2012 Hispanic Latino vote

Republicans like Tom Horne and Jan Brewer are at it again with attacking Hispanic / Latino rights as they make moves that are pre-Civil Rights era.  They fear too many Mexican-American voters in the future, and this is what this is about. Note how the Republican National Committee (RNC) remains silent on this issue?  The RNC is allowing Tea Party extremists to dominate their messaging.  They must not need the Hispanic vote during the 2012 Presidential elections.

Given their history, I think it’s fair to say that Tom Horne and Jan Brewer seem to hate Mexicans.

From POLITICO:

Ariz. sues feds over Voting Rights Act By: Jennifer Epstein August 26, 2011 07:24 AM EDT

The state of Arizona filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the federal government’s authority to enforce part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, becoming the first state to challenge the constitutionality of sections of the federal law that bars states from denying or limiting a person’s right to vote based on their race or color.   … “The portions of the Voting Rights Act requiring preclearance of all voting changes are either archaic, not based in fact, or subject to completely subjective enforcement based on the whim of federal authorities,” Horne said in a statement as the suit was filed. … But Attorney General Eric Holder said he plans to fight the suit because the Voting Rights Act continues to play “a vital role in our society by ensuring that every American has the right to vote and to have that vote counted.”



Rep Lamar Smith is attacking one of the most successful Mexican-American columnists that has ever existed — Ruben Navarrette. You can read the full article here.   What is up Lamar’s sleeve?  E-verify is.  He claims it is voluntary but every single Senate office I visited last month in Washington D.C.  told me that Lamar wants to introduce a national e-verification program in August.  He’s setting out the pillows because Lamar Smith thinks e-verify will happen without protest.

The State of Florida rejected their state version of e-verify and no thanks to Lamar Smith, we are going to lose the State of Florida in 2012 because in essence he is not listening to the business community.  The business community does not want to embrace more government bureaucracy via e-verify without a reasonable immigration solution. Businesses depend on competitive labor, and Lamar wants to increase the wage rate.

Why is Lamar Smith attacking Ruben but ignoring the backbone of our economic engine?  Did he forget small businesses and farmers are the backbone of our country?

More importantly, the DREAM Act activists have already declared that they will not trade e-verify programs in exchange for passage of the DREAM Act.  You can read their response here. They already know Lamar Smith wants them to forget about their mother and father for a cheap trade.  Lamar Smith is NOT in support of maintaining the family unit and he wants to give Latinos the scraps in exchange for harsh enforcement policies by dangling the DREAM Act carrot in front of our DREAMers noses.  Pretty revolting if you ask me.

It looks like we are headed back to the days of Sensenbrenner where massive protests were sparked with enforcement only policies.  When massive protests are sparked again WE ARE GOING TO BLAME LAMAR SMITH.

(Above)  Photo taken in 2006 during the Sensenbrenner enforcement policy days.

Finally.  The New York Times is shedding light behind the evil force behind these anti-immigrant laws.  For months I have been warning pro life leaders in Arizona, and across the nation with regard to the evils that are behind legislators who are advocating to change the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution or Birthright Citizenship.

How can GOP legislators like Michele Bachmann claim to be pro life when they sponsor bills that end Birthright Citizenship of American born babies?  Either you are for baby rights or not, and when I discovered that Michele Bachman (Tea Party favorite) received a good rating from NumbersUSA, I dug deeper and found that she co-sponsored a bill to end birthright citizenship via H.R. 1868.

The New York Times pegged John Tanton pretty exact, and you will find to your amazement that he is a progressive.  In fact, John Tanton founded the Michigan Planned Parenthood and funnels millions of dollars towards placing abortion clinics in poor neighborhoods.  He is behind zero population organizations like NumbersUSA.  John Tanton wants to reduce the population and will go so far as to funnel money to third world countries in order to decrease population in other parts of the world.

So why isn’t the National Right to Life up to speed with regard to the evils behind the 14th amendment changes?  I believe it is because they have endorsed people like our very own state Senator Russell Pearce who has worked very hard to end birthright citizenship.  They don’t know what to do because they had no idea that progressives like Tanton have been working towards reducing population. If the Arizona state legislature would have passed the 14th amendment bills, then this would have encouraged undocumented women to abort their babies.

This is supposed to be a pro life leader’s job – to be proactive watchmen.  It is a pro life leader’s job to protect all baby rights — born and unborn, and they must not continue to turn a blind eye to GOP legislators who refer to precious gifts from God as “anchor babies”, and they must stop endorsing GOP legislators who want to end “birthright citizenship” like Michele Bachmann and Arizona State legislator — Russell Pearce.

Pro life leaders need to educate themselves on the John Tanton networks such as the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform (FAIR), NumbersUSA, Center for Immigration Studies, and several more.  John Tanton has already hijacked the Democratic Party, and he is now doing an effective job in hijacking the Republican Party with his evil eugenic ideas, planned parenthood, zero population and anti-immigrant ideas. In fact, Republican Kris Kobach from Kansas has been instrumental in executing the orders of John Tanton via FAIR, and it should not come as a surprise to anyone why Kansas lawmakers are advocating the shooting of immigrants like pigs.  Now that we know Tanton has infected both parties, it’s no wonder everything is a mess.

It’s time for the Pro Life leaders to clean house for the upcoming 2012 elections.   They must refuse to endorse GOP lawmakers who advocate ending birthright citizenship.  Yes, it will hurt, but in the long run it will pay off because the arc of justice will always side with life.  Question is….will the pro life leaders have enough faith?

If the faith isn’t there, perhaps reading the New York Times might shed light on the evil John Tanton and numerous organizations he is behind.

When a member of FAIR wrote that Hispanic immigrants should be shot — because they “multiply like a bunch of rats” — a staff member offered to refund his dues. Early supporters included Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota and Warren E. Buffett.

Now FAIR’s signature event is an annual gathering of talk radio hosts, where earnest policy pitches share time with the kind of battle cries Dr. Tanton once feared. This year’s event mixed discussion of job losses among minorities with calls to use Tomahawk missiles on Tijuana drug lords, while a doubter of President Obama’s birth certificate referred to “the undocumented worker” in the White House. Leading allies include Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, whose sweeps of Latino neighborhoods around Phoenix have prompted a federal investigation.

While the whole movement grew more vehement as illegal immigration increased, Dr. Tanton seemed especially open to provocative allies and ideas. He set off a storm of protests two decades ago with a memorandum filled with dark warnings about the “Latin onslaught.” Word soon followed that FAIR was taking money from the Pioneer Fund, a foundation that promoted theories of the genetic superiority of whites.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/us/17immig.html?_r=1

Why was Emily Ruiz not allowed to come back to the United States?  Do you see how broken our immigration system is? Emily is an American born citizen, folks. We have to fix the broken system before more families are forced apart.

Just as the Department of Homeland Security under President Bill Clinton botched it up with Elian Gonzales of Florida, now we have the Department of Homeland security under President Obama botching it up with Emily Ruiz.  How many more immigration stories do we have to hear in order for the FEDERAL GOVERMENT TO FIX THIS ISSUE?!

Not long ago, the entire Hispanic community was with the Cuban community in spirit when the battle of Elian Gonzalez drove Cuban Americans back to the Republican Party in Florida.  Within one decade we have watched some in the GOP transform on the issue of children, families, immigration and deportation.   In 1996, Bill Clinton and Al Gore won Florida, however, during the 2000 Presidential Election, the Cuban American National Foundation said they would actively work against Gore because of his badly chosen handling of Elian’s deportation that eventually cost him the elections.

In light of the upcoming 2012 Presidential Elections, Democrats ought to ask themselves how much they want to play and risk the Latino vote.  This is the time for them to step it up because State legislators (GOP) are crying out for Obama to fix the broken system.  Question is….will Democratic leaders be smart enough to put a solution that will garner Republican support on the table?

If you don’t know who Emily Ruiz is, you are about to find out from Ruben.

Why was 4-year-old American girl deported?

By Ruben Navarrette Jr., CNN Contributor

San Diego (CNN) — Under our system, two things are crystal clear: Law enforcement agencies are required to treat children with more care than adults, and U.S. citizens have certain rights that are not to be abridged — including the right to due process.

Just don’t try telling any of that to the parents of Emily Ruiz. They know better. Those principles didn’t apply in the case of the 4-year-old from Brentwood, New York, who — after traveling to Guatemala to visit relatives with her grandfather — was denied entry into the United States on March 11 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and instead sent back to Guatemala.

That is no way to treat a U.S. citizen.

Read more:  http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/03/23/navarrette.child.deported/index.html

 

From Pilar Marrero:

US may have violated own rules in “deporting” US citizen girl.

In sending back to Guatemala a US citizen girl whose parents are still in the United States, authorities with the Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) may have violated a settlement that was entered into during the nineties to determine the treatment of minors in their custody, said a constitutional lawyer who conducted the lawsuit in the late eighties.  According to attorney Peter Schey, a lawyer for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, CBP and all agencies that deal with migration issues must do more than just a good faith effort to reunite a citizen child with his family, under the Flores settlement that was put in place in 1997.

Ever mindful of extremism, we received forwarded photos that raised concerns to our leadership.  However, following the trail of toxic breadcrumbs sent our way exposed a narrative that mocks human life, offends the spirit of democracy, and brings shame upon our party yet again.  The Republican Party, like America itself, is diverse; of course there are competing visions of how we should represent ourselves and of what our legislative agenda should be.  However, the growing extremism that intimidates rational, moderate members has gone too far.

The first situation we were made aware of in Kansas that caused great alarm to us was when Virgil Peck advocated the shooting of illegal immigrants.  He’s since apologized.  Following this, we’ve received, via email, a disturbing array of pictures of angry Kansas residents with buttons stylized with “RINOs” in crosshairs attending legislative session.    Included was the name of local right-wing extremist Larry Halloran, whose Facebook page proved to illustrate a log-term and deliberate campaign of calls for violence and actions designed to intimidate “targets.”  Halloran’s page described, among other things, a call to “hunt” targeted legislators in “open season.”  He further qualifies this by dehumanizing his group’s “targets” and referring to their lives with terms used by game hunters for wild animals.

Just the same, and even though we believe in the freedom of speech so long as it does not advocate violence in our civil society, we would also be disturbed if atheist extremists wore buttons stylized with a “cross” in crosshairs.

Mindful that our Republic safeguards both our freedoms of speech and of peaceful assembly, we can not sit by idly as radicals use bullying and strong-arm techniques to threaten our democratic process.  Somos Republicans has been pushing for Kansas Republicans to embrace the KANSAS COMPACT as well as immigration and conservative issues throughout the nation.  Representative Louis Ruiz has taken a leadership role in guiding Kansas towards a healthy discussion on immigration.  Our focus continues to be on public policy issues, but we will continue to monitor this campaign of hate and intimidation.

We stand with moderate Republicans who continue to be targeted by this vicious and out of control campaign of calls to violence.  We urge them to remain strong and unwavering in principle while keeping aware of the volatile situation catalyzed by Virgil Peck and bolstered by Larry Halloran.  The extremist behavior brought to our attention is typical of anti-immigrant and Nativist extremism and we will be bringing it to the attention of Homeland Security for further investigation as potential domestic terrorism.

The below photos are very concerning to me because people are putting “RINOs” in crosshairs and wearing buttons that appears to advocate violence. We were alarmed when Rep. Virgil Peck advocated the shooting of “illegals” like hogs from a helicopter, and now we are seeing a new disturbing development unfold.

I am a Latina who is a long life registered Republican.  I have been called a “RINO” here in Arizona (which means Republican In Name Only) due to my immigration stance, even though  I am for securing the borders as well as a reasonable legal immigration solution. Does this mean that these people want to “hunt” me?  What if you saw someone wearing a button that had a symbol of a Christian cross in crosshairs?  How would Christians perceive that?  I believe the picture of the “RINO” in crosshairs is advocating threats.  I don’t like it, nor do I think this is appropriate.

As the founder of SOMOS REPUBLICANS, a national group based in Arizona, I have become extremely sensitive to anti-immigrant sentiment that has become mixed with violence.  We have had an increase in hate crimes as a result of Senator Russell Pearce’s SB 1070 bill, and we have had Mexican-Americans murdered over SB 1070 or by vigilantes who are part of a Minuteman group.  In fact, Shawna Forde ordered the killing of a precious 9 year old Mexican-American little girl who begged for her life in fetal position.

The photos below were taken TODAY during session at the Topeka, Kansas, capitol.  What was their mission today?  To revive HB 2372, an anti-immigrant law.   Their group which was led by a a “RINO Hunter,” Larry Halloran, sought out freshmen legislators and their district legislators to get them to bring HB 2372 from the Judiciary Committee to the House floor.  That has been the mission of these “Tea Party” whacko types — to strong-arm the freshmen into supporting anti-immigrant legislation by wearing big bright orange buttons with “RINOs” in their crosshairs.

It gets worse!  If you go to Larry Halloran’s facebook page, you will see comments on his photos like the below:

“RINO Hunters in Manhattan… a good RINO hunt deserves a well-rounded HuHot meal.”

Larry Halloran, chairman of the Wichita-South Central Kansas 912 Group (Tea Party Whacko Group),brags about the article that was written about his group here.

I want you to take a look at the below photos of those who are wearing the “RINO” buttons, and I want you to decide what you think of the message being conveyed.  You would think that after our Congresswoman was shot in the head by a disturbed young man that reasonable people would tone down violent rhetoric.  No wonder Rep. Virgil Peck said what he said.  It appears hunting animals is at it’s height of the season.

The below photo was taken today at the Kansas Capitol when the RINO hunters were targeting freshmen legislators asking them to bring about the anti-immigrant bill they want to see on the floor.

The below photo was taken on March 18, 2011, when the anti-immigrant bill HB 2372 was going to be heard in front of the House Judiciary Committee.    There were about 15 people there wearing the RINO buttons.  You can see the album here.

We will keep you posted with regard to our concerns.

The Arizona Republican Party is going to have to do better than Gabriela Saucedo Mercer in order to replace Congressman Raul Grijalva.  If you want to win Latino hearts and mind, it starts with educating yourselves by understanding Hispanic Culture and Demographics.   For starters, let’s find out what the the Pew Hispanic Center has to say about Latino Demography and what the data suggests with regard to our behavior.  It is absolutely imperative for the Republican Party to know that only 12% of Hispanics say local police should take an active role in identifying undocumented immigrants.  Over 80% of the Hispanic population is against SB 1070 type of laws.

If you hunt and look really hard  for Latino Republican tokens who know what you want to hear…then you will find a very small percent of Hispanics that will turn into “yes-men” for you.  (Pssst. But let me clue you in on something:  If those Hispanic Republicans know you are in support of SB 1070 type of laws, then of course they will tell you what you want to hear), but, this does not change the overall pulse of how Latinos really feel.

Approximately 44% of Hispanics voted for George W. Bush in 2004.   As of 2008, we have dwindled down to 31% who voted for McCain, and I believe much of that had to do with Obama sinking millions and millions into Hispanic media coupled with the increasing anti-immigrant sentiment that began with Sensenbrenner’s Bill – H.R. 4437.

Now, let’s look at the data and the pace that state legislators like Virgil Peck (advocated shooting ‘illegals like pigs’), and Russell Pearce (sponsor of SB 1070) are putting us on.  Do you really believe at this pace the Republican Party will win the Presidential elections of 2012? Not if Latinos can help it.  The new RNC leadership must denounce the likes of Virgil Peck to prove to the increasing number of Hispanic voters that all Republicans are not a bunch of bigots who want to empty a clip on “illegals”.

SOMOS REPUBLICANS are working in the overall best interest of the Republican Party, but we don’t do it by being “yes men”. We put people before party, and we do it by practicing good ol’ politics like Ronald Reagan used to practice.   Back then, politicians worked with each other across the aisle for what was in the best interest of the United States.  These days too many people will call you a “RINO” which means “Republican In Name Only” if you are not a far right winger;  Or, they will call you a “DINO” which means “Democrat In Name Only”.  The far leftists and right wingers are ruining our country.  We want reason and decency instead of being attacked for not being extreme enough for the party hacks.

We are hell bent on restoring our soul to the Party of Abe Lincoln.  If you want Latino Republican “tokens”, then they are going to tell you what you want to hear, but if you are smart, you will pay attention to the Pew Research data below. Those Latino Republican tokens want the immediate satisfaction of your acceptance, however, what you should be watching for is what the entire Hispanic population is saying with regard to enforcement-only policies.

If you want to dwindle Hispanic Republican support down to 12%, then embrace politicians like Russell Pearce, Tom Tancredo, J.D. Hayworth, Virgil Peck, Steve King and all the other extremists.  If you want to see MORE Hispanic Republican voters, then you must not embrace SB 1070 type of laws.  It’s that simple.

• Eight-in-ten Hispanics say local police should not be involved in identifying undocumented or illegal immigrants.
  According to the Pew Hispanic Center’s 2008 National Survey of Latinos, 81% of Hispanics said enforcement of immigration laws should be left mainly to the federal authorities while just 12% said local police should take an active role. Among the general public, opinion is split — in 2007, half (49%) of non-Hispanics said enforcement should be left mainly to federal authorities, while 45% said local police should take an active role.
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