PDA

View Full Version : On Immigration, Obama backs Mexico, Not Arizona




bobbyw24
05-21-2010, 04:48 AM
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
May 21, 2010

When President Obama discussed the new Arizona immigration law with Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the White House Wednesday, he was doing something he has never done with the governor of Arizona. Although Obama has repeatedly criticized the law, he has not once talked about it with Gov. Jan Brewer, nor is any such discussion in the works.

If they did talk, Brewer might ask Obama why he took a foreign leader's side against a U.S. state on the issue of illegal immigration. In a Rose Garden appearance, Calderon called the Arizona law "discriminatory" and said it will lead to immigrants being "treated as criminals." Obama echoed Calderon's remarks, saying the Arizona law "has the potential of being applied in a discriminatory fashion" and creates the "possibility" that immigrants will be "harassed or arrested."

The scene left some in Arizona, and all around the country, slack-jawed. "It is unfortunate and disappointing," says Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, "that the president of Mexico chose to criticize the state of Arizona by weighing in on a U.S. domestic policy issue during a trip that was meant to reaffirm the unique relationship between our two countries." Far more distressing to some was the fact that Obama took Calderon's side.

Of course, so did many in the president's party. When Calderon spoke before Congress and declared, "I strongly disagree with the recently adopted law in Arizona," most Democrats -- joined by a few Republicans -- gave him a standing ovation.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder continues work on plans to sue Arizona over the law. But if Holder goes ahead, he'll have to get in line. A total of five such lawsuits have already been filed in federal court.

There's one from the American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. There's one from the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. There are two filed by police officers in Arizona, and one filed by a man who lives in Washington, D.C., but says he plans to visit Arizona in the fall and fears he will be discriminated against, even though he is an American citizen.

"It's almost like they are competing with each other to see who will be the plaintiff," says Kris Kobach, the law professor and former Bush Justice Department official who helped write the law. The lawsuits are also good fundraising tools for groups like the ACLU.

A suit by Holder would immediately capture all the media attention, but it would not mean the other suits go away. "This illustrates how completely farcical it would be if the Justice Department were to file suit," says Kobach. "You have not one but five lawsuits already pending on the subject, the issue is already in the federal courts for adjudication, so a Justice Department lawsuit would be completely unnecessary as well as unprecedented and would not in any way advance the issue."

Arizona officials are working on their defense strategy, which could be quite complicated. Some suits name Brewer as the sole defendant. Others add the state attorney general. The ACLU suit names every Arizona county attorney and sheriff as defendants.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/On-immigration_-Obama-backs-Mexico_-not-Arizona-94531424.html#ixzz0oYmeYITU

MsDoodahs
05-21-2010, 05:25 AM
That standing O for that guy's attack on AZ....sad sad sad.

angelatc
05-21-2010, 05:32 AM
He also told us we should ban weapons, using that phony "80% of our guns come from the US!" talking point.

Tom McCLintock responds:



May 20, 2010 — Response to President Calderon
House Chamber, Washington, D.C.
May 20, 2010

M. Speaker:

I rise to take strong exception to the speech of the President of Mexico while in this chamber today.

The Mexican government has made it very clear for many years that it holds American sovereignty in contempt and President Calderons behavior as a guest of the Congress confirms and underscores this attitude.

It is highly inappropriate for the President of Mexico to lecture Americans on American immigration policy, just as it would be for Americans to lecture Mexico on its laws.

It is obvious that President Calderon does not understand the nature of America or the purpose of our immigration law.

Unlike Mexicos immigration law -- which is brutally exclusionary -- the purpose of Americas law is not to keep people out. It is to assure that as people come to the United States, they do so with the intention of becoming Americans and of raising their children as Americans.(snip)....And to those who say we must reform our immigration laws I reply that we dont need to reform them we need to enforce them. Just as every other government does. Just as Mexico does...

YouTube - Response to President Calderon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldx8gZDwZWs)

slothman
05-21-2010, 08:02 AM
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
May 21, 2010

"It is unfortunate and disappointing," says Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, "that the president of Mexico chose to criticize the state of Arizona by weighing in on a U.S. domestic policy issue during a trip that was meant to reaffirm the unique relationship between our two countries."

The ACLU suit names every Arizona county attorney and sheriff as defendants.


So the Mexican president is not allowed to say something bad about the US.
Does that mean the US can't say anything bad about any other country.
What's different between Mexico saying something bad about part of the US and the US saying something bad
about part of Iran.

In my opinion they don't need to make all sheriffs, et al., defendents; just Arpaio.