Immigration

Trump immigration plan: a Muslim Registry – are internment camps to follow?

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So this actually happened last week . . . A prominent supporter of Donald J. Trump, Carl Higbie, a former spokesman for Great America PAC and a member of the Trump transition team, in an appearance on “The Kelly File” on FAUX News cited World War II-era Japanese-American internment camps as a “precedent” for an immigrant (read Muslim) registry for immigrants from countries where terrorist groups were active. Trump Camp’s Talk of Registry and Japanese Internment Raises Muslims’ Fears:

Cartoon_62“We’ve done it based on race, we’ve done it based on religion, we’ve done it based on region,” Mr. Higbie said. “We’ve done it with Iran back — back a while ago. We did it during World War II with Japanese.”

“You’re not proposing that we go back to the days of internment camps, I hope,” said Megyn Kelly, the show’s host.

Mr. Higbie, a former Navy SEAL who served two tours in Iraq, denied that, but said, “We need to protect America first.”

InternmentCampHe stood by his comments in a phone interview on Thursday morning, saying that he had been alluding to the fact that the Supreme Court had “upheld things as horrific as Japanese internment camps.”

“There is historical, factual precedent to do things that are not politically popular and sometimes not right, in the interest of national security,” he said, adding that he “fundamentally” disagreed with “the internment camp mantra and doing it at all.”

He clarified that he was not a constitutional lawyer and was working from a layman’s understanding of the 1944 Supreme Court ruling that the order for internment camps was constitutional. He said he hoped to be involved in the Trump administration but had engaged in no “formal conversations” with the president-elect’s team.

Noah Feldman, the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, explains to Carl Higbie and Trump supporters why the infamous case of Korematsu v. United States (1944), is not the precedent Higbie suggests. Why Korematsu Is Not a Precedent.

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DOJ files proposed criminal contempt charge against crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio

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The Department of Justice has complied with the Court’s order to file its proposed criminal contempt charge against the “most corrupt sheriff in America,” crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio. Justice Department files proposed contempt charge against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio:

Babeu-ArpaioActing on a judge’s request, a U.S. Department of Justice prosecutor has filed a proposed order to show cause as to whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio should be held in criminal contempt of federal court.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton asked for the proposed order to use as a “charging document” to continue criminal proceedings against the embattled sheriff. She has yet to sign the order.

The proposed order, submitted Monday morning by DOJ attorney John Keller, accuses Arpaio of violating a December 2011 preliminary injunction to stop the Sheriff’s Office from enforcing federal civil immigration law.

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Mike Pence: ‘That Mexican Thing’

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Oh Mikey, you thought that you were being so clever. This one will come back to bite you. (Just like “taco trucks on every corner” did). ‘That Mexican Thing’ Takes On Life After the Debate: In the grand digital tradition of American political debates, the audience tends to seize upon singular phrases or gestures that, … Read more

District 11 Senate Race

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There is the far-right, and then there are those who are two steps further to the right. Unfortunately, this Constantin Querard backed candidate represents legislative District 11 in Arizona.

atchue-smithSenator Steve Smith (R-Maricopa) in Legislative District 11 is an acolyte of recalled former Senate President Russell Pearce, and was a member of Pearce’s anti-immigrant “Super Friends” team with Cap’n Al Melvin, John Kavanagh, and Joe Arpaio.

You will recall that Smith sponsored legislation to make citizens recalls more difficult to try to derail the Pearce recall. Russell Pearce inspired recall bill is unconstitutional, experts say. When that failed, he later sponsored legislation that would have required the state to pay Russell Pearce for his expenses in the recall election. Proposed bill could repay ousted lawmakers from recall elections.

After Pearce was recalled, Smith carried the disgraced Sen. Pearce’s anti-immigrant bills for him after his recall. Rep. Steve ‘Secession’ Smith carries Russell Pearce’s anti-immigrant bills. He sponsored a bill that would require school districts to count the number of students who are in the country illegally, HB 2289 (2013), and to require hospitals to report patients who cannot prove their lawful status. HB 2293 (2103). Both measures are unlawful under existing law.

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Arizona-Mexico border happenings

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Mr. Trump’s recent visit to Mexico was immediately followed by the harsh speech on immigration he made in Phoenix. The two political events have generated a wave of resentment in Mexico, the Mexican public views the visit as a humiliation. A recent poll revealed that 85% of Mexicans considered thetrump-mex-v invitation and visit to be a mistake, a very bad idea. As a consequence, Mexico’s finance minister, an economist educated at MIT, has quit the government. The Mexican president’s decision to host Trump backfired badly, creating a major political problem for his administration. If the purpose of the Trump trip was to display the candidate’s savvy diplomatic skills during a visit to a foreign country, it flopped badly.

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