Immigration

Tom Tancredo kicked off the National Tea Party Convention last week by complaining that President Obama was elected only because America no longer requires literacy tests for voters; a position which he defended as an attempt to stand up to the "cult of multiculturalism."  In that effort, he received support from Vision America's Rick Scarborough, who declared that America would cease to exist if it becomes more than 30 percent Hispanic:

In an interview, Mr Tancredo defended his remarks, insisting they had "nothing to do with colour or ethnicity or any of that crap" but "has everything to do with people coming to America and wanting to be American". That, he explained, means stopping talking your native language and doing everything to blend in. "Under the cult of multiculturalism, we don't make them do that and that will have great implications," he said. Looking at a British reporter, he galloped on: "When the Archbishop of Canterbury says there is nothing wrong with Sharia law being practised as well as British law, you say wha-a-at?"

Among the first keynote speakers yesterday, meanwhile, was Rick Scarborough, the pastor and firebrand founder of Vision America, which had its own stall here yesterday laden with books he has written, among them Liberalism Kills Kids. He also wanted to discuss the Tancredo speech which he apparently liked very much. "I didn't hear racism," he told this reporter, before spelling out his worries. "America is a country of legal immigrants but the Left has turned it into a country of invaders," he offered bluntly. "Look at Europe and the rampant invasion of England. They are practising Sharia law and I think this crew is going to fight that." Mr Scarborough also outlines how the US is a "special country" – more than any other in the world – and that is how God intended it. He adds: "If we are to become 30 per cent Hispanic we will no longer be America." (And therefore no longer special.) "That would be a bad thing."

[The Times quotes Scarborough as saying "If this country becomes 30 per cent Hispanic we will no longer be America," which is where I got the title.]

Though the topic has fallen off the radar since 2006, it is widely expected that the Obama administration and congressional leaders will try to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform legislation sometime this year.

As such, we can expect to hear more from right-wing anti-immigration groups like Americans for Legal Immigration, which are still active around the country as demonstrated by the group's response to the failure of legislation in New Jersey that would have allowed undocumented immigrants to obtain in-state tuition rates at public universities. 

AILPAC is rejoicing that it has defeated this "globalist plan to restructure America" and vows to "go on offense" and "fire more politicians in D.C. than you can count": 

"This makes about the 20th time we have helped to defeat this aspect of the Globalist plans to restructure America since 2005," said William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC. "Citizen activism has helped defeat in-state tuition for illegals in every state except for two in the last five years, since we defeated the measure in North Carolina."

In-state tuition for illegal immigrants is part of a Globalist plan to build an economic block in North America that integrates populations and suppresses Americans using hyper legal immigration and rampant illegal immigration as a nation building tool.

"Tonight we celebrate our latest victory in New Jersey and we thank and congratulate our supporters and activists," Gheen said. "Tomorrow we will announce plans to go on offense to reverse in-state tuition for illegals in the states of Nebraska and Texas using legislation and court challenges."

The defeat of in-state tuition for illegal aliens in New Jersey creates an opportunity for the pro-immigration enforcement Americans to return to strategic positions of political offense. After every battle, each side must decide to advance, dig in, or retreat.

"Tomorrow, we go on offense," said Gheen. "Time for the illegal aliens and their supporters to start playing defense in the states and the elections. Tomorrow we advance in Texas and Nebraska!"

ALIPAC plans to release plans to support legislation in Nebraska that will rescind in-state tuition in the state, after some lawmakers sneaked the provision through without significant public knowledge or input two years ago.

ALIPAC also plans to launch support for a lawsuit that has been filed in Texas to rescind in-state tuition and other taxpayer benefits for illegals.

Other plans are being made to circulate and file strong state level comprehensive immigration enforcement legislation such as the laws passed in Georgia, Arizona, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

"We are going to launch a major initiative in the states as part of our plans to defeat the Amnesty legislation in Washington," said Gheen. "And then we are going to fire more politicians in D.C. than you can count!"

Have you been looking for the perfect way to spread some holiday racism, wishing that someone would create an offensive right-wing novelty tune set to the melody from "Feliz Navidad" that traffics in bigoted stereotypes?

Well, then you are in luck, thanks to this masterpiece from "The Fox and Rice Experience" which is posted on Human Events:

Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Throw then some pesos and they work so hard.

Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
I don't even ask if they got green card.

They're going to pave up my driveway this Christmas.
They're going to clean all my cars this Christmas.
They're going to shovel all the snow this Christmas.
Those illegals in my yard.

They're going to dig me a pool this Christmas.
They're going to landscape my lawn this Christmas.
They're going to cook me up some tacos this Christmas.
Those illegals in my yard.

Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Sixteen arrive in a stolen car.

Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
When they're not working, they sit at the bar.

They're going to drink some cervezas this Christmas.
They're going to shoot some tequila this Christmas.
They're going to get DUIs this Christmas.
Those illegals in my yard.

They're getting free organ transplants this Christmas.
They're going to have anchor babies this Christmas.
They're going to scream "sí, se puede" this Christmas.
Those illegals in my yard.

Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
One at a time run past those border guards.

Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Illegals in my yard.
Hugo Chavez sends his kind regards.

They're going to tackle Pat Buchanan this Christmas.
They're going to chase down Lou Dobbs this Christmas.
They're going to join up with La Raza this Christmas.
Those illegals in my yard.

They're going to spread bubonic plague this Christmas.
They're going to bring me lots of bed bugs this Christmas.
They're going to pass tuberculosis this Christmas.
Those illegals in my yard.

Dan Gilgoff reports that efforts are underway to get religious conservatives on board efforts to reform the nation's immigration laws:

Many of the same faith-based groups attacking Obama and the Democrats over healthcare reform's abortion provisions, including the National Association of Evangelicals, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, are poised to become major players in the president's coming push for comprehensive immigration reform, which would include a path to citizenship for many illegal immigrants. "There is a strong biblical teaching about showing hospitality to the stranger and the alien," says [Galen Carey, chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals.]

...

The shift follows an intensive effort by Latino evangelical leaders to lobby their white evangelical counterparts. "My stump speech is that this is not amnesty and that this is a biblical issue," says the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. "If you are a devout follower of Christ, you have to support immigration reform." In the years since the last national debate on immigration reform, Rodriguez has met with white evangelical opinion makers like NAE President Leith Anderson and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. "This is the same constituency Glenn Beck is appealing to," says Rodriguez.

White evangelical leaders have also been influenced by their increasingly Latino congregations. Though nearly 70 percent of Hispanics in the United States are Roman Catholic, Hispanic evangelicals and Pentecostals are among the nation's fastest-growing religious groups. And politically speaking, conservative evangelical activists see Hispanics, who are generally conservative on issues like abortion and gay marriage, as potential allies. "The only thing that can turn them against us is if they are made to feel unwelcome in social conservative circles," says Richard Land, the Southern Baptist Convention's public policy chief.

In an attempt to get Christian-right groups to back comprehensive immigration reform, Rodriguez is working with the dean of the Liberty University's Law School, founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, on an immigration summit for conservatives. "The conservative wing of the Republican Party has to understand that it's impossible to win a national election without Hispanics," says Rodriguez. "And it's impossible to win Hispanics without immigration reform."

Frankly, I don't see that any of these developments will do much to influence the overall right-wing opposition to immigration reform, or move the Religious Right at all.

Richard Land has long been something of an outlier on this issue and the recent National Association of Evangelicals' unanimous resolution backing comprehensive immigration reform is already being attacked by Religious Right groups like the Institute on Religion and Democracy, which blasted the NAE for "adopting political stances in God's name and without consideration for their own churches' members."

The one interesting thing is Rodriguez's plans to host an immigration summit with Mat Staver, dean of the Liberty Law School, as both are members of the Freedom Federation, the new right-wing supergroup.

As we pointed out last month, Rodriguez recently began pushing to ensure that healthcare reform contained coverage for those in the country illegally, which is a position that would not go over well with several other members of the Freedom Federation.

If Staver and Rodriguez do start pushing for immigration reform, one would expect that such an effort would ultimately create a lot of tension within the Freedom Federation coalition itself, which could end up undermining the coalition's very reason for existing, considering that it was created specifically in order to unify the Religious Right.