Immigration

The Immigration Debate – Part 2

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On Saturday, President Obama announced that he would delay taking executive action on immigration reforms until after the November election, deferring to the concerns of vulnerable Democrats in this midterm election.

And why are Democrats vulnerable in midterm elections? Because the so-called “Rising American Electorate” (unmarried women, young voters, minorities), key constituencies to Democratic electoral success in presidential election years, fail to show up consistently to vote in midterm elections. The Rising American Electorate and Midterm Drop-off. That’s right Democrats — those of you who cannot be bothered to vote in midterm elections — you are the reason why.

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The Washington Post reported, Obama to delay executive order on immigration:

President Obama will postpone action on his promise to remake federal immigration policies through executive authority until after the midterm elections in November, the White House announced Saturday, acquiescing to Democrats’ fears that such a move would damage their prospects for maintaining control of the U.S. Senate.

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The Immigration Debate – Part 1

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Things you never see reported in the Arizona media because it does not fit their GOP-friendly media narrative. [Update: See the “editorial opinion” of The Arizona Republic obviously written by Doug MacEachern, Executive order a bad idea – now or later in which he asserts “a legally dubious executive order” that will lead to “a full-blown constitutional crisis” and “prod Republicans into impeachment overreach.” All GOP talking points, all the time.]

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post reported last week, Lawyers agree: Obama has broad authority to act on deportations:

 

Image: Latinos protest in favor of comprehensive immigration reform while on West side of Capitol Hill in WashingtonWith Obama administration officials debating how aggressively to use unilateral action to shield people from deportations, more than 100 immigration law professors have signed a letter to the President (.pdf) arguing that he has expansive legal authority to act to temporarily protect additional groups from removal — and that this authority is rooted in statute, court opinion, regulations, and precedent.

The letter (.pdf), which was shared with this blog before its release, is designed to make the case to media and opinion-makers that Obama has maximum legal room to maneuver — which could shape how much political space the administration thinks it has on this difficult and explosive decision.

The letter — which was distributed by the American Immigration Council and the National Immigration Law Center — was signed by over 130 professors, attorneys and experts, some from the major Ivy League law schools, and others from border and red states that are relevant to the politics of this decision.

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Ducey Side Steps Tea Party & Bails on Rally with Palin & d’Souza

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Doug Ducey Bad4AZRepublican Doug Ducey won his party’s nomination for governor last week with dark money from out of state, $3 million of his own cash, and a full Tea Party platform— support for unborn children and corporate persons but not so much for the rest of us.

With backers like Cathi Herrod, Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Ducey looked like the Koch Brothers’ Mini-me last week. Ducey’s regressive social policies and “tooth fairy” economic ideas make him one of the most dangerous Tea Party candidates in a long time. He is a cookie-cutter copy of Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Kansas’ Sam Browback, or New Jersey’s Chris Christie. (Check out these Kansas and NJ budget stories linked here; Brownback and Christie destroyed their states’ budgets with the same Tea Party proposals Ducey is peddling in Arizona.)

The dire scenario in which Ducey becomes Arizona governor (shudder) prompted me to write the Top 10 Reasons Why Doug Ducey Is Too Extreme for Arizona Voters and start a Twitter campaign (@Bad4AZ) to educate people about Ducey’s platform and why he and other Tea Party candidates are #Bad4AZ.  (Check it out Twitter here and website here. Fellow Tweeters, help me out.)

Now Ducey appears to be backing away from the Tea Party. Was it something I said?

Details from AZ Central…

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Questions for Martha McSally: Do you support a government shutdown over immigration?

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McSally-KingCD 2 GOP candidate Martha McSally supported Rep. Steve King’s Tea Party non-compromise border bills in the House. Martha McSally is a ‘Deportation Republican.

Now Steve King is threatening to shut down the government in September if President Obama uses executive orders to deal with immigration.

McSally has steadfastly refused to give a straightforward yes or no answer to whether she would have supported the Tea-Publican government shutdown last October. If she wants to serve in Congress, the voters of CD 2 have the right to know her position on this latest Tea-Publican government shutdown threat.

Think Progress reports, Republicans Threaten To Shut Down The Government If Obama Extends Relief To Immigrants:

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) floated the possibility of shutting down the government on Wednesday if President Obama issues an executive action granting deportation relief to more undocumented immigrants.

“If the president wields his pen and commits that unconstitutional act to legalize millions, I think that becomes something that is nearly political nuclear,” King said in remarks before the Westside Conservative Breakfast Club in Urbandale, Iowa, adding that “all bets are off” on passing a measure to keep the government running past October.

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Top 10 Reasons Doug Ducey Is Too Extreme for Arizona Voters

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The Koch Brothers support Doug Ducey for Arizona governor.
The Koch Brothers support Doug Ducey for Arizona governor.

After seven months of mud-slinging in a six-way primary race that looked like a remake of Lord of the Flies, multi-millionaire ice cream mogul Doug Ducey has won the Arizona Republican Party’s nomination for governor.

Ducey’s sugary sweet interview with AZCentral this morning made it sound as if he’s already been elected governor, but there’s another election in November, and Democrats statewide are pulling out all the stops to get their candidate, Fred DuVal, elected.

Unfortunately for Tea Partiers in the great state of Maricopa, polls show that: 1) the match-up between Ducey and DuVal is a dead heat and 2) Ducey’s anti-Medicaid-expansion, anti-Obamacare, anti-abortion, anti-woman, anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-gay-marriage, anti-common-core, pro-Koch-Brothers platform is not aligned with Arizona voters’ issues.

Don’t let Ducey’s charming aw-shucks, Leave-It-to-Beaver persona fool you. He runs with a tough crowd of right-wing ideologues. You can tell a lot about a person’s true character by looking at the company he keeps. Consequently, the company Ducey keeps weighs heavily in my Top 10 Reasons Why Doug Ducey Is Too Extreme for Arizona…

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