Of all the hypocrisy when it comes to the Tea Party anti-immigrant people.

The anti-immigrant folks gave Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio a world of crap when Rubio started to support the Gang of 8 legal immigration comprehensive immigration reform that will fix the long overdue broken immigration system.  (By the way, we are glad to see Rubio change positions — you see … initially he was against the DREAM Act and now he is coming around to supporting legal immigration reform).

But now we see another hypocrite on the horizon via Sen. Ted Cruz who is the son of a Cuban immigrant.  Cruz has family in the United States that have migrated to our Country and who has benefited from privileged Cuban amnesty via the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Elder Cruz fled to the U.S. with $100 sowed into his underwear, but according to the inflation calculator, $100 back then is equivalent to $826.21 today.

You will hear Cruz try to play your heart strings when he tells a (pretend sob story) on how his daddy came to the States with $100 bucks sown into his underwear.

According to FOX NEWS:

Cruz’s father Rafael is a pastor outside Dallas. He fought with Fidel Castro’s rebels in Cuba before Castro took power and eventually embraced communism, and the elder Cruz fled to the U.S. with nothing but $100 sowed into his underwear.

But according to the inflation calculator, $100.00 back then is equivalent to $826.21 today.  That is a whole helluva lot more money than the dying immigrant crossing the desert comes here with.  Many immigrants crossing the desert die of dehydration.

You also won’t hear a whole lot with regard to Cruz’s family history of siding with Fidel Castro’s rebels.

Why is that?

I thought that is why Cuban immigrants were fleeing Cuba?  To get away from the corrupt Fidel?

That said … I remember oh too well how the nativist and tea party birther Republican people have taken every opportunity  time and time again to slam President Obama with regard to his birth history even though Obama provided his long form birth certificate from Hawaii.

Nativist and Birther Republicans to the tune of Joe Arpaio, the ousted Arizona Senator Russell Pearce, former Congressman J.D. Hayworth, former Congressman Tom Tancredo and several other conservatives fueled an anti-Obama movement making false claims on the whereabouts of this birth because Obama’s dad was not an American Citizen even though Obama’s mother is Anglo and was an American born Citizen.

Where is Arpaio, Pearce, Hayworth, Tancredo at now as it relates to Sen. Ted Cruz?  Their ilk put Senator John McCain thru the grind back in the day lest we forget.

But ah yes….we know that Cuban-American Senator Ted Cruz is being set up.  Senator Marco Rubio was too smart to fall for that :”nativist and anti-immigrant” trap and unfortunately the same cannot be said of Cruz.

Ladies and Gentleman:  Cruz will more than likely be a one term Senator in Texas.  He benefited from the “Hispanic” label in an effort to bamboozle the millions of Mexican-American voters in Texas, but those Mexican Americans (and who account for nearly half of the Texas population) are finding out that Cruz (son of Cuban immigrant) is not in support of legal immigration reform via the Gang of 8, and Cruz does not support our children via the DREAM Act.

C/S

Real Clear Politics: Ted Cruz Has a “Birther” Problem

Just in from David Leopold –  the past national president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) the Washington, DC-based premier bar association for immigration lawyers and professors in the US. He has served as AILA’s general counsel and the association’s liaison to the Department of Homeland Security’s key enforcement agencies.

The case is Crane v. Napolitano, 3:12-cv-03247, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).

From Bloomberg BusinessWeek

A court challenge by federal immigration agents seeking to block President Barack Obama’s deferred-deportation initiative will probably succeed, a judge said.

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Dallas today put off his own decision on whether to grant the request for a preliminary injunction by 10 U.S. Immigration and Customs agents. He asked both sides to file additional arguments no later than May 6.

Announced by Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano last year, the directive gives agents the ability to defer action on people unlawfully in the U.S. if they came to the country under the age of 16, are in school or have obtained a high school diploma, haven’t been convicted of a felony, significant misdemeanor or multiple misdemeanors, and aren’t a threat to public safety or national security.

“The court finds that DHS does not have discretion to refuse to initiate removal proceedings” when the requirements for deportation under a federal statute are met, O’Connor said today in a 38-page decision, referring to the Department of Homeland Security.

Still, the judge said he can’t decide the case based on the arguments he’s heard so far.

“Accordingly, the court hereby defers ruling on the plaintiffs’ application for preliminary injunction until the parties have submitted additional briefing,” O’Connor said.

Border Security

The administration’s “Deferred Action” initiative, announced in June, was created with the intent of shifting immigration agency focus toward border security and the removal of dangerous people.

“This is not amnesty, this is not immunity,” Obama said at the time. “This is not a path to citizenship, it’s not a permanent fix.” Deferral, if conferred, is valid for two years, during which the person may obtain authorization for employment, and can be renewed, according to the ICE website.

The case was filed by attorney Kris Kobach, who also serves as Kansas Secretary of State and is a national Republican Party adviser. Lead plaintiff Christopher L. Crane is president of the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement Council, a 7,600- member federal immigration agents’ union.

“Officers are applying the directive to people detained in jails, not kids in school,” Crane testified at the April 8 hearing. “It is now the story in the jails for aliens to use to avoid arrest and deportation.”

Adam Kirschner, a lawyer for the Justice Department, told O’Connor at the hearing the case was, in reality, an employment dispute and that the agents can’t demonstrate they’ve been harmed. “These agents do not like the way the agency has prioritized the use of its resources,” he said.

“The executive cannot remove 11 million people,” Kirchner said of the branch of the U.S. government led by Obama. “The executive has authority to exercise its discretion.”

The case is Crane v. Napolitano, 3:12-cv-03247, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in the Chicago federal courthouse at

aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

In late 2006, FAIR hired as its western field representative, a key organizing position, a man named Joseph Turner. Turner was likely attractive to FAIR because he wrote what turned out to be a sort of model anti-illegal immigrant ordinance for the city of San Bernardino, Calif.  Turner had created, and then led, a nativist group called Save Our State. The group was remarkable for its failure to disassociate itself from the neo-Nazi skinheads who often joined its rallies — something that virtually all other nativist groups, worried about bad publicity, worked hard to do. Save Our State’s electronic bulletin board, too, was remarkable for the racist vitriol that frequently appeared there.

It was in that forum that Turner made one of his more controversial remarks, amounting to a defense of white separatism.

 

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has been lying to the American People about “amnesty” as it relates to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013.  Most Americans understand that the immigration system has been broken for decades and it is disingenuous for them to call the legal immigration plan by the Gang of 8 as “amnesty.”

FAIR has been classified by the SPLC as a known hate group and they state:

At the center of the Tanton web is the nonprofit Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the most important organization fueling the backlash against immigration.Founded by Tanton in 1979, FAIR has long been marked by anti-Latino and anti-Catholic attitudes. It has mixed this bigotry with a fondness for eugenics, the idea of breeding better humans discredited by its Nazi associations. It has accepted $1.2 million from an infamous, racist eugenics foundation. It has employed officials in key positions who are also members of white supremacist groups. Recently, it has promoted racist conspiracy theories about Mexico’s secret designs on the American Southwest and an alternative theory alleging secret plans to merge the United States, Mexico and Canada. …  Tanton has for decades been at the heart of the white nationalist scene. He has corresponded with Holocaust deniers, former Klan lawyers and the leading white nationalist thinkers of the era. He introduced key FAIR leaders to the president of the Pioneer Fund, a white supremacist group set up to encourage “race betterment,” at a 1997 meeting at a private club. He wrote a major funder to encourage her to read the work of a radical anti-Semitic professor — to “give you a new understanding of the Jewish outlook on life” — and suggested that the entire FAIR board discuss the professor’s theories on the Jews. He practically worshipped a principal architect of the Immigration Act of 1924 (instituting a national origin quota system and barring Asian immigration), a rabid anti-Semite whose pro-Nazi American Coalition of Patriotic Societies was indicted for sedition in 1942.

Since immigration is broken, it is imperative that we find reasonable legal solutions that garner  bipartisanship support from both Republicans and Democrats.

As a former bomb dog handler and veteran of the United States Air Force, I want to underscore that the 2013 Legal immigration reform bill is a major step forward in securing our Nation because only after everyone is registered and documented will we know who is in our Nation and where we can find them. We know that once we fix the broken immigration system, and once we document all immigrants — then they can feel safe to help law enforcement agencies to target criminal activity without the fear of deportation when they report suspicious activity to the law enforcement authorities. Therefore, bringing the immigrants out of the shadows will only strengthen our Nation’s security.

The great and former Republican Ronald Reagan gave amnesty, while  the 2013 bipartisanship Act does not.  The 2013 immigration plan is a legal vehicle and a means to reform what has been broken.  Furthermore, and more importantly … the only immigrants who are given privileged amnesty are the Cuban immigrants under the Cuban Adjustment Act where Cuban immigrants receive government benefits once their wet-foot reaches dry-land. Why hasn’t FAIR addressed the privileged Cuban amnesty if they are really against amnesty?  Mexican immigrants do not receive government benefits that Cuban immigrants receive.

It is clear that the immigration system is broken and this is why a bipartisanship effort is needed in order to fix the immigration system via a legal immigration plan.  It appears FAIR does not offer a reasonable policy solution to fixing what is broken because they really are xenophobes.

(Above)  FAIR falsely refers to the Gang of 8 LEGAL comprehensive immigration reform plan as “amnesty.”

Bobby and Lou take on the Gang of 8 immigration reform that will be unveiled tomorrow, and they do a pretty good job of slamming Senator Marco Rubio (fast forward to the 14:45 minute mark of the below video). Bobby also does a good job addressing the indigenous/native nature of those who are of Mexican descent. 

You might like the comparison Lou made in that if Cubans benefited by the Cuban Readjustment Act of 1966, and if Puerto Ricans were granted amnesty as early as 1917 . . . Why can’t Mexicans be viewed as refugee of the carnage in Mexico and get granted similar relief?  He also states that many of the nationals who served in the military, but were subsequently deported due to the 1996 INA law which made any conviction a deportable offense, that we are disrespecting our own veterans.

In case you missed it “live” … IN THE FIRST HALF: Lou and Bobby express their anger at the impending Gang-of-Eight plan for immigration as being too little and unreasonable. In “Arpaio Watch” one Undocumented worker goes free due to Arpaio’s incompetence.

For Immediate Release

February 13, 2013

Mexican-American and Woman-Led Organization Responds to Sen. Marco Rubio’s SOTU Response

Senator Marco Rubio failed to heed his mother’s advice in last night’s State of the Union Address Response to the President. He had a wonderful opportunity to recapture the 1950’s Republican Party who used to embrace Mexican-Americans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans who fought hard for their vote and their loyalty, when the Democrats – especially the Dixiecrats were demonizing all persons of color.

It is highly unfortunate that Rubio did not listen to the wise advice of his own mother instructing to be welcoming to all people including immigrants with or without status and todos los pobrecitos. Rubio did not advocate for the same treatment his own family members received when they arrived as immigrants to the United States.  Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, his family members received amnesty.

It appeared that this was nothing less than an advertisement for the Republican Party – not a solution to America’s problems. The alleged Savior of the GOP now appears to be a false prophet and sniveller when he failed to suggest any type of solutions for America’s problems today.

###

August 24, 1994, Cuban immigrants stranded on makeshift raft float between Florida and Cuba.

Arizona photographer, Sam Gomez, holds up photograph of man climbing Mexican border wall.

Tuesday evening, Friday 12, 2013,  Mexican-Americans will be listening to Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio’s State of the Union response on immigration.

Here are the things we will be listening for:

1.  Whether or not Rubio retracts his support for Arizona’s SB 1070 law that has harmed thousands of families and our economy in Arizona.

2.  Whether or not Rubio defers strong leadership to Border State elected officials in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California. Will Rubio mention Latin Elected Officials in Texas since Texas has the largest border length, and since Texas knows the ins and outs of border problems and solutions?

3.  Why didn’t Rubio support the DREAM Act in December 2010 when we needed him the most?  Is it because Florida turned ‘blue‘ during the 2012 Presidential election cycle?  Rubio has to support immigration if he does not want to be a one-term Senator.  [This could also explain why we witnessed 'yellow' bellies regarding the Texas GOP leaders Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen John Cornyn (with regard to Super 8 on CIR) because Texas is still 'red' in Presidential cycles.]

I don’t think Rubio  wants to go down in history as being a one-term Senator….and he has to fix the immigration damage he caused since 2010 when he did NOT support the DREAM Act.   If Rubio really cares about the solutions to the border problems….the speech will not be just about himself…he will divert attention to the Border state leaders in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Califas. Keep in mind that ‘Hispanic’ Texas Senator Ted Cruz was not part of the Immigration (Super Eight) leadership even though Texas is the state with the LARGEST border length in the country.

In the meantime, I want to share an op-ed by David Leopold who is the immediate past President of AILA.

Rubio’s State of the Union Response: An Historic Opportunity to Lead

“….But Rubio has an opportunity to do much more than mend fences for the Republicans. He has an historic chance to show he is not a merely a politician tasked by party elders to reach out to a disgruntled constituency, but a statesman. He can embody the bipartisan leadership in Congress that our nation needs: senators and representatives who are willing to put politics aside and partner with President Obama in an effort to fix the dysfunctional mess of an immigration system that plagues America, tearing families apart and stifling the economy. He can be the courageous leader the GOP needs, one with the guts to wrench his party out of the dark corner of the anti-immigrant fringe and into an enlightened national conversation on immigration reform. ….

I believe giving credit where credit is due.  Thank you, Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva, for doing this!

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s legacy is SB 1070.

Glad to see leadership in the states bordering Mexico.  If you ask me … the answer to the broken immigration system will come from our Representatives who know and understand the problems associated with the broken immigration system. Leadership needs to arise from those who have hurt  — particularly when Mexican nationals are the majority who have been deported.  It is my hope to see Raul get behind Joaquin Castro’s immigration plan he is taking to Washington D.C. since Texas shares most of the burden associated with the broken immigration system.

A quick snapshot of the bordering states and why leadership needs to come from the states that border Mexico:

Texas: 1,255 miles/64% of border length and has 24 ports of entry

Arizona: 354 miles/18% of border length and has 8 ports of entry

New Mexico: 180 miles/9% and has 3 ports of entry

California: 165 miles/8% of border length and 6 ports of entry

Just in:

Raul Grijalva steps up his game in Arizona

Grijalva Calls on Brewer to Reverse Stance, Allow ‘Deferred Action’ Beneficiaries Driver’s Licenses After New Federal Rule Released

Tuesday January 22, 2013

I have been doing a lot of research and reading lately on new Mexican-American (a/k/a Chicano) politicians … new blood if you will.  And a gem that comes to mind is Michelle Lujan Grisham –  a newly elected Democratic Congresswoman in our neighboring state of New Mexico.  Lujan Grisham, the daughter of a Mexican-American dentist and white mother has taken very good positions on legal immigration reform and she ought to be highlighted for her leadership to that regard.

Below is a recent memorable quote from her, and it is important to know what she says considering she is representing New Mexico — a bordering state to Mexico.   Too often folks have been making the mistake of seeking leadership of the politicians who live in states that do not border Mexico, and everyone knows the bleeding needs to stop in the southwestern part of our Nation — particularly when Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer tried to trump the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution via SB 1070.   It’s common sense to listen to the community that has been impacted the most — particularly when most of the deportations have been Mexican nationals.

“I am troubled that the Supreme Court left the door open to racial profiling with its ruling on the Arizona immigration law. Regardless, it’s up to Congress to lead the way on immigration reform, not renegade states like Arizona, Alabama and Georgia. When I get to Washington, I will be a leader and make it a priority to pass the DREAM Act and a comprehensive immigration plan that reflects our nation’s values, protects our borders and deals realistically with the immigrant families who are already living here, working here and paying taxes here.”

Kudos to Lujan Grisham.

We will be following her career because her leadership is important to people like me who live in the armpit of hell via Arizona where  SB 1070 originated.  We do know that this is a federal issue and we are counting on our “local” issue being taken care of at the federal level.

Lately the media has been giving a lot of attention to Florida and Cuban-Republican Senator Marco Rubio’s immigration reform even though Rubio supported Arizona’s draconian SB 1070 anti-immigrant law.

It doesn’t make sense — particularly when Rubio is not a resident of a state that neighbors Mexico.

Should the leadership come from Mexican-American politicians that reside in states neighboring Mexico? After all, most of the deportations are Mexican nationals.

Many community leaders have criticized Ed Pastor’s lack of action and leadership on comprehensive immigration reform where Pastor recently responded with this statement:

I have always been an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform and I continue to believe it is urgent to pass such legislation. I will continue to work with my colleagues and the Obama Administration to approve this important legislation as quickly as possible.

Angel Garcia, a Progressive Democratic activist states:

While Ed Pastor has taken the lead over the last 20 years on many issues such as infrastructure and education … it amazes me how oddly silent he has been on the issue of comprehensive reform.  If this is an issue he truly cares about, I would like to see him be more vocal  publicly   to fix the issues we currently have on immigration policies.

The Lou Show, another Progressive states:

Ed Pastor has in front of him a golden opportunity to take the lead towards CIR on behalf of the State of Arizona.

Mexican-American / Chicano leaders are showing leadership on the broken immigration system. 

A favorite Chicano leader of mine is Joaquín Castro of San Antone.  Mexican-Americans tend to trust Mexican-American leaders because the issue directly impacts Mexican-American families.

Kudos to Joaquin….

AUSTIN — U.S. Rep. Joaquín Castro used the scene at the Texas Public Policy Foundation‘s annual conference luncheon to illustrate the importance of immigration policy to a state as ethnically diverse as Texas.

“We don’t know whether the folks here are documented or undocumented, but it demonstrates the hard work ethic of the Latino community and the fact that there is a great need for their work,” Castro said, referencing the banquet servers at the Grand Ballroom of the downtown Hilton, many who spoke Spanish and smiled as panelists debated immigration reform on the dais.

“It’s not a glamorous job, but it’s part of what keeps the economic engine of America running,” said Castro, whose grandmother immigrated to San Antonio from Mexico and found work as a maid.

On stage, Castro laid out policies he plans to take to Washington, calling for “comprehensive immigration reform” to address the presence of an estimated 15 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

“I think we should pass the DREAM Act,” he said. “We should offer the ‘DREAMers’ a pathway to citizenship, and we should offer other immigrants, who can demonstrate that they’ve worked here and paid taxes, a pathway to citizenship.”

The agricultural industry self-reports that about 50 percent of its workers are undocumented, said Castro, who was introduced as “one of the new stars of Congress.”

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Castro-Diverse-Texas-makes-case-for-immigration-4184245.php#ixzz2IAtcSXd0