Naturally, it being Europe, the issue is over who gets the government handouts.
And here’s an article on the European debate over immigration in The Weekly Standard.
Archive for the ‘Border Control’ Category
Think the U.S. Debate on Muslim Immigration is Heated? Check Out This Swedish Political Ad
Saturday, September 25th, 2010Harry Reid’s Illegal Alien Amnesty Amendment Fails
Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010With the economy still struggling and unemployment still high, you might think that Senate Leader Harry Reid’s top priority would be working on bills to get Americans back to work.
Of course, you’d be wrong.
No, even though 68% of Americans support stricter enforcement of immigration laws over an illegal alien amnesty, Harry Reid decided to go full steam ahead on his bill to provide an amnesty and college subsidies to illegal aliens 35-years old or younger by attaching it to the Defense appropriations bill. Thankfully, a cloture vote failed by an entirely-too-close 54-46. (Blanche Lincoln was among those voting against cloture, which is a slight surprise, since she’s so far behind her Republican opponent that it’s not like the vote could make things any worse.)
There are many theories about why Reid tried to push such an unpopular and divisive issue through less than two months before the election. One theory is that Reid, locked into a very close race against Sharron Angle, will need all the help he can get come November, and thus the need to pander to Hispanic voters. I think there’s an element of truth to that.
Another theory is that the Democratic leadership simply doesn’t care what American voters think. After all, they were more than happy enough to ram ObamaCare down the country’s throat despite widespread opposition, and the judicial arm of the Democratic Party has made it clear than voters will only be allowed to give their opinion on gay marriage if they approve it. They seem to regard the Nascar retards of flyover country (or should I say “Jesusland) with contempt, and “the consent of the governed” simply isn’t an important factor to Democratic congressmen when living in their natural home of Washington, DC. They know that none of their friends inside the safe reality bubble spun by The New York Times, NPR, MSNBC, Salon and Media Matters would ever offer them anything but praise for their “brave” stance in favor of illegal alien amnesty.
And those panicked political consultants complaining about a coming tidal wave of Republican gains uneseen since 1994? Well, those are hard to hear over the clink of self-congratulatory champagne glasses, and the sounds of all your friends on Capitol Hill and in the MSM saying how awesome you are.
The Obama Administration Seems to Regard Immigration Enforcement as Optional
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records, according to several sources familiar with the efforts.
[snip]
Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor “amnesty” program.
[snip]
“They’ve made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.
“This situation is just another side effect of President Obama’s failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year,” said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. “Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens.”
Between this and the lawsuit against Arizona, I wouldn’t say that the Obama Administration is indifferent to controlling the border, I’d say they’re actually hostile to it.
Nuevo Laredo Shootout Update
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010Warning: Graphic Material Contained in Links Below
Dwight linked to this after-action report on a two-hour gun-battle between the Mexican Army and members of drug cartel in Nuevo Laredo. (Warning: Includes some graphic images.)
Later, some people pointed out that at least one of the images looked strangely familiar. Some commentators doubted whether such a gun-battle had even taken place at all.
But there are many news bulletins about the battle itself. Also, the vast majority of those photos appear to be from that shootout, many of which are also shown here. (Again, remember that graphic clip warning. We’re talking serious, non-CGI exploded skulls here.) Of course, maybe that set of photos is from another shootout as well, but the photos do seem to be, at the very least, compatible with the (admittedly sketchy) news stories on the event.
On the other hand, those stories of drug gangs taking over ranches on this side of the border appear to be bunk.
Illegal Alien Amnesty: Now Without All That Annoying Voting
Friday, July 30th, 2010With 68% of Aemricans supporting building a border fence, illegal alien amnesty even less popular than cap-and-trade (even when disguised as “comprehensive immigration reform”), and an overwhelming majority of Americans siding with Arizona’s new border enforcement law and against the Obama administration, you would think that Democrats would be scrambling to get on the same side of the issue as voters, or at least doing their best to ignore, so as not to be slaughtered come November.
You’d be wrong.
Instead, the Obama Administration has decided to an end-run around that whole pesky “consent of the governed” issue to have Immigration Services implement an amnesty without congressional approval.
Combined with the Democrat’s perpetual efforts to give voting rights to felons, it reminds me of that old Stalin-era joke: “The government has lost faith in the citizens, and has reluctantly decided that it must elect a new people.”
Liberals Double-Down on Arizona Racism Charges
Monday, May 17th, 2010I previously mentioned liberal outrage at the Arizona border control bill, despite 61% of the nation approving of the same bill. But liberals doubled-down on the charges of racism, with numerous left-leaning locales calling for boycotts. Hell, Obama even apologized to China (you know, the same China that killed 60-75 million of their own people) for Arizona trying to enforce the same laws his administration is unable (or unwilling) to enforce.
Result? 71% of Americans now support Arizona’s bill.
That’s some might fine politicking you’ve done there, Lou…
How Many Liberals Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?
Monday, May 10th, 2010Unless you’ve been on an extended off-Internet vacation the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard about Arizona’s enactment of the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” AKA Senate Bill 1070, AKA the Arizona Illegal Alien Bill. You can find the complete text of the law here. (At 16 pages, it’s relatively short as such things go, though the use of all capital letters throughout for the actual statute language (a sadly common practice) does tend to strain the eyes.) The bill is the result both of the federal government’s inability to control the illegal alien problem for several decades, as well as the Obama Administration’s apparent disinterest in even pretending to to care about border control issues.
Liberal reaction to the bill was as swift as it was predictable: They called everyone who supported it racists. (Note also the inevitable liberal politically correct speak in calling illegal aliens “undocumented citizens.” Oh they’re citizens, all right: citizens of Mexico. (And, in a few cases, points further south.)) And they’ve been calling supporters of the law racist pretty much non-stop pretty much ever since the bill was passed.
And what effect has all those accusations of racism had on the law itself? It’s more popular than ever. 61% of voters polled approve of it.
Not only that, a majority of Democrats say the bill shouldn’t be repealed until we see how well it works first.
If liberals intended to stigmatize those who support securing the border as ignorant racists, then the project has been a miserable failure. Just like their attempt to brand Tea Party supporters as racists was a miserable failure. Just like their attempt to smear opponents of ObamaCare as racists was a miserable failure.
In light of all this, one must come to one of the following conclusions:
A. A majority of the American people are racists.
B. Liberals have finally cried wolf so many times that no one believes them when they accuse political opponents of racism anymore.
Personally, I’m going with B.
All of which made me think up this joke:
Q: How many liberals does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. They believe that if they call the light bulb a racist long enough, they’ll force the light bulb to change itself.