political dynamite: immigration reform

On October 12, 2009, in Immigration, Politics, by Henshaw

Here is a perfect example of poor journalism. The Guardian is a notorious leftwing press outlet so I shouldn’t be surprised. They have an article on Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration arrests. The Obama administration just pulled the plug on Arpalo’s illegal immigration crackdown. Whether or not this is a good idea is a separate debate. It does seem as though Obama has the same stomach for law enforcement as Bush.
Immigration is one of the key reforms on Obama’s agenda going into next year. Here’s the Guardian’s spin of the issue.

An estimated 12 million illegal immigrants live in the US. The federal government is virtually paralysed over how to react, with conservatives like Arpaio calling for the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants and increased border enforcement. Obama, many Democrats and some Republicans call for a system that will allow most to gain legal status after paying a fine and learning English, but reform efforts in 2006 and 2007 withered under sustained rightwing opposition [emphasis added].

Without a doubt there is some rightwing opposition, but it’s not contained on the right. President Bush pushed the reform efforts to a Democrat congress and it failed. Someone needs to tell the press that the Republicans haven’t been in control of the Congress for three years. There is a great deal of pressure on Democrats not to grant illegal immigrants amnesty. The only reason the issue hasn’t hurt Democrats is because Bush was in favor of the reforms. Americans are steadfastly opposed to amnesty.
I’ve written about what I think about immigration before so I won’t retread old ground. I just wish the press would cover the issue fairly.

Bush to Supporters: Shut Up

On May 30, 2007, in Immigration, Politics, by Henshaw

President BushThe President seems desperate to pass any kind of “bipartisan” immigration legislation regardless of whether it’s good or not. Bush has slammed opponents of his immigration plan as people that “don’t want to do what’s right for America.” The most annoying thing about this lame duck administration is the fact some people still considered it conservative. There’s absolutely nothing conservative about Bush. He’s a moderate. Of course his rhetoric sounds conservative, but President Clinton sounded liberal and was also a moderate. Look at the policies, not the words.

President Bush has created huge new federal bureaucracies. Instead of getting intelligence agencies to communicate better, the United States now has another bloated agency to slow things down. Bush, who has spent most of his administration devoted to the War on Terror, has done nothing about illegal immigration. At this point Bush is a complete lame duck. He’s alienated his base, the Left were off the reservation before he became President, and Bush is such a poor communicator that the rest of the country has tuned out.

On education Bush ran on vouchers, but hasn’t put forth one idea on how to do it. In fact, his spending on education dwarfs any other administration. There has been no tax reform, which forward thinking policymakers have been discussing for years. It’s disappointing that the President has done nothing for six years about illegal immigration and now wants to pass a damaged bill just to claim he accomplished something. Well you have Mister

President, you just lost what was left of your coalition. You’ll make a fabulous ex-president. You’re a likable guy. However every time I can’t take my toothpaste on an airplane, see an absurd “orange threat” level, and think of the huge government bureaucracies you created, I’ll be reminded of how much you missed the plot.

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