The so-called Tea Party Express has identified some favored candidates for this election cycle in an effort to advance a bevy of right-wing attacks on American civil liberties, all in the name of “taking the country back.” I asked before and I’ll ask again here, back to what? A close look at just one of these candidates, Nevada GOP candidate Sharron Angle, provides an unflattering and menacing answer.
Does it seem insensitive for a mosque to be built near Ground Zero? Sure it does. I imagine for those who lost loved ones that September 11th, it must certainly seem callous, and defiant in the face of the resulting outcry. On the other hand, should we respect the right of a New York Muslim congregation to build a place of worship in Lower Manhattan? Of course, we should. This is America. And the principle of religious freedom and tolerance is at the core of our founding vision.
So why the big hoopla?
Harvard student Eric Balderas/Photo: Harvard Crimson
Some have long maintained that a Harvard diploma is a “golden passport.”
But sometimes what a Harvard student needs is the real thing: a U.S. passport. Or, for that matter, a birth certificate, Social Security card, or any proof of legal residency to avoid being deported to a country you don’t know.
That sort of thing would have come in handy for Harvard sophomore Eric Balderas, a 19-year-old biology major who recently became internationally known after he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for being in the United States unlawfully. The arrest occurred on June 7 as Balderas tried to board an airplane to Boston after visiting his mother in San Antonio. Because he lost his Mexican passport, he tried to board the plane using only his Harvard student ID card and his Mexican consular card. That tipped off authorities. So Balderas was quickly slated for deportation to Mexico.
What’s the matter, Arizona? Couldn’t find someone your own size to pick on? You have to go after children now. What a big, bad state you turned out to be.
This fall, Arizona State Sen. Russell Pearce is expected to introduce a bill that is already getting a fair amount of national attention. The legislation would deny state-issued birth certificates to the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants – those so-called “anchor babies” that nativists and others on the right have been trying to marginalize for more than a decade. And why is that? It’s because U.S. citizenship acts as a protective cloak over these children and prevents those on the far right from doing to them what they’d really like to do: deport them along with their illegal immigrant parents.
The supporters of Arizona’s new immigration law, SB 1070, do have a way of talking in circles. Most of the time, they don’t even seem conscious of their contradictions.
One minute, they’re badmouthing the federal government for being ineffective in securing the border and stopping illegal immigration. The next, they’re defending the state law by insisting that it’s a mirror image of federal law, the same approach that we were just told is ineffective — but apparently still worth emulating.
One minute, they’re insisting that they care about the rule of law and that’s why they oppose illegal immigration. The next, they’re declaring their support for a state law that is blatantly unconstitutional — or, in other words, contrary to the rule of law.
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Click here for part two of Rudy Ruiz on CNN
RBB produces a Spanish-language radio show called ¡Adelante América! Nationally syndicated by GLR Networks, ¡Adelante América! engages, educates and empowers listeners to be active participants in our nation’s civil discourse and democracy.
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