Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
In an interview on Fox News last week, Gov. Jan Brewer claimed: "We cannot afford all this illegal immigration and everything that comes with it, everything from the crime and to the drugs and the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings …" Brewer Falsely Claimed Immigrants Beheaded People In Arizona (VIDEO):
There's no better way, it seems, to make the case for strict anti-immigration laws than to claim that undocumented immigrants are pouring into the country to decapitate innocent Americans.
Brewer nonetheless stuck by the claim that undocumented immigrants are murdering Arizonans when asked about it last weekend on a local Arizona political show.
"Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded," she said.
The anchor notes that he couldn't find "any beheadings in any kind of news search."
The Arizona Guardian followed up, asking the state's county coroners — who would examine any body connected with a crime — if they'd seen the headless bodies from the desert.
They hadn't.
(Although one coroner, gruesomely, told the paper they did sometimes get human skulls– but not as a result of a fatal beheading. Such skulls are found after people die in the desert and "the animals … get a hold of them and start moving their body parts around," the coroner said.)
Asked for comment, a spokesman for Brewer told the Guardian said the governor had never said anyone was beheaded inside Arizona. "I'm not aware of any statements where the governor specifies where any crimes were committed," he said. On the contrary, he claimed that Brewer was talking about the fear that crimes that occur in Mexico could spread to Arizona.
This is no way is a reasonable interpretation of Brewer's statement highlighted above. "Our law enforcement agencies" means Arizona DPS or county or local law enforcement agencies within Arizona. There have been no beheaded bodies within Arizona according to the state's county coroners. (Sadly, this is occurring within Mexico). It is a lie.
Sen. John McCain continues to repeat a whopper of his own about kidnappings in Arizona. Jim Nintzel posts at the Tucson Weekly Nonsense About Kidnappings In Phoenix:
In yesterday's interview on This Week, U.S. Sen. John McCain repeated his claim about Phoenix being the No. 2 spot in the world for kidnappings.
That claim has been debunked by the gang at PolitiFact.com:
True, "Kidnapping capital" is a headline-grabbing label. But so far, we've seen no evidence that it's accurate, or even close. And since we first considered this claim earlier this month, no one has stepped forward with more information.
Phoenix has experienced hundreds of kidnappings over the past few years. However, we couldn't find reliable around-the-planet evidence to confirm that only Mexico City experiences more of them. In fact, experts advise that such rankings can't be made based on available information. If they could, they speculate, other cities would prove to have more kidnappings than Arizona's capital.
We found nothing confirming Phoenix as No. 2 in kidnappings worldwide. We'll reconsider our rating if compelling evidence surfaces, but for now McCain's statement is False.
The kidnappings that have occurred in Phoenix are not random acts of violence against innocent bystanders. Those kidnapped were generally undocumented immigrants held for ransom by coyote smugglers to extort money from their families, or were seized by rival coyote smugglers.
Why do these lies matter? First of all, it goes to the issue of character, and yes Johnny, "character matters."
Secondly, as Jim Nintzel notes, "when you talk about beheadings and kidnappings and the great dangers of Arizona, you screw up the tourism industry. And it doesn't make it any easier to attract new employers, either."
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