Category: Other Immigration

Arizona demonstration against Sheriff is classic Alinsky, until it turned violent

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have previously mentioned the brave Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Phoenix, AZ. 

Yesterday throngs of demonstrators protested his enforcement of immigration laws in Maricopa County, focusing their ire on him to bring attention to the issue which is a classic Alinsky political strategy.   However, they defeated their purpose when they got violent (something Alinsky opposed).

Saul Alinsky, the now dead community organizer extraordinaire and the author of ‘Rules for Radicals’ (Obama’s training manual) said to isolate one person and demonize that person when promoting your cause.   That is what they were attempting to do Saturday in Phoenix, but it backfired.   Before you read on, you might want to visit this post I wrote awhile back about how the open borders activists were attempting to use Alinsky’s Rule 13 on Arpaio.

This is from AP yesterday:

PHOENIX – Thousands of immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail in Phoenix Saturday in a protest that was aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration efforts and was marked by a clash between a small group of protesters and police officers.

Organizers say the protest was meant to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn’t handle immigration enforcement, and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.

The three-mile walk that started in a west Phoenix park ended by afternoon at the Durango Jail Complex, a collection of five jails, where officials played music, including a record by singer Linda Ronstadt, to drown out noise made by protesters. Ronstadt took part in Saturday’s protest.  [Knowingly or unknowingly, Arapaio’s people were using a litte of Alinsky’s Rule 5—laugh at the opposition—when playing Ronstadt music turned up loud!]

Then the demonstrators made a huge error—they got violent and even beat up a horse!

For his part, Arpaio said he wasn’t bothered by the protesters and that they should be directing their frustrations at Congress because it has the power to change America’s immigration laws.

“They are zeroing in on the wrong guy,” Arpaio said. “They ought to be zeroing in on the president.”

The demonstration was peaceful until police say protesters near the end of the procession started throwing water bottles at officers. [read the whole account, it was more than water bottles]

[…..] 

Hill also said a police officer on horseback was assaulted while her horse was mobbed, punched and pushed.

Five demonstrators were arrested.

Alinsky opposed this sort of violence.  By doing what they did and even assaulting a horse, they pushed some people who might have been sympathetic to their cause to the other side.  Believe it or not, Alinsky was very angry with Bill Ayers and his Weather Underground because of that phenomenon—people will reject your cause if you are violent.  In other words, you will firm up the opposition, by driving more people to the other side.  Indeed this demonstration that turned violent will make the average citizen say, well, these aren’t people we want in our country.

There are millions of horse lovers in America.  Those fighting to halt illegal immigrant entry into the US should see if there is some good film footage and put the horse pummeling on Youtube!

For new readers:  We have a whole category entitled Community destabilization where we have over the last year and a half or so told you how the Leftwing organizes using the Alinsky-model and other strategies.

It is definite! Haitians have been granted Temporary Protected Status

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

As you can see from my post earlier this a.m., I’ve been confused!  However, The Wall Street Journal has now reported that thousands of Haitians in the US illegally can stay for another 18 months —to work here and send money back to Haiti!

In making the announcement yesterday, Janet Napolitano warned that this only applies to Haitians here before Tuesday of this week.  So don’t try to get here now, you will be turned back, she said!   Good luck with that.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano extended temporary amnesty to Haitians who were illegally inside the U.S. before Tuesday’s earthquake, but warned that the Coast Guard would turn back any new refugees fleeing the devastation.

The so-called temporary protected status, or TPS, doesn’t apply to any Haitians who may try now to get into the U.S. If refugees take to the sea—the normal reaction to turmoil throughout Haiti’s recent history—officials in the U.S. and other countries will have to grapple with how to deal with a new wave of immigrants, most of whom will arrive without visas.

Ms. Napolitano warned that no new arrivals would get amnesty and the U.S. Coast Guard and other authorities would move quickly to stop new migrants. “People should not leave Haiti with the false belief that they will be entitled to TPS in the United States,” she said. She also said, “We are seeing no signs of any sort of migration of that nature at this point.”

TPS has been offered to victims of natural disasters before, particularly to refugees from El Salvador in 2001, as well as from Nicaragua, Honduras, Somalia and Sudan. But until Friday, TPS had never been granted to Haitian refugees, despite calls for relief following hurricanes and civil strife, mainly because successive White House administrations have feared it would trigger a stampede of refugees seeking haven in the U.S.

 Immigration advocacy groups are tickled pink with the decision!

“It’s a good day!” said Cheryl Little, executive director of Miami-based Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, a Haitian activist group, after Ms. Napolitano’s announcement.

Ms. Little said the tens of thousands of Haitians in the U.S. who now will be eligible to work will be able to remit money back to Haiti, which she said should “discourage some Haitians from risking their lives at sea.”

Ms. Little, where are they going to get jobs?

For information on TPS, go here.

Temporary Protected Status for Haitians approved

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update:  Temporary Protected Status confirmed in Wall Street Journal article today.

Update January 16th:  I think I read this wrong, here is a report from The Hill that says TPS for Haitians had not yet been decided!

That means that Haitians presently in the US can all stay for now.  From the New York Times:

The Department of Homeland Security said it was halting the deportations of Haitians back to the island “for the time being.” Refugee and immigration rights groups said the United States should grant temporary protective status that would allow Haitians who are now in the United States to stay here.

Here is more information on how the program works.  I previously mentioned temporary protected status regarding Liberians, here.   The Obama Administration did extend the time they are allowed to stay in the US.

Further information on TPS, here, at Center for Immigration Studies.

Is Britain considering limiting immigration?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Political correctness is enforced in Britain to a degree we can scarcely imagine in the U.S., unless perhaps you are at a university.  Opposing immigration or talking about Islam as a problem are seen as signs of fascism, ignorance and general evil. So it is with some surprise that I read this guest column in the UK Times headlined Migration threatens the DNA of our nation. Furthermore, it’s by a former Archbishop of Canterbury (head of the Church of England), George Carey. The Church of England’s top officials are part of the politically-correct elite. The article begins:

Too often in recent years the call for a rational debate on mass migration has degenerated into name-calling and charges of racism. Even the campaign for Balanced Migration, which I have supported, representing cross-party politicians, has barely been heeded by party leaders who have run scared of the issue.

This is why we have launched a declaration calling on the leading political parties to make manifesto commitments to prevent the UK population reaching 70 million, which is projected in official figures by 2029.

The fact is that a rise in the UK population by ten million in two decades will put our nation’s resources under considerable strain, stretching almost to breaking point the enormous reserves of tolerance and generosity of the British people.

The declaration by no means spells out a halt to immigration. In fact we welcome the contribution of both economic migrants and asylum seekers to our lively cosmopolitan culture. But we urge a return to the levels of the early 1990s, about 40,000, compared with 163,000 in 2008. Failure to take that action could be seriously damaging to the future harmony of our society.

It looks like the concern is prompted by the success of the British National Party in recent elections. The BNP was founded as a fascist party. It is attracting people who are desperate at the major parties’ lack of attention to the threats to English culture and identify by the huge influx of immigrants, especially Muslims, and the clampdown on criticism of Islam and many other things deemed sacrosanct by the elites. Carey’s concern is the danger of bolstering the “far right” if these concerns are ignored. He goes on:

Democratic institutions such as the monarchy, Parliament, the judiciary, the Church of England, our free press and the BBC also support the liberal democratic values of the nation. Some groups of migrants, however, are ambivalent about or even hostile to such institutions.

The monarchy is a democratic institution? Funny. I guess since it has a defined role, what we would call a constitutional role here, does make it democratic. Carey is not evading the problem of Islam, for he goes on:

Furthermore, the idea that Britain can continue to welcome with open arms immigrants who immediately establish their own tribunals to apply Sharia, rather than make use of British civil law, is deeply socially divisive. The last thing any of us want is ghettos. And while we don’t expect groups to assimilate, there must be a willingness on their part to integrate with the rest of British society.

And he connects his point to Christianity. I shouldn’t be surprised at this, but somehow I am.

Yet, is there anything distinctly Christian about such a call? Some will say “no”. Our values lie rather with the Enlightenment than with the Church. I believe that history is against them. It is my firm view that our society owes more to our Christian heritage than it realises and to overlook this inheritance of faith will lead to the watering down of the very values of tolerance, openness, inclusion and democracy that we claim are central to all we stand for.

This is not to say that I am calling for Christians as a group to be given priority in any migration points system. The tragedy is that any intervention into such sensitive matters is open to such widespread misinterpretation.

But what I am saying is that those who seek to live in this country recognise that they are coming to a country with a Christian heritage and an established Church. Just as we should expect immigrants to subscribe to democratic principles, abide by our laws, speak English, support freedom of speech and a free press, so they should also respect the Christian nature and history of our nation with its broad, hospitable Establishment.

John Derbyshire has a typically acerbic comment at The Corner.  He rightly says,

Like another well-known clerical performance, it is not done well, but one is surprised to find it done at all.

There is another party besides the BNP that calls for limits on immigration, the United Kingdom Independence Party. According to Wikipedia,  it “holds thirteen seats in the European Parliament and two in the House of Lords (the latter due to the defection of Conservative peers). It also has around 100 local councillors on principal authorities, town and parish councils.” Its platform calls for a five-year freeze on immigration, and after that,

No one should be admitted unless they are fluent in English, have the required educational qualifications, demonstrate loyalty to the UK, its laws and values, and can support themselves financially, with no recourse to public funds – and this to apply equally to their dependents.

Carey didn’t mention the UKIP in his column. There are things about them he probably dislikes, such as their main platform position of withdrawing from the European Union, but they are too respectable to frighten people into considering a change in immigration policy. However, their existence shows that the desire to assert British or English culture and to do something about the tidal wave of hostile immigrants is not limited to those who can be tarred as fascist.

Thousands from countries deemed state sponsors of terror enter US on diversity visas

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I am swamped this afternoon and don’t have time to do this story justice, but below are a few bits of the Fox News story to get you started.  Please read the whole thing and use our search function for ‘diversity visa lottery’ to learn more.  Hat tip:  A friend from TN.

The State Department is planning to welcome thousands of immigrants from terror-watch list countries into the United States this year through a “diversity visa” lottery — a giant legal loophole some lawmakers say is a “serious national security threat” that has gone unchecked for years.

Ostensibly designed to increase ethnic diversity among immigrants, the program invites in thousands of poorly educated laborers with few job skills — and that’s only the beginning of its problems, according to lawmakers and government investigations.

“There are a lot of holes in this program in terms of security and in terms of fraud,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who has written legislation aimed at killing the lottery.

[….]

The State Department’s Office of the Inspector General recommended in a 2003 report that terror-sponsoring nations be removed from the diversity visa program.

“OIG believes that this program contains significant vulnerabilities to national security as hostile intelligence officers, criminals and terrorists attempt to use it to enter the United States as permanent residents,” the office’s deputy inspector testified to Congress in 2004.

A separate report filed by the Government Accountability Office also faulted the program for being susceptible to widespread fraud. A cottage industry has emerged abroad to cater to the lottery, and it regularly bilks people out of massive amounts of money and even coerces some into marriage to keep their diversity visas.

Check out the list of countries from which we take more “diversity.”  Nigeria and Yemen are among them!