I’ve already done two posts about repeated, baldfaced lies told by Arizona governor Jan Brewer. First, non-partisan PolitiFact revealed that she lied repeatedly about Arizona’s new immigration law. Next, she repeatedly claimed that the majority of illegal immigrants coming over the border are smuggling drugs, despite absolutely no evidence to back up her claim (and plenty that disputes it).
But Brewer is determined to continue lying, in order to stir up fear and hatred against immigrants (illegal or otherwise). On Sunday, Brewer described in gruesome detail one result of illegal immigration: “Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded.”
There’s only one problem. The Arizona Guardian newspaper checked with the county coroner’s offices along the border, and none of them had even heard of any beheadings. As far as they can tell, Brewer is making this story up out of whole cloth.
In addition, Brewer has claimed that 87% of illegal aliens coming across the border have prior criminal records, but the governor’s office could not provide any sources of this number and Federal immigration authorities could not confirm it.
Even her campaign staff is admitting that the governor has made some “missteps” and is trying to keep her from naming mythical numbers without citing statistics. But it is pretty clear what she is trying to do. On a Sunday morning show a week ago, Brewer said people in Arizona were living in fear and that some parents were afraid to send their children to school.
We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings and the fact that people can’t feel safe in their community. It’s wrong! It’s wrong!
This, despite the fact that crime statistics clearly show that border areas with Mexico are some of the safest areas in the US. It seems more likely that the source of this terror is Brewer’s fear-mongering, rather than illegal immigration.
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Reality has a well-known liberal bias.
Actually, I’m not certain that this is a liberal v. conservative issue, or even a Republican v. Democratic issue. Yes Brewer is a Republican (and in general, Republicans seem to be more adept at using fear to achieve political goals), but there have been plenty of conservatives and Republicans (especially more business-oriented ones) who have been in favor of sweeping immigration reform (occasionally even in favor of amnesty, as even Bush and McCain were at one point).
In this issue, the answer almost certainly falls somewhere in the middle between the extreme of a totally open border (with no protection against terrorism) and a totally closed border (which would be virtually impossible to achieve). Unfortunately, the issue has gotten polarized, so a moderate solution has become more difficult. I will be impressed if Obama is able to achieve any immigration reform at all, even something watered down.
Question: So, all of the employers of illegal immigrants must be Democrats, no? Because no self-respecting conservative would hire someone who is a violent, drug smuggling, American-beheading, job-stealing, social services stealing, baby-making Mexican, right?
That’s what I found bizarre when I was visiting Arizona right after the law was enacted. There were people who were strongly in favor of the law, who admitted that they had hired illegal immigrants on more than one occasion. It boggled my mind.