Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Pendergraph's latest 287(g) argument

Sheriff Jim Pendergraph established the 287(g) program in Mecklenburg County, where I live, and since retirement has spent considerable time defending it.  Rather shrilly as well.  Last year I published an op-ed criticizing the program's flaws, and he responded with a letter demonstrating that he was unaware of what even ICE officials thought of the program.

Now he has his own op-ed in the Charlotte Observer.  This time, he demonstrates that he is unaware that roughly 40 percent of immigrants in the country illegally overstayed their visas:

At some point, every illegal alien made a conscious decision to pack food, water and whatever other belongings they wished to carry, sidestep the law, and make a somewhat difficult trek into the United States, many infiltrating into Mecklenburg County.

So, actually no.  That's not true, though it conjures up a more threatening image of poor Mexicans marching to "infiltrate."

But it gets worse.  He ends by arguing that if you do not support 287(g), you are unpatriotic:

Real Americans support this effort to make our country secure. Those who don't need to reassess where their loyalties lie.

There's nothing quite like ill-informed flag-waving xenophobia to start the day.

5 comments:

Anonymous,  10:06 AM  

Good Luck With THAT, David!

Living as we do in the Deep South, those arguments begin to grate on the nerves to the point that you want to do something childish and public. Like toilet paper his house.

The problem is that now that he's wrapped himself in the flag, the only thing left to do is rip the flag away and show that the emperor has no clothes. But then you get in a back and forth and the Charlotte Observer might like it for the advertising it sells but again it gets tiresome. And we have better things to do with out time, like trying to help the people that your southern sheriff puts in jail unlawfully, and there are quite a few of those in the "round up the wetbacks" raids that they carry out. The load makes you weary after awhile.

'Tis a problem and my little brain sees no solution at this point.

Defensores de Democracia 11:31 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Defensores de Democracia 11:50 AM  

Thanks for informative article.

It is very difficult to think rationally and weigth things with measure in the middle of so much heat, emotion and passion about Immigration, legal or not, what is legal ??, what is crime or a criminal ??, the language that we use is never "fair and balanced".

But I am slowly reaching some conclusions :

1) The borders have to be controlled and the "Border Fence" may have been very useful, I believe. Nobody in his rational mind should be asking for open borders or total amnesties.

2) It is true that some people that have stayed for many years and working productively should be given amnesty, probably conditioned to fines, exams, etc ... The time should be calculated by knowledgeable people and not in the middle of Tea Party.

3) It is an economic Truth that many Latino Immigrants ( and others ) have greatly benefited the nation.

It is also a Great Truth that big progroms result in Economic Harm for the General Population. History has too many examples.

4) There are many politicians and elected officials fishing in muddy waters, and surfing over tsunamis of Hate, Fear, Paranoia, Racism, etc ...

5) Mr Obama shold be careful not to advocate for Immigration Reform during year 2010, and I have many doubts about year 2011.

6) Everybody should help for a Perfect 2010 Census, for a Census of Truth, Quality and Perfection. Without fears of being evicted, etc ... That is my belief and conviction.

And everybody should help for Voter Registration ( according to law )

Conclusion :

Nothing could destroy Mr Obama and the Democrats like Bills and Projects of Immigration Reform. That throwing of stones to the Beehive of Racism, Hate, Fear and Paranoia would sting and kill them.

The best policy is "to do nothing" as Otto Von Bismarck recommended to his secretary when he was old and in disgrance with the fool and idiot of Kaiser Wilhem II.

According to Bismarck Political Processes have a life of their own and the Great Statesman should practice the art of waiting patiently.

We don't know the result of the 2010 census and elections. We don't know who is going to be the Governor of Texas and how Redistrictin is going to operate in Texas, California, Ohio, etc ...

Finally, there is another important process going on called "Voter Registration".

This is the Political Process of Bismarck applied to the Census, Voter Registration and the Elections.

Youth, Minorities, Politics :

Milenials.com

Vicente Duque

Kindred Winecoff 6:27 PM  

Thanks for taking out the trash, Greg.

leftside 1:56 AM  

What gets me is that usually the the same people who want to kick out all the immigrants is that they also will defend the right of money and business (capital) to go wherever they want in the globe in search of profit and free markets. The only market not ever allowed to be free will be labor.

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