to do philosophically speaking.
Look at it this way. So long as we inspect an immigrant to verify they are neither a burden nor a security threat, what is the justification for excluding them from the country? Because they might take a job – nope, doesn't work if you are a conservative (we believe jobs aren't property and should be doled out by government fiat). Because they might compete with you and lower you wage (nope – see above). Because they eat strange foods or are of a different culture (nope – we conservatives believe that regulating culture, beyond teaching constitutional ideas, isn't the governments business (see opposition to government funding of NPR, National Endowment for the Arts, and PBS). Because our sovereignty would be threatened (nope – we had a more rational immigration policy in 1789 and I am pretty sure we were a sovereign country back then 😉 )
When you look at the reasons for keeping people like the DREAMer 9 from a principled perspective, one by one they start falling apart. There really isn't an easy to see principled basis to keep them out if they pass the above-mentioned background check.
So, long story short, thanks for the kind words. Hopefully we on the right will figure this all out soon.
The right's hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me.
Obama has denied the Dream 9 humanitarian relief.