Texas Republicans add Arizona-like residency checks to platform

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/061210dnpolgopimmig.97963a15.html

07:58 PM CDT on Saturday, June 12, 2010

By GROMER JEFFERS JR. / The Dallas Morning News

[e-mail]

Texas Republicans voted Saturday to call for a state law to require local police officers to verify that people arrested on suspicion of a crime are in the country legally.

If Republicans have their way, the Legislature would make it a crime for an illegal immigrant to “intentionally or knowingly” be in the state of Texas.

[AlphaCentauri]

1. the GOP thinks immigrant ion bashing will get them in office n/t

[davidinalameda]

2. the sad thing is that it may work

people are pissed off about illegals

Democrats are seen as weak on stop illegal immigration

and yes, it is ILLEGAL immigration

I'm not saying that we need to be as hard-core as the republicans but we need to do something

put the republicans on the defensive

one of my ideas is to seriously go after the employers

the government seizes property of drug dealers and other criminals; start seizing the property of employers who hire the illegals

[mitchtv]

3. Dems need to secure the border and negotiate

some version of guest worker program for certain industries , mainly agriculture. that would be a good start

[EFerrari]

6. The thing is, it's mostly hype.

Immigration has been down for years now. The border has never been better "defended". ICE's "Secure Communities Program (which imo is a pos) just keeps growing.

The Republicans keep saying we are in a crisis and the Democrats do nothing. We are not in a crisis and Obama's administration is way more active than Bush was.

It's mostly Republican hype.

[davidinalameda]

8. the public is buying that hype

and if the Democrats want to diffuse this issue, they need to do something

[jobycom]

4. That's surprising. They are sacrificing long-term control of the state for a possible short-term gai

at best.

There have been several cities and counties, even especially conservative ones, who have tried to pass stricter documentation requirements, such as for signing a lease, and these have all eventually been rescinded when the conservatives realized how much of a backlash there would be.

Whites are less than half the population in Texas, and amongst whites, not all are conservatives. Plus, they are a shrinking minority, and may even be outnumbered by Hispanics in the next decade or so. Republicans can't win if they unite Hispanics against them. Which means, Republicans are either writing off their chances for the next decade in favor of holding power a little longer, or they just think Hispanics have a short memory.

Personally I think their hatred and their hubris are just overtaking them. They've been telling each other they were God's chosen for so long they are starting to believe it. They'll wind up like the guy in "The Silver Chalice" who believed his own deceptions and tried to fly. I hope they don't expect me to be holding a safety net when they do.

[blogslut]

5. Go for it, idiots

I swear to boB, this fall, the proverbial shit is going to shit the fan.

[DBoon]

7. Thereby ensuring republicans become an endangered species in Texas

You piss off Latin American immigrants, they will not forget it and will vote against you election after election.

Yes, most are here legally and many are citizens. They all understand the point of these laws is to give police an excuse for harassing someone for "looking illegal".

Even the legal immigrants and the native-born citizens have relatives whose legal status is "iffy". You wanna threaten to deport someone's favorite uncle or grandmother, you will not make a friend of that person

[pinboy3niner]

9. My friend from CA is in TX now, visiting her son and grandchildren

The grandkids are part-Mexican, and my friend was already concerned that TX will write Hispanic heritage out of their textbooks. Now THIS. She's steamed that her grandkids, all native-born Americans, may have to PROVE that they are here legally, that they're not border-crossing Mexicans.