No "Sanctuary" For Stupidity

I guess, partly because I wanted to take a break from reading about Iran and Karl Rove, I came across this post from Adam B at The Daily Kos about Fred Thompson, who apparently doesn’t know whether he’s a candidate for president or not.

The problem is that, whether he wanted to or not, Thompson already declared himself by virtue of the amount of money he has raised to date (and I have to admit that I was prodded a bit to learn more based on this Susan Saulny article in today’s New York Times, embedded in Adam B’s post, which is practically a commercial for Thompson’s as-yet-still-exploratory campaign).

Since Saulny obligingly gives you a good look at imwithfred.com (?), Thompson’s site, you don’t have to do much to learn how to navigate to The Fred File, which is our officially undeclared candidate’s forum where he holds court on issues of burning import for his blinkered followers, and number one of course for all of these people is immigration.

Now I’m still learning about this since I usually don’t pay much attention to wingnuttia, but apparently, it looks like the tragic murder of three students in Newark and the wounding of a fourth may have been committed by an illegal immigrant (as noted here).

And before you can even imagine speaking all of the words of that sentence, leave it to Michelle Malkin and her ilk to come charging forth to tell us that all illegals are murderers and other types of criminals and the scum of the earth generally speaking (takes one to know one I guess). And Thompson tunes into that vibe quite thoroughly in this post from his site, citing immigration and murder statistics from the Center for Immigration Studies which, as noted here, pretends to be nonpartisan, but in fact it advocates a “restrictionist agenda and works closely on Capitol Hill with Republican Party immigration restrictionists,” according to this analysis.

Thompson also decries what conservatives call “sanctuary cities” (hence his post title) which, in his view, provide locations for recruitment of illegal immigrants into some kind of a criminal underclass. And to follow up, Thompson sternly intones the following…

Now I am a strong federalist, but immigration is a responsibility of the federal government, and the failures of local officials to enforce our national laws have a direct impact on communities around the country. So federal law must be enforced, or our neighborhoods will continue to be the scene of chilling and lurid crimes committed by those who broke the law in the first place to come to America.

Yeah, Fred, that’s great. There’s only one problem though, and it’s that THERE IS NO FEDERAL LAW!

And do you know why? It’s because of all the frothing methane dispensers out there who vote for Republicans without bothering to exercise the brain matter that they have who also think we can actually round up and deport every illegal immigrant in this country! And THEY are the ones who ruined any possibility of common sense prevailing in our immigration policy (and if you don’t want to believe me, believe that titan of intellectual virtue – snark – Trent Lott here).

Another thing…let’s actually try and interject some common sense here and take a look at exactly why immigrants risk breaking the law by trying to sneak into this country. And that would be because of the miracle of our global economy (as noted here). People are going to go where the jobs are better to provide the best lives that they can for their families. Period.

And as noted here…

With federal authorities enlisting local law enforcement agencies to act as their "eyes and ears" on the ground, a number of towns have responded with highly publicized zero-tolerance policies on illegal immigrants. In Hazelton, Pa., the Illegal Immigration Relief Act -- passed last year but being challenged in federal court (it lost) -- denies licenses to businesses that employ illegal immigrants, fines landlords $1,000 for each illegal immigrant discovered renting their properties and requires that city documents be in English only. Other towns have deputized police officers to act as local immigration cops.

But equally fervent are a less well-known but fast-growing number of "sanctuary" cities and towns -- from Seattle to Cambridge, Mass. -- where local authorities are effectively rejecting the federal government's call for tougher enforcement and instead bestowing a measure of local acceptance.

In New Haven, Conn., for example, officials have prohibited police from asking about an immigrant's legal status, and in July the city will introduce municipal identification cards, providing undocumented immigrants with a "locally legal" form of ID that will make it easier for them to apply for bank accounts and sign rental leases. Overall, at least 20 cities and towns have approved pro-immigration measures over the past three years, according to the D.C.-based Fair Immigration Reform Movement. Analysts and advocates say almost as many -- including at least five in New Jersey, where about one in 17 residents is an illegal immigrant -- are considering similar resolutions.

"What we're seeing is a surge in immigration policy at the local level," said Michael Wishnie, a Yale University law professor who has worked with New York City on pro-immigration measures. "What they have in common is that mayors are basically saying, 'Look, this is a major issue for us, and if Congress can't fix it, we will.' "

Initially coined by immigrant groups in the 1980s, when a number of cities approved local laws granting a haven to the victims of civil wars in Central and South America, the term "sanctuary city" has been adopted in recent years by opponents of pro-immigrant ordinances. They argue that the new crop of towns approving such measures is effectively sanctioning illegal immigration.

True to the M.O. of Frank Luntz, leave it to the Repugs to take words denoting a well-intentioned cause or course of action and utterly twist them for their foul ends.

I haven’t logged onto Thompson’s site to post or read a comment (probably should because I may end up on another Email list and find out interesting stuff), so I don’t know how his “pearls of wisdom” are being received.

But since this stuff is not far removed from his incisive commentary where he tells Michael Moore that he belongs in a mental institution while Thompson chomps on a Cuban cigar, or Thompson’s conjuring of a scenario where missiles are launched from Mexico towards San Diego (here), I expect that it will meet with the usual brand of hero worship from those zealots who see the “Flaw and Ardor” candidate as the only one worthy of inheriting the mantle of The Sainted Ronnie R (but if not, the ever-accommodating Hollywood back lot will always give him a welcome, I’m sure).

Update: God Newt, please run - it will be so much fun...

Update 8/24: A great Paul Krugman column on the Repugs and immigration (I'll try to update this to a non-Times Select link at some point).