Pundits say immigrant bashing may be a winning tactic in Michigan
By Eartha Jane Melzer 6/18/10 10:27 AM
Congressional candidate Jason Allen and Secretary of State candidates State Sens. Michelle McManus (R-Lake Leelanau) and Cameron Brown (R-Sturgis) are sponsors of a Senate bill that would enact Arizona-style immigration reforms in Michigan.
The Immigration Law Enforcement Act, SB1388, and its companion House bill 6256 would require all police to enforce federal immigration laws and require them to request immigration papers from anyone they suspect of being in the county illegally. According to Emily Carney, legislative director for McManus, the law mirrors legislation recently enacted in Arizona.
That law has prompted protests, boycotts and legal challenges by groups who claim it is unfair and will promote racial profiling. Carney said that the McManus office has received e-mails and phone calls with positive feedback about the bill. Jeremy Hendges, spokesman for Jason Allen’s congressional campaign, described the candidate’s take on immigration policy this way:
“From the national security angle, we need to make sure we are not letting in drug dealers, human traffickers, and terrorists. People who are coming here and not working legally — they are not paying in to tax system they should not be expecting to be using all these benefits without paying in the system that you and I pay into.”
Hendges acknowledged that Michigan does not have a serious problem with illegal immigration. “Look at the southern border,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate in Michigan that we haven’t had a lot of trouble.” Hendges said that while people do sometimes mention immigration on the campaign trail, “the number one issue hands down is jobs and the economy.”
Critics say that the immigration legislation backed by the term-limited state senator will actually harm the state’s damaged economy by creating a social climate that is hostile to all immigrants.
To read more:
http://michiganmessenger.com/38884/republicans-campaign-on-arizona-style-immigration-reform
Favorite quote from the article:
Asked how Allen’s immigrant position would affect his chances in the congressional election Lessenberry said, “It may well help him, because the vast majority of the population is woefully ignorant.”
It is odd that there has been this big spike in right wing idiocy coming out of Arizona though. Texas has a higher background level of crazy and right now Arizona is like a supernova taking the attention. I wonder how long it will last.
Actually it isn’t that strange. Arizona has been moving gradually towards the middle over the last twenty years. The population has doubled in that time and a big part of that spike wasn’t old retirees who tended to be conservative, but a lot of younger families moving from blue states, etc. In 2008 McCain only received 53.4% of the vote here in Arizona, his sixth lowest vote total among the states he won. Now think about that, his home state was one of his least supportive states. Had McCain been from Texas, Florida, etc., he likely would have lost Arizona.
This state has a long history of very conservative, often racist politics and the supporters of those policies aren’t happy that they are consistently losing ground to moderates and liberals (simply termed as liberals in their tirades). Because of how the state legislature is set up conservatives still have a major majority in both houses but, when Napolitano was governor, she vetoed a lot of their stupidity. In fact she set the record for vetoes in the history of the state. You take her away, bring in Brewer who is a wing-nut’s wing-nut, and you see incredibly stupid legislation that was shut down by a reasonable governor make it out of the state house. At the same time you see an increase in non-conservative population as well as an increase in non-white population and the far white err, right is freaking out.
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