The most powerful group in the open borders movement, the politically-connected National Council of La Raza (NCLR), is attacking Arizona’s governor for issuing an executive order directing state agencies to deny illegal immigrants driver’s licenses and other public benefits.
Governor Jan Brewer signed the order last week to help counter the Obama Administration’s stealth amnesty program, which is sparing hundreds of thousands of young illegal aliens from deportation. Under the plan, called “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals,” illegal immigrants under the age of 30 who came to the U.S. as children can remain in the country and obtain work permits. President Obama created it in June via executive order.
August 20, 2012
Judicial Watch
Brewer fought back with her own order to stop illegal immigrants who obtain work permits under the federal program from getting taxpayer-funded perks or licenses in her state. In the order Brewer explains that allowing Arizona’s 80,000 deferred action recipients improper access to state or local benefits will have significant and lasting impacts on the state’s budget, its healthcare system and additional public benefits that taxpayers fund.
The NCLR was quick to blast Governor Brewer, calling her order a “mean-spirited” policy that compounds the “climate of fear and mistrust” already created by Arizona’s strict immigration control law. The order is “feeble attempt to score a political point against the president’s humane and sensible action” and a “cruel slap in the face to thousands of young Arizonans,” according to NCLR President Janet Murguía.
The NCLR, which has raked in millions of taxpayer dollars over the years, is a mouthpiece for the Obama Administration and the two have joined forces on many issues involving illegal immigration. In fact, Obama hired one of the NCLR’s top officials, senior vice president Cecilia Muñoz, to work in the White House as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs and later promoted her to the more powerful and prestigious post of Domestic Policy Director.
Since Muñoz joined the Obama White House, the NCLR’s federal funding has skyrocketed. Last summer a Judicial Watch investigation found that government cash for the NCLR more than doubled when Muñoz joined the White House in 2009, from $4.1 million to $11 million. A big chunk of the money (60%) came from the Department of Labor, which is headed by a former California congresswoman (Hilda Solis) with close ties to the La Raza movement.
The NCLR also received additional taxpayer dollars from other federal agencies in 2010, the JW probe found. The Department of Housing and Urban Development doled out $2.5 million for housing counseling, the Department of Education contributed nearly $800,000 and the Centers for Disease Control a quarter of a million. Additionally, NCLR affiliates nationwide raked in tens of millions of government grant and recovery dollars in 2010 thanks to the Muñoz factor. An offshoot called Chicanos Por La Causa (CPLC) saw its federal funding nearly double to $18.3 million following Muñoz’ appointment. A social service and legal assistance organization (Ayuda Inc.) that didn’t receive any federal funding between 2005 and 2008 got $600,000 in 2009 and $548,000 in 2010 from the Department of Justice. The group provides immigration law services and guarantees confidentiality to assure illegal aliens that they won’t be reported to authorities.
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