Pete Candland: Red badge of shame

Angelina_Apr

From Pete Candland’s website:

Statement on Housing of Undocumented Border Children in Prince William County July 15, 2014

Statement on the Housing of Undocumented Border Children in Prince William County
July 15, 2014With news breaking this past week that a facility in Prince William County is being used by the Federal Government for an extensive program to house undocumented border children, I believe that two important actions must be taken immediately to address this issue.

First, the County must exhaust every regulatory tool available to stop the placement of any additional undocumented border children anywhere in Prince William County.  Now that we know this extensive program exists, we need to stop growing the problem.

Second, every undocumented child who is presently housed in a Prince William County facility that receives taxpayer money must be repatriated with their families as quickly as possible. Furthermore, Prince William County and the Board of County Supervisors should take action to facilitate that process.
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Corey Stewart: A view from Prince William County–how they really see you

Angelina_Apr

dark ages3

On another blog, in a time not so long ago, a little supervisor contacted all the dark masters to see what could be done to help him win an election.  This time became known as The Dark Ages of Prince William County.

Yes, Corey Stewart, we are talking about YOU.  Remember when you jumped on the Rule of Law bandwagon and went after everyone Latino?  You didn’t just go after criminal illegal aliens.  You went after everybody.  You actions tore at the very fabric of our community.  You rubber stamped thousands of  homes to be built  while targetting those who came to our community seeking work in the building industry.   You  meanwhile lined  your war chest with developer money.

You used  immigration to your own political gain, inciting a county rather than seeking sensible solutions.  You made promises that could not be kept, knowing that what you said could not be implemented.  You back-stabbed your colleagues on the Board of Supervisors by giving their emails to local bloggers.  You allowed the police chief to be called a traitor by your blogger buddies.  His “sin” was meeting with immigrants and Latino community leaders to explain the new changes and to reassure them that they would not be profiled.  The BOCS had directed him to do this.  Chief Deane deserved better.

Your Rule of Law Resolution that you chest thumped so hard about allowed probable cause to be used to intimidate immigrants.  Even though you declared probable cause would change over ‘your dead body,’ it did change and you tried to obfuscate the situation and claim that you supported the new Rule of Law all along.  This new rule was ushed in by supervisors who had had time to think about what was being done.  In the end, anyone arrested had their status checked, a far cry from random checks that happen when ‘probable cause’ is the law of the land.

Now local Republicans have turned on you.  I expect they see you as a candidate who lacks convictions.  Your code of ethics seems to stop at anything that isn’t self-serving.

Corey, you divided a county for political gain.   It seems now that much of the community has turned on you simply because you have made poor decisions.  You pledged to keep part of our county rural, yet the minute you were in office you approved thousands of acres to be exempt from the rural crescent restrictions.

You really have kept your promises to no one.  Good luck tomorrow.  I doubt if you will get much support from those of us in the ‘hood.  I hope you aren’t counting on the Latino vote.  The people of Prince William County  have long memories.  Virginians don’t take to betrayals real well.

“Wetbacks” and “Dinosaurs”– The GOP is having a hard time getting it right

MoonHowler

don young

Yahoo.com:

 

During a discussion about ongoing challenges to the economy Thursday, Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young referred to Hispanic workers as “wetbacks,” an ethnic slur used to describe migrant workers. He has since apologized.

“My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” Young told Alaska public radio station KRBD. “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”

Rep. Don Young of Alaska apologized for using a racist term but not before GOP leaders jumped all over him publically.   According to Latinofoxnews.com:

“I apologize for the insensitive term I used during an interview in  Ketchikan, Alaska,” Young said. “There was no malice in my heart or intent to  offend; it was a poor choice of words. That word, and the negative attitudes  that come with it, should be left in the 20th century, and I’m sorry that  this has shifted our focus away from comprehensive immigration reform.”

His remark brought a rare rebuke from U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH),  and other high-ranking party leaders, who called his comment “offensive.”

“Congressman Young’s remarks were offensive and beneath the dignity of the  office he holds,” Boehner said. “I don’t care why he said it – there’s no  excuse…”

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Corey, you could have fooled me!

MoonHowler
No Latino voters for Core-man
No Latino voters for Core-man

I got another beg letter from Corey.  He wanted money.  I am not sure why he thinks I am his friend.  Part of his  email contained the following:

The media is at it again. Just two days ago, a columnist from the Richmond Times Dispatch labeled me “an immigrant basher”.

It is no doubt this statement arises from my leadership of the nation’s toughest crackdown on criminal illegal immigration

In Prince William County, if you are arrested for a crime and it is determined that you are here illegally, then our law enforcement officers hand you over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

I need your help in this fight to combat the never ending liberal media attacking our conservative values.  A donation of $25, $50, $100 would go a long way to help me spread my message of conservative governance.

Every person who is being arrested is checked, regardless of age, sex, race, etc. If upholding the Rule of Law makes me “an immigrant basher” than let them name call, I am willing to deal with such petty insults for the safety of Prince William County’s 425,000+ residents. Since we enacted our illegal immigration policy, there has been a 47.8% drop in violent crime and we have handed over more than 6,000 criminal illegal aliens to ICE.

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Corey Stewart: Liar, Liar Pants on Fire

Elena

When will Corey stop spreading the misinformation?  It never gets old for him and yet I find refuting his propaganda exhausting!

So, let’s just recap, shall we? Indulge me for a moment as I take us down memory lane.  Only recently, after Romney lost, Corey was oh so eager to impart his wisdom upon Mr. Romney.  You know, all that knowledge and experience he has reaching out to the minority community, oh, excuse me,  just a moment, as a I…….(choke, sputter, cough, gag).

Whew, that was close, I had difficulty catching my breath there.  Where was I?  Oh yes, Corey, the great communicator with the immigrant and minority community.  Here was his sage advice for Mr. Romney, via the New York Times:

“You don’t have to sell out on the issues and suddenly take on the Democratic position on taxes to win the black vote or the Latino vote or the women vote,” said Corey Stewart, a Republican who is chairman of the Board of County Supervisors in Prince William. “But you do have to modulate your tone.”

Mr. Stewart, who is running for lieutenant governor next year, drew some criticism in 2007 by pushing for local crackdowns by the police on illegal immigrants. That has cost him support among many Hispanic voters in the county, but he says it helped him politically among blacks who felt threatened economically by the surge of newcomers.

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Senate announces bipartisan immigration deal

MoonHowler

Here it is folks.  It is still in infancy.  President Obama will announce his plan on Tuesday which is supposedly more liberal than the Senate version.

The gang of 8 includes:

The Gang of Eight senators who formally introduced the proposal include Democrat  Sens. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), Bob Menendez (N.J.) and Dick Durbin (Ill.) and  Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Lindsey Graham  (S.C.), who couldn’t attend.

I seem to be missing 2 senators.  Senator Flake of AZ and Senator Bennett of Colorado are also part of the gang of 8.

These senators seem clearly united that this bill will not be like the one in 1986 that was passed  nor the one in 2007 which did a swan-dive in defeat.

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‘The Birthright Citizenship Act of 2013’ –No more ‘anchor’ babies?

MoonHowler

anchor-babies

anchor baby (definition):  is a pejorative term for a child born in the United States to immigrant parents, who, as an American citizen, supposedly can later facilitate immigration for relatives.  (wikipedia)

Huffingtonpost.com:

According to the 14th Amendment, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” But [Rep. Steve]King argues that was not meant to include children of undocumented immigrants.

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DREAMers get temporary reprieve–deportation deferred for 2 years

MoonHowler

Children of illegal immigrants who meet certain conditions are now able to apply for deferred action which, while not permanent, gives 2 years of reprieve from deportation .

According to the Washington Post:

The Obama administration kicked off one of the most sweeping changes in immigration policy in decades Wednesday, accepting applications from young illegal immigrants for the temporary right to live and work openly in the United States without fear of deportation.

An estimated 1.7 million young people who arrived in the United States illegally as children could qualify for the new Department of Homeland Security program, and thousands are expected to pay the $465 application fee for a “deferred action” permit that would protect them from deportation for at least two years. Many began lining up earlier this week at their native countries’ embassies and consulates to get passports and other records needed to apply.

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Mitt won’t commit to a stand on immigration

MoonHowler

Bob Schieffer tried for all he was worth to get Mitt Romney to go out on a limb over President Obama’s policy to allow good students to get work permits and driver’s license.  Romney continued to dodge the bullet.  Amazing.  Romney will not commit to specifics.

What is it that he would do with the Senate preparing to filibuster? Romney needs to be far more specific on this topic if he is to pull in Latino voters. He needs to specify what he would do especially dealing with a congress that wants to stonewall  the Dream Act.  Does think Romney think that Obama’s recent policy  was the first choice? This is not the first time Obama has mentioned immigration as it pertained to youth people who are out of status through no fault of their own.

 

As for “securing the border,” that is a sound byte. The border will never be secured. We cannot put a dragnet around our entire country. What Romney must have really meant was to erect concertina wire and electric fences along our southern border to keep Hispanic illegal immigrants out. During the Obama administration border crossings have diminished each year.  I don’t think for one minute he meant our northern border. Its time for people to start going on record and to stop hemming and hawing. We have all sorts of kids whose very lives depend on people to stop hemming and hawing.

Yes, Obama issued a stop gap measure. Good. It is an emergency measure.

Carlos Martinelly sentenced to 20 years

MoonHowler

Carlos Martinelly Sentenced to 20 Years in Car Crash That Killed Nun: MyFoxDC.com

Carlos Martinelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his drunk driving accident (August 1, 2010)  that injured 2 nuns and killed a third.  Martinelly was also charged with felony murder. 

Wikipedia defines ‘felony murder’ as follows:

The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder in two ways. First, when an offender kills accidentally or without specific intent to kill in the course of an applicable felony, what might have been manslaughter is escalated to murder. Second, it makes any participant in such a felony criminally liable for any deaths that occur during or in furtherance of that felony. While there is some debate about the original scope of the rule, modern interpretations typically require that the felony be an inherently dangerous one, or one committed in an obviously dangerous manner. For this reason, the felony murder rule is often justified by its supporters as a means of deterring dangerous felonies.

I keep thinking about this case being Corey Stewart’s launch pad into state politics.  For over a year we have heard about this case, day after day.  This case has been all over Fox News time after time, as some sort of landmark illegal immigrant case rather than a drunk driving case.  Martinelly was brought here illegally  as a child.  He had a green card.  He just didn’t have legal status.  He became the ‘nun killer.’ 

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Common sense changes to immigration status

MoonHowler

From the AILA Blog:

Under the twisted immigration law the husband or wife of a US citizen is barred from applying for a green card in the US if they originally entered without proper inspection by an immigration officer. To obtain lawful status the immigrant must leave the US and apply for a visa at a US embassy in their home country. But once they leave the US they are barred from returning for up to 10 years unless they can prove their US citizen or legal resident spouse will suffer extreme hardship in their absence. But the process–known as an “unlawful presence waiver”–can take months, even years. In the meantime the family is separated, the foreign spouse may be stuck in a dangerous place–like Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where many immigrants have lost their lives–and there is no way of predicting if or when the family will ever be reunited.

The proposed rule change is huge because it will allow undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens to apply for a provisional waiver while in the U.S.–something not permitted under the current rule. If the waiver is granted, the foreign national will then leave the U.S., apply for his or her immigrant visa abroad, and return to his or her loved ones. The change will give countless American families a chance to stay together safely and legally.

The move is also smart enforcement because it will reduce the illegal immigrant population and allow the Department of Homeland Security to better focus its resources on keeping America secure and safe.

This is very welcome news for our friends who have loved ones out of status.  It’s all too easy to brush off these kinds of problems with platitudes and sound bites.  However, if it is your husband, wife, child, sibling, it becomes much more than a sound bite.  I have had two situations with people I know in the past few years that turn this issue into much more than an ‘illegal is illegal’ question. 

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Alabama: The “Show Me Your Papers” State

MoonHowler

From the Newsleader.com:

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Authorities said Wednesday they dropped a charge against a German Mercedes-Benz executive who was arrested under Alabama’s new crackdown on illegal immigration after a police officer caught him driving without identification required by the law.

While Tuscaloosa police arrested the man last week for not having proper citizenship documents while driving a rental car in the city, city attorney Tim Nunnally said in an email the charge was dismissed after the man later provided the documents in municipal court.

Police identified the man as Detlev Hager, 46. The company said he was in Alabama on business at the time but declined further comment.

The arrest drew widespread attention because the German automaker is one of the state’s leading employers, and its decision to build its first U.S. assembly plant in Alabama in 1993 provided the spark that helped lead to the state’s large automotive industry, which includes foreign manufacturers Honda, Hyundai and Toyota.

Republicans who support the immigration law say it will help create jobs for legal Alabama residents by driving away illegal immigrants, but some business leaders and critics of the law contend similar arrests could hurt economic development in the state by making it a less-attractive location for foreign companies.

 

This certainly sounds like dumb and dumber.  In the heart of Dixie, a state with a horrible track record on race relations should be doing everything in its power to attract new business and to improve its image.  The area is ripe for attracting new business because it is a right to work state, as a fairly low tax base, and already has an automotive industry base.  So what clod decided to arrest one of the Mercedes Benz executives?  Did they think they had discovered some well- preserved old Nazi on the run from I.C.E.?  

 

 

Newt straps on the TNT–the biggest take away

MoonHowler

Newt somehow found a way to articulate that middle ground that describes how most moderates feel about the immigration issue.  He effectively managed to push across an idea that Rick Perry tried to accomplish but didn’t quite manage to do. 

Pundits this morning are discussing how badly Newt damaged his lead with the base who doesn’t care if grandmas and grandpas are lined up and marched back across the border. 

 The strategist implication probably wasn’t thought out as well as it should have been.  

Do you agree with Newt or Mitt?  Is that really amnesty?  Notice Newt was careful to exclude citizenship for those who stayed under this category.  That, in effect, excluded the notion of any party trying to get new voters. 

What are the pros and cons for Newt in his bid for presidential election?

Carlos Martinelly Montano found guilty of felony murder

MoonHowler

I will always be uncomfortable with a murder verdict.  Murder is intentionally killing someone.  Are prosecutors in Virginia ready to charge all drunk drivers who kill someone with murder or was this special charge reserved for Carlos only?  Manslaughter yes, murder no. 

This case is about drunk driving and about being an habitual offender.  It isn’t about illegal immigration.  It was political theater being played out on a stage contrary to the explicit wishes of the Benedictine nuns.  It took tragedy and turned it into political carnage as Corey Stewart appeared again and again on both national and local TV, trumpeting the evils of illegal immigration.  He even had a Rule of Law campaign soliciting money.  The entire affair was unseemly. 

I hope  Stewart is smug and  pleased with himself.  He is who continually waved the bloody shirt and demanded Martinelly’s head on a platter, again, in defiance of the wishes of the Bristow order of nuns whose sisters were victims of this terrible accident. 

Where does this leave us when the next drunk driver isn’t an immigrant? 

Where will this verdict lead us next time?  Beware of unintended consequences.  I expect we have not heard the last of this unusually charged case.

Senator Sessions Belittles DHS Secretary Napolitano

MoonHowler

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano was called before the Senate  Judiciary Committee to get dressed down by this esteemed governing body and to answer a few questions about immigration,  TSA,  and other things that fall under the Department of Homeland Security.  Not everyone was on their best behavior.

According to the Washington Times:

Homeland Security Secretary Janet A. Napolitano says her department has the resources to deport about 400,000 aliens each year, and the new guidance her department issued will only change the makeup of who gets deported.

“There are 10 million or so illegal immigrants probably in the country and the Congress gives us the resources to remove approximately 400,000 per year,” she said, testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The question is, who are we going to prioritize. And we’re very clear. We want to prioritize those who are convicted criminals. We want to prioritize those who are egregious immigration and repeat violators. We want to prioritize those who are security threats, those who have existing warrants.”

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