"The fear in their faces"

Few things are as disgusting as human beings organizing to protest and yell at buses of unaccompanied migrant children, but this is America's right wing so I've kind of stopped being surprised. The sheer inhumanity and stupidity of the situation can be summed up by what happened here:

A Republican running for Congress in Arizona snapped a photo of a passing school bus full of children on Tuesday near a housing facility for undocumented minors. He posted the picture to Twitter with a stern warning to his followers: "Bus coming in. This is not compassion. This is the abrogation of the rule of law."

Adam Kwasman later spoke with a local reporter and described seeing "the fear" in the children's faces, urging authorities to abide by the law and enforce the border against the influx of child immigrants crossing into the United States.
But there was a problem with Kwasman's story. The school bus was carrying local children on the way to a YMCA camp not far from the migrant shelter. A reporter at the scene said he saw the children laughing and taking pictures with their iPhones.

The 'fear on the faces' of those YMCA kids they were yelling at...

What's Wrong With This Picture

Pretty amazing Fox News graphic on anti-immigrant protests. The statue's text is missing for some reason...

Immigration Reform Will Not Help The GOP

Anytime an idea emerges from the DC media echo chamber and this many people agree that it's true, you should immediately become suspicious. The most recent example is that the GOP needs to help pass immigration reform in order to save themselves electorally. You hear this from John McCain, Marco Rubio to left leaning pundits everywhere and to be fair, it does makes some sense. The GOP has a problem with how non-white people perceive their party, and they should probably do something about it if they want to win another national election. The problem is that it has very little to do with passing comprehensive immigration reform.

The thinking in GOP circles (like Sean Hannity said after the election) is that if you pass CIR, you are now on equal footing with Latinos again, evening out your electoral math, and the problem is solved. Ironically, conservatives come to this extremely wrong conclusion because of their inherently racist attitudes about non white people. If you believed that non-white voters voted Democratic because of the "gifts" that party gives them (as Mitt Romney articulated), then it makes perfect sense that you solve your problem with Latino voters by giving them their own "gift". This idea is so racist it's laughable, since people of color are human beings that that (just like Mitt Romney), can make up their own minds based on a variety of factors. Also, one look at the unemployment rate for African Americans or the record deportations during the last 4 will tell you that there have been no "gifts" to be had for either of those communities during Obama's presidency.

So if it isn't "gifts", why do these constituenties vote overwhelmingly for the Democratic party? It really isn't that complicated. People don't want to be members of/vote for groups that don't want them as members. And even though there are some non-neanderthals in the Republican party on this issue, the pressure from the base is too strong for many of them to exist. For every Marco Rubio or John McCain, there are ten Steve King wanna bes who would face a primary challenge in a heartbeat if they started speaking about people of color as human beings.

So let's get back to immigration reform and why it's passage won't help the Republican party. The way this works (in the best case senario) is that a bill passes the senate with an overwhelming majority of Democratic votes. The Republican speaker of the house is pressured to bring the bill up against his will, and it passes with almost all Democratic votes. It comes out of committee (as Republicans are publically seen making the bill harsher on undocumented immigrants) and passes both houses once again with huge number of Democratic votes over loud (and probably racist) Republican objections. Meanwhile, the reason for the Republican's anti-person of color stance, their base, will be out in full force at large rallies, vocally saying racist shit. If you don't believe me, watch the video above from the big rally at the Capital that happened last week.

So what will help Republicans/Conservatives have a better relationship with non white voters? That would be purging the party of their racists and strongly denouncing them, which will never happen because it would mean purging the people who make the Republican party happen from the Republican party. No one in their right mind would do that, and even if they did, as long as there is strong support racist ideas among their base, there always will be an opportunistic politician to embrace them. The problem is the people with the Republican party, and until they die off, they're pretty much fucked on any issue that requires a taking non-racist stance.

Immigration Reform in the Hands of The Orange One

So the Senate worked hard at making the Immigration Reform bill worse in hopes of attracting 70 votes, because something. But seriously, there are people with important jobs who think that two extra votes on the immigration reform bill will suddently make John Boehner OK with losing his job. I don't understand these people.

The bill passed the Senate with 68 votes, and will now move on to the House, where it will not pass. I understand the point of advocating for the bill and using this moment as a leverage point, but I as an observer of this stuff I'd be willing to bet anything that nothing will come from this bill. In order to pass, the bill would have to be brought up and passed with Democratic votes. I know some commentators are trying to claim this would be some sort of GOP victory with latino voters but that's just insane. How on earth does a bill passing over the loud racist objections of your party benefit Republicans in any way?

We'll see how this plays out, but I'd be stunned if any actual passed legislation emerges from this mess.

Another Reason For Immigration Reform

Immigration reform that has a path to citizenship is smart for a lot of reasons, but Digby kind of blew my mind with this:

An analysis by the Social Security Administration says a bipartisan immigration bill pending in the Senate would boost the retirement program's trust fund by adding millions of taxpayers to the economy.

The finding comes in a letter to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who requested the analysis, from Stephen C. Gross, chief actuary for the agency.

It could provide a boost for the immigration bill, which has been attacked by some conservatives as overly costly, as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares to begin amending the measure on Thursday.

The analysis says the bill would add more than $300 billion in net additional revenues to Social Security and Medicare over the coming decade.

Gross writes that the overall effect of the bill on the long-range trust fund balance "will be positive."

Now just to be clear: The people who want to destroy social security will always want to do so, and there is no actual crisis that requires social security reform. So maybe none of this will matter. Then again, anything that makes it harder to advocate cutting social security = positive.

Great Mysteries of Our Time

Why oh why does the GOP have problem courting nonwhite voters? No one will ever know:

I see the Heritage Foundation continues to be a shining conservative beacon of light to all discredited little hacks who are no longer welcome in more polite society (yes, yes, Mr. DeMint, we see you waving at us). It seems one of the authors of the immigration "study" that had even other conservative think tankers up in arms has a bit of a past; Dylan Matthews at WaPo notes that one of his past hits is a doctoral dissertation recommending America alter its immigration policies to better reflect the obvious differences in intelligence between the "white native population" and the pesky non-white newcomers. Or, as he put it:

"The statistical construct known as IQ can reliably estimate general mental ability, or intelligence. The average IQ of immigrants in the United States is substantially lower than that of the white native population, and the difference is likely to persist over several generations. The consequences are a lack of socioeconomic assimilation among low-IQ immigrant groups, more underclass behavior, less social trust, and an increase in the proportion of unskilled workers in the American labor market. Selecting high-IQ immigrants would ameliorate these problems in the U.S., while at the same time benefiting smart potential immigrants who lack educational access in their home countries."

And:

"No one knows whether Hispanics will ever reach IQ parity with whites, but the prediction that new Hispanic immigrants will have low-IQ children and grandchildren is difficult to argue against."

Lies and the Lying Liars

I haven't had time to read Hertiage's new report that says that this Immigration Bill compromise would cost tax payers 6.3 trillion dollars, but considering their work their constant lying/being wrong about everything else, I'm going to guess it isn't true. Based on the linked article seems like people who have had time to study it agree that this is the case.

These people really do live another world absent from any attempt at honest discourse.

Immigration Reform Proposed

With Obama and the Senate moving actually proposing things, it seems like immigration reform might start to move forward in one form or another.

“I believe we are finally at a moment where comprehensive immigration reform is within our grasp,” Obama said. He described the key planks of his plan as “smarter enforcement, a pathway to earned citizenship, improvements in the legal immigration system so that we continue to be a magnet for the best and the brightest all around the world.”

His remarks came one day after a bipartisan group of eight senators released their own blueprint for reform. White House officials described the Senate framework as “similar” and Obama praised them for their work in his speech.

Neither plan is fleshed out with enough detail to definitively compare them. But on the broad requirements for a bill - a path to citizenship, improved workplace enforcement, visas for high-tech workers - there wasn’t a lot of daylight between the two frameworks. As a result, the president indicated he was willing to let Congress work out a plan themselves — so long as they didn’t get “bogged down in an endless debate.”

“If Congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, I will send them a bill based on my proposal and insist they vote on it,” he said.

The biggest difference was on border security. Obama, like the Gang of Eight in the Senate, called for a set of technological and personnel investments to prevent illegal immigration as well as a streamlined process to track people who overstay their visa illegally. But the Senate’s plan included an additional requirement that border security measures go into effect before currently undocumented immigrants can apply for a green card, a prerequisite to citizenship. It also would create a commission of Southwestern officials and community leaders to monitor the implementation of the security measures, although senators suggested it would not have veto power over the “trigger” for permanent residency applications.

On citizenship, both Obama and the senators suggested an earned path in which current undocumented immigrants would have to pay a fine, back taxes, pass a background check, and wait until green card backlogs had been cleared by legal immigrants before being considered for permanent residency. The details on this process are critical, since experts warn that the current visa system could delay citizenship for many undocumented workers by decades — perhaps even a lifetime — without further changes.

Neither side has gotten too in the weeds on fixing the system yet, although a White House official said Tuesday that reform has to “both change the structure of the legal immigration system permanently as well as add visas to the system temporarily to get through the backlog.” The Senate wants a separate expedited process for young immigrants and agricultural workers, the president’s blueprint only singles out young immigrants. Obama’s plan explicitly allows same-sex couples to sponsor their partners or spouses for a visa, the Senate does not address the issue.

But Obama also stressed in his speech that citizenship could not be some far off goal, but must be a defined and specific path that immigrants would be able to fully grasp from the start.

“We all agree these men and women should have to earn their way to citzenship, but for comprehensive immigration reform to work, it must be clear from the outset that there is a path to citizenship,” Obama said. The president added that it “won’t be a quick process, but it will be a fair process”

This could create conflicts with Congress, especially if the border security trigger ends up relatively strong or the green card system isn’t revised to review the undocumented population’s applications in a timely manner.

Josh Marshall was writing on twitter that he thought a bill would pass the Senate, and eventually pass the house with Dem votes. I think this is kind of madness, and would be absolutely stunned if any comprehensive reform with citizenship passes. This is the Neanderthal caucus we're dealing with in the house, and they run the show to the extent that any of the fuck-ups in the majority there run anything. Bringing this bill to a vote without a majority of his caucus would be suicide for the orange one, and people in those positions tend to not give up their jobs voluntarily.

Either way, it's really good that this issue is getting more attention and that the political ground seems to be shifting. The stigma against immigration reform seems to be fading, and that's not insignificant.

Profiles in Courage

We throw words like courage and such around, but what happened yesterday at the DNC took my breath away. Undocumented Immigrants engaging in direct action in support of rights and calling for an end to deportations. 10 were arrested. Just wow.

Obama Administration Issues Executive Order of "mini Dream Act"

This is a big fucking deal:

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies.

The policy change, described to The Associated Press by two senior administration officials, will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States without documents but who have attended college or served in the military.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was to announce the new policy Friday, one week before President Barack Obama plans to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials' annual conference in Orlando, Fla. Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak to the group on Thursday.

Under the administration plan, undocumented immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.

The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods.

Great job by the administration on this order. This will drastically improve the lives of many people currently marginalized by our screwed up immigration system.

Questions raised by the Admin's decision to address this by executive order:
-Why did Obama do this now, as opposed to after the DREAM Act failed?
-What caused him to examine what he could do by executive order for this area and not others?
-How can this success be replicated for other areas of policy?

Intial thoughts are these: Gay rights and Immigration have had these successes for two main reasons:
1. Both Gay rights and immigrant rights groups and  have been the most vocal in their opposition to the administration.
2. Neither this order or any of the movement on gay rights are economic issues, and are impacting rich people negatively in any way. The same can't be said for other areas where we would like to see the administration change course on policy.
3. The administration saw support from both groups as critical to his reelection. A large number of the really big money donors are gay rights advocates, and were withholding support until Obama took further action on marriage. Similarly, the Administration probably figured they couldn't win the election with this level of vitriol coming from the immigrant rights community, especially since Romney might make Rubio his VP.

This is a huge victory. It also shows when he wants to get something done, Obama is willing to look outside of the box and use executive orders and other unconventional means. The challenge will be to see ways this success can be replicated in other areas.

Deportations for All, Nonexistent Political Victories for Others

The number of deportations during the Obama administration is something that has very much flown under the radar as far as mainstream media coverage goes. It's a shocking policy that unfortunately fits the Obama Administration's attempts at political calculus on a variety of issues. The idea seems to be that if they embrace a conservative policy (mass deportations, or cutting deficits), they believe it gives them room to move in the other direction and pursue more liberal policy goals (comprehensive immigration reform, increasing spending on infrastructure, etc.).

This strategy is frustrating for a variety of reasons, but mostly because they are playing a game that no one else has agreed to play in a world that doesn't exist. If they deport 400,000 people a year, the Republicans will demand you deport 500,000. It does not increase the ability to pass comprehensive immigration reform in the slightest and the only thing you will have accomplished is ruining the lives of many hardworking people who have done nothing wrong.

To learn more about the immigration policies under Obama, watch this really incredible episode of Frontline, and judge it for yourself. When issues like this don't get enough coverage (admittedly, they haven't gotten enough coverage here either), it's worth doing your part to educate yourself on what's going on.

Watch Lost in Detention on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

Damn Undocumented Pilgrims, Taking Our Jobs...

Well done to the New Yorker and cover artist Christoph Nieman:

Stay Classy, Max Baucus

Rewarding idiocy:

I just got off the phone with Frank Sharry, Executive Director of the immigrant rights group America's Voice, who's not exactly pleased that Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Max Baucus (D-MT) are responding to the Joe Wilson scream incident by writing immigrant restrictions into health care legislation.

"Baucus and Conrad are caving on a fake issue that is trumped up by Republicans not to better the bill but to trump up opposition to reform," Sharry declared. "I just find it stunning that they would validate what Joe Wilson did."

Sharry also points out that the changes to the bill are likely to be extremely inefficient.
Under Medicaid, he says, "there is currently a verification system in place called the SAVE program, which works pretty well."

. . .

So not only is this particular method of avoiding systemic abuse by low-wage, undocumented residents ineffective and politically dubious. It's also extremely wasteful. Thankfully, though, Congressmen like Joe Wilson will no longer be tempted to scream "you lie!" at President Obama. Or maybe it won't even accomplish that.

Big Plans in the Senate

Yesterday at the senate progressive media meeting, various commitments were made to the progressive agenda:(Via Mydd)

I recall last year, attending, that the atmosphere was much different. Then, all about stopping Bush; now, a huge agenda of things to do. And promises galore.

Ron Wyden, Universal healthcare-- Kennedy's bill. Harry Reid, Immigration Reform this year; EFCA "still a few more votes for cloture" but this summer. Sherod Brown, Universal healthcare, local green electricity. Byron Dorgan, a national "smart grid" for electricity. Jeff Bingham, Cap and Trade this cycle. Chuck Schumer, local water/sewer upgrades nationally. Tom Udall, serious start to getting off oil. Jon Tester, all the stimulus to infrastructure jobs (including green).

That's an extremely ambitious list. I'm not sure all of this is possible within one year (I could see health care taking up quite a bit of time), but it's important that this stuff is all out there.

While part of me is reminded about how worthless Reid and many other senate dems have been in fighting against Bush, I get the feeling that they will have a much more proactive approach promoting their own agenda. And we better hope so, because unlike the dems, the republicans know how to jam the congressional machine, meaning that none of these goals will be achieved easily.

With the economy being a priority, the job initiatives will probably come up soon, and I'm almost positive we'll see health care reform proposed this year. Employee Free Choice in the summer sounds at least possible, and "A few more votes needed for cloture" is a signal for President Obama to get those guest seats on Air Force warmed up.

The one thing on this list I don't see this year is Immigration reform. Also, as much as we need immigration reform, from a purely political standpoint it might be nice to completely split the republican caucus in the run up to the mid-term elections. The politics of that fight will be nuts, simply because it was the senate and not president Bush that prevented last years fairly flawed immigration reform bill. The good news on this one, is that we should be able to peel of a few republicans on this rather easily, and add them on to a much better bill without the create a permanent underclass guest worker provisions.

If this is the senate's agenda, the groundwork will be in place for truly major change.

Close your eyes and pretend the last 14 years never happened...

Yesterday:

Bush warned that without NAFTA, migratory pressure from Mexico would be worse."If you do away with NAFTA, there's going to be a lot of Mexicans, more Mexicans out of work," Bush said. "It will make it harder on the border.

October 8th, 1993:

"Attorney General Janet Reno, linking two of the nation's most politicized issues, predicted Thursday that the United States can halt illegal immigration from Mexico only by passing the North American Free Trade Agreement."

Study from 2006

Undocumented Immigrants in 1992: 3.9 Million
Undocumented Immigrants in 2005: 12 Million

NAFTA lowered wages for workers in Mexico, which lead to an increase in poverty. More poverty meant more people coming to the United States for work so that they can make enough money to feed their families.

NAFTA > Poverty > Illegal Immigration

You'd think we'd have caught on by now. Then again...

The Immigration Con Artists

As usual, David Sirota is dead on. This time it's about the immigration debate, and how those who are the harshest critics are often the same ones keeping the current system in place.

The con artists' behavior is stunning for its depravity.
First they gut domestic wage and workplace safety enforcement. Then they pass lobbyist-crafted trade pacts that push millions of foreigners into poverty. And presto! When these policies result in a flood of desperate undocumented workers employed at companies skirting domestic labor laws, the con artists follow a deceptive three-step program: 1) Propose building walls that would do nothing but create a market for Mexican ladders 2) Make factually questionable claims about immigrants unduly burdening taxpayers and 3) Scapegoat undocumented workers while sustaining an immoral situation that keeps these workers hiding in the shadows.

The formula allows opportunists in Congress to both deflect heat away from the corporations underwriting their campaigns and preserve an exploitable pool of cheap labor for those same corporations. Additionally, these opportunists get to divide working-class constituencies along racial lines and vilify destitute illegal immigrant populations that don't make campaign donations and therefore have no political voice whatsoever.

Check the link because the whole article is definitely worth a read, especially since the media has created such a misleading debate on the issue.