Thread: Immigration letter by Rep. Honda is pure propaganda

Immigration letter by Rep. Honda is pure propaganda

In the July 13 opinion letters of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Rep. Mike Honda and Rosario Dawson suggested an immigration reform path ("Immigration reform needs a path to citizenship"). Their letter was so full of left-wing ideology it serves as pure propaganda, and nothing more. The Arizona Senate Bill 1070 specifically does not allow law enforcement to "stop, question, detain and report based on suspicion etc. ... " but as a liberal bureaucrat, I wouldn't expect that you have read the bill. The Arizona bill details that before law enforcement can inquire legal status they must already be engaged in another police matter. Are you concerned about potential "illegals" having to show ID? I must show ID when pulled over by police, making purchases with credit card, at a doctor's appointment, filling out credit applications, applying for a driver's license renewal, when updating a passport, college applications, donating blood or boarding an airplane or train.

If you "understand" Arizona's desire to initiate immigration reform, then you must also understand Arizona's and most Americans frustration with the feds' failure to implement even the minimum border control. How can a state law that mirrors the federal law interfere with the feds' obligatory duty? Seems to me that Arizona ought to be thanked for helping the feds do their job. Do you believe federal law trumps state law? If so, as a California bureaucrat, how do you explain California's legal marijuana sales? It's still illegal according to federal law.

Yes, lots of Americans immigrated (not all, as you claim—some Americans are born here, you know). But the immigrants I know of, including my parents, immigrated "legally" without breaking the law. You mentioned that if immigrants could "come out" they could pursue higher pay jobs and pay more taxes, etc. And are you aware in 2006, illegal aliens sent home to their countries of origin $45 billion in remittances? How much of that was in taxpayer-provided dollars?

Yes, Arizona has a huge debt, so does California, that you and your party contributed in helping bankrupt.

You think the Arizona law will push illegals into the shadows? Where are they now, even with "so called" sanctuary cities. Your comment that the Arizona bill takes us away from American ideals? Oh yeah? When did breaking our immigration laws become an American ideal?

As you mentioned the Japanese internment, you failed to remind readers that it was your party's hero, FDR, that initiated such a plan.

In this time of state bankruptcy, I would remind voters $11 billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments. So let's quit piling on debt for our children and grandchildren, please.

Peter Azzarelli

and another....
It is a pity that you allowed yourself to be used by the Obama propaganda machine to publish the disgraceful White House mass mailing ("Immigration reform needs a path to citizenship," letter by Rep. Mike Honda and Rosario Dawson, July 13). The letter intentionally misrepresents the Arizona anti-illegal immigration statute, makes hysterical and nonsensical comparisons, and is an insult to your readers.

Cynics among us expect politicians to lie. Idealists among us expect the press to call them on it. Shame on you.

Marc van Niekerk

Originally Posted by topsecret10

Immigration letter by Rep. Honda is pure propaganda

In the July 13 opinion letters of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Rep. Mike Honda and Rosario Dawson suggested an immigration reform path ("Immigration reform needs a path to citizenship"). Their letter was so full of left-wing ideology it serves as pure propaganda, and nothing more. The Arizona Senate Bill 1070 specifically does not allow law enforcement to "stop, question, detain and report based on suspicion etc. ... " but as a liberal bureaucrat, I wouldn't expect that you have read the bill. The Arizona bill details that before law enforcement can inquire legal status they must already be engaged in another police matter. Are you concerned about potential "illegals" having to show ID? I must show ID when pulled over by police, making purchases with credit card, at a doctor's appointment, filling out credit applications, applying for a driver's license renewal, when updating a passport, college applications, donating blood or boarding an airplane or train.

If you "understand" Arizona's desire to initiate immigration reform, then you must also understand Arizona's and most Americans frustration with the feds' failure to implement even the minimum border control. How can a state law that mirrors the federal law interfere with the feds' obligatory duty? Seems to me that Arizona ought to be thanked for helping the feds do their job. Do you believe federal law trumps state law? If so, as a California bureaucrat, how do you explain California's legal marijuana sales? It's still illegal according to federal law.

Yes, lots of Americans immigrated (not all, as you claim—some Americans are born here, you know). But the immigrants I know of, including my parents, immigrated "legally" without breaking the law. You mentioned that if immigrants could "come out" they could pursue higher pay jobs and pay more taxes, etc. And are you aware in 2006, illegal aliens sent home to their countries of origin $45 billion in remittances? How much of that was in taxpayer-provided dollars?

Yes, Arizona has a huge debt, so does California, that you and your party contributed in helping bankrupt.

You think the Arizona law will push illegals into the shadows? Where are they now, even with "so called" sanctuary cities. Your comment that the Arizona bill takes us away from American ideals? Oh yeah? When did breaking our immigration laws become an American ideal?

As you mentioned the Japanese internment, you failed to remind readers that it was your party's hero, FDR, that initiated such a plan.

In this time of state bankruptcy, I would remind voters $11 billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year by state governments. So let's quit piling on debt for our children and grandchildren, please.

Peter Azzarelli

and another....
It is a pity that you allowed yourself to be used by the Obama propaganda machine to publish the disgraceful White House mass mailing ("Immigration reform needs a path to citizenship," letter by Rep. Mike Honda and Rosario Dawson, July 13). The letter intentionally misrepresents the Arizona anti-illegal immigration statute, makes hysterical and nonsensical comparisons, and is an insult to your readers.

Cynics among us expect politicians to lie. Idealists among us expect the press to call them on it. Shame on you.

Marc van Niekerk

THE LETTER IN QUESTION...... Immigration reform needs a path to citizenship

This month, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, which allows state law enforcement officials to stop, question, detain and report individuals based on suspicion of undocumented status. Outrage against this bill is pervasive. Some say it hearkens back to Jim Crow; others say it legalizes racial profiling.

We understand Arizona's itch to initiate immigration reform given its estimated 460,000 undocumented immigrants, exposure to cross-border drug and gun traffic and frustration with feds' foregoing legislation for decades. There are four glaring reasons, however, why this approach is grossly misguided.

First, the constitutionality of SB 1070 is dubious. The key legal issue, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the National Immigration Law Center—all of whom are challenging the law's constitutionality—is whether Arizona's state law interferes with the U.S. government's duty to handle immigration. This is exactly what sunk Proposition 187, a similar initiative in California.

Proposition 187 was a ballot initiative passed in 1994 and designed to prohibit undocumented immigrants from accessing social services, health care and public education. It was found unconstitutional by a federal court on the grounds that regulation of immigration is a federal responsibility. Arizona might soon find, too, that federal law pre-empts its immigration laws. Already, an Arizona police officer has filed a lawsuit against the bill, and now the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit challenging SB 1070's constitutionality. Legal precedent alone should be sufficient to shut this bill down based on unconstitutionality.

Second, Arizona's attempt to fix immigration is financially unsound. Imagine if the U.S. followed Arizona's footsteps and sent new immigrants packing (It's hard to imagine who sends whom packing as we all immigrated at some point in recent history). Rather than giving immigrants a clear path to legal citizenship—because immigrants who become citizens pursue higher-paying jobs and higher education, thus spending more and providing higher tax revenue—imagine sending all undocumented immigrants home. The cost to our economy would be crippling, with losses of $2.6 trillion in gross domestic product during the next 10 years.

Conversely, a commitment to comprehensive reform would net our economy $1.5 trillion over the same period (This is UCLA data). By signing SB 1070, Arizona's governor thinks she is saving jobs and helping the local economy. The opposite is true. She will run the state further into debt. Arizona already faces one of the most severe state budget crises in America, spending roughly $10.1 billion while collecting only $6.4 billion in revenues.

Third, SB 1070 is ineffective in accomplishing its super-ordinate goal. By treating undocumented immigrants as criminals, it ensures that immigrants without papers stay far from police. This makes it far more difficult for police to do their work, which is why Arizona's Sahuarita Police Chief John Harris, on behalf of the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police, came out against the bill. It's also why Harris and Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik voiced concerns about the law's vague provisions allowing citizens to sue officials for failing to enforce the bill, putting pressure on police to undertake racial profiling. Either way, this law allows for ample abuse, sends hard-working immigrants into the shadows and undermines the relationship between local law enforcement and the community.

Fourth, the tenor of Arizona's law takes our nation backward, not forward. With this bill, we are going further from American ideals. Consider the Japanese internment camps during World War II, where we dehumanized an entire race that had recently arrived and was actively contributing to our economy.

We have since then seen an increase in the freedoms on which this country was founded, from civil rights to women's rights. This push toward further freedoms must continue. We do that by ensuring that newly arrived immigrants are afforded the same rights and responsibilities as the immigrants who came before them, including a legal path to citizenship.

Therefore, it is absolutely essential that the U.S. Senate move fast to reform immigration. We cannot afford piecemeal state-by-state approaches, nor can we financially afford at the federal level the continued non-citizenship of 12 million undocumented immigrants. It is time we brought these newly arrived immigrants into the light. Not for the purpose of deporting them Arizona-style, but to bring them closer to citizenship American-style.

U.S. Rep. Mike Honda

Rosario Dawson http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15501073

I am getting tired of hearing about giving a "pathway to citizenship" for those who have broken our sovereignty. Most don't care, they just want to make a bunch of money and retire in their homeland. My suggestion is to deal with the issue at hand and stop all the non-sense! Get the bums out of office is my strategy!