Thread: MA: Patrick blasts immigration crackdowns

Patrick blasts immigration crackdowns
Rips Ariz. law, calls his foes grandstanders

By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | May 12, 2010

Governor Deval Patrick yesterday blasted Arizona’s new immigration law, accused his gubernatorial opponents of grandstanding on the issue, and said supporters of such crackdowns were “trying to invent a villain for political purposes.’’

Addressing a roundtable of reporters from ethnic news media outlets, Patrick offered some of his most extensive comments to date about a highly charged debate that has flared in the governor’s race.

“Let me be clear: As long as I have anything to say about it, there’s not going to be an Arizona law in Massachusetts,’’ he said. “I can’t see such a thing passing our Legislature. But if it did, I would veto it.’’

Patrick said he would not, however, follow Boston’s lead and divest state funds from Arizona in protest.

Arizona’s new law requires police officers, “when practicable,’’ to check the immigration status of people they reasonably suspect may be in the country illegally, during a stop for some other offense.

The governor also sharply questioned the motives of those pushing a separate measure that nearly passed the Massachusetts House last month, which would have barred public benefits for illegal immigrants. Patrick said residents are “justifiably concerned’’ about illegal immigrants receiving benefits, but said Massachusetts already has a “whole host of screens’’ to ensure services are given only to those who are eligible.

“It makes me question what is motivating some of the proposals right now,’’ Patrick said. “And I don’t think those motivations are entirely above board. I think they’re about stirring up fear. I think they’re about demonizing people and trying to invent a villain for political purposes, and I don’t think that’s the way you govern.’’

Pointing out that two of his opponents in the governor’s race — independent Timothy P. Cahill and Republican Charles D. Baker — supported the House bill, the governor said, “Some of the ideas, I think, are really more about grandstanding and not about how we show humanity.’’

Rick Gorka, a Baker spokesman, pointed out that the measure seeking to block illegal immigrants from state benefits failed by an unexpectedly close 75-82 vote in the Democratically controlled House.

“Fifty-nine Democrats in the House agree with Charlie Baker that the state should not be giving services to illegal immigrants except in emergency situations and those involving a child,’’ Gorka said in a statement. “Whether it’s in-state tuition breaks or driver’s licenses, Deval Patrick continues to show he’s clueless when it comes to protecting the taxpayer.’’

Patrick has supported granting in-state tuition rates to graduates of Massachusetts high schools who are in the country illegally and granting driver’s licenses to all adults who pass the tests, regardless of their immigration status.

Cahill also defended his support for the House measure.

“I don’t know about Charlie Baker, but I’m not trying to play on anyone’s fears,’’ he said. “I’m just trying to enforce the law and put legal residents ahead of illegal residents. I don’t think there’s anything unfair about that.’’

Cahill praised the Arizona law, saying he would have signed it, too, if he were governor there.

But he said he would not support such a law in Massachusetts. “I don’t think we have to go that far here in Massachusetts, because we don’t share a border with Mexico,’’ he said.

Baker has declined to offer detailed comments on the Arizona law.

Patrick said he appreciates public frustration about the lack of federal immigration reform, but said Arizona’s law is not the answer, because it raises “concern about profiling and about who gets swept up by the law.’’

He said he is troubled that Mexican immigrants have become the public face of the illegal immigration debate.

“Sometimes I think there is an emphasis on immigrants who come from Mexico, as if they represent the whole family of the immigrant population in this country or the whole problem,’’ the governor said. “We have people here in Massachusetts who have come from Ireland and have overstayed their visas and come from other parts of Europe and overstayed their visas, and somehow that isn’t the face of the immigration problem. And that worries me.’’

Still, Patrick said he would not support a measure, similar to one enacted by the Boston City Council and under consideration in several other cities and towns, to withdraw public funds from Arizona. As for boycotting travel to Arizona, “people can make their own judgments,’’ Patrick said.

Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein said she would support divesting state funds from Arizona. “Arizona’s new law is deeply flawed, profoundly unjust, and a real threat to the civil rights of millions of residents of that state,’’ she said in a statement last week.

Patrick was addressing immigration as part of his quarterly meeting at the State House with about 20 reporters from media outlets that serve the Brazilian, Haitian, African-American, Asian, and Hispanic communities in Massachusetts, which could provide critical support for his reelection bid.

“Clearly, he’s being political,’’ Cahill said. “He was playing to his audience. But he shouldn’t malign my motives unless his are totally pure, which I’m sure they’re not.’’

www.boston.com

Patrick's state is billions of dollars in the hole financially but spends 5 billion dollars annually on health care, welfare, food stamps, unemployment insurance, public housing, wic, birthright citizenship, incarceration and other programs for illegal aliens. It's time to send this idiot and corrupt left wing open borders proponent packing to go home......

I hope this is in the Spanish newspapers so the Arizona illegals know they can feel welcome in Massachusetts.

A big shout out and sorry to the residents there, but we have more illegals here in GA that Arizona has, and I would encourage them to all move to Massachusetts as well.

but said Massachusetts already has a “whole host of screens’’ to ensure services are given only to those who are eligible.

These guys are more in the dark every day. These illegals have it great here in America thanks to his kind and their thinking. We have poor Americans that do not have it as well as these illegals.

Pot calling the kettle black huh!! its either votes or cheap labor, who loses? the American citizen....so much for Representation!

Update

The Boston Globe
Patrick rips Ariz., Ala. immigrant legislation


n a tough speech at Tufts University, Governor Deval Patrick called Alabama and Arizona immigration policies hysterical and poisonous and compared them to Jim Crow laws and McCarthyism. In a tough speech at Tufts University, Governor Deval Patrick called Alabama and Arizona immigration policies hysterical and poisonous and compared them to Jim Crow laws and McCarthyism.
By Martine Powers
Globe Staff / May 2, 2012

Using his strongest language yet on US immigration policy, Governor Deval Patrick in a speech Monday lambasted controversial immigration laws adopted by Arizona and Alabama.

“The actions of various states to take matters into their own hands have been ham-fisted, self-defeating, and even racist,’’ Patrick said at Tufts University.

Patrick’s address, at the Aidekman Arts Center, was part of the “Moral Voices’’ lecture series sponsored by Tufts Hillel, the university’s center for Jewish life.

The governor has generally been critical of such measures as the federal Secure Communities Law, which requires police to share information on arrested suspects with customs and immigration officials. he has also been critical of legislation requiring police to check immigration status in Arizona and Alabama.

But the tone of Patrick’s speech Monday - he called much of the debate surrounding immigration reform “hysterical and poisonous’’ - has struck some state lawmakers and immigration policy specialists as more vehement than before.

“The public discourse about immigration is as toxic today as McCarthyism or Jim Crow were in their time,’’ Patrick said. “Now, like then, the debate seems to be based more on emotion than reason, more on slogan than fact.’’

Eva A. Millona, executive director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, said she was not surprised by the content of Patrick’s speech - she has always agreed with his stance on immigration - but was struck by its particularly brash tone.

“It’s very strong wording that really speaks to [Governor Patrick’s] belief, to his understanding, to his vision for a stronger America,’’ Millona said.

After initial waffling, Patrick refused to embrace the Secure Communities program.

In 2010, Patrick spoke out against the Arizona immigration law, which requires that police check immigration status when they make stops or arrests. He said its primary purpose was “stirring up fear.’’

Jessica Vaughan - director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that researches US immigration policy - said the governor’s fiery words Monday were a political mistake.

“The language he chooses is just as loaded and charged as the rhetoric of the people that he’s criticizing - maybe even more so,’’ Vaughan said. “I don’t think he could get away with giving that speech anywhere other than a college campus.’’

Vaughan said Patrick’s speech suggests that the governor will not be open to compromise and across-the-aisle discussion in upcoming talks about immigration legislation on Beacon Hill.

Additionally, she said, many US citizens feel the impact of illegal immigration in their daily lives, in terms of safety and job opportunities. It is insensitive to brush aside their concerns as ignorant, she said.

“Americans want to have a discussion about real solutions,’’ Vaughan said, “not be told that they’re hateful.’’Continued...


Governor Deval Patrick criticizes US immigration policy and controversial laws in Alabama, Arizona - The Boston Globe

Looking back..
Gov. Deval Patrick has tie$ to embattled ACORN

By Dave Wedge
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 - Updated 4 years ago



Gov. Deval Patrick, a national co-chairman of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, teamed up with the Illinois senator to represent the controversy-plagued activist network ACORN in a 1993 case and secured money for the group in this year’s state budget, the Herald has learned.


Patrick secured a $33,000 grant for the Springfield branch of ACORN’s housing program in April. ACORN Housing New England Regional Director Theresa Naylor said the money was used for “foreclosure prevention.” She also said the agency’s housing arm has “nothing to do with” the voter registration program, which has been the subject of fraud allegations that have dogged Obama because of his ties to the group.

Gov. Deval Patrick has tie$ to embattled ACORN - BostonHerald.com

Originally Posted by retiredairforce

Patrick's state is billions of dollars in the hole financially but spends 5 billion dollars annually on health care, welfare, food stamps, unemployment insurance, public housing, wic, birthright citizenship, incarceration and other programs for illegal aliens. It's time to send this idiot and corrupt left wing open borders proponent packing to go home......

Well it is nicknamed taxxchusetts after all.....Remember it has Romney Care, and is known as a sanctuary city loaded with illegals from all walks of life. It had Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank in power for years. Now Deval Patrick as govunator... What do you want from a Liberal State some sanity???? Amazingly none of those politicians live any where near the illegals though..they only hire them.