Willard ‘Mittens’ Romney goes all Russell Pearce on immigration

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It would be funny if it were not so sad. Just how out of touch with reality are the D.C. media villagers and Beltway bloviators?

During last nights "Survivor – GOP Presidential Primary" debate, Willard "Mittens" Romney was asked about his immigration policy, and he said that illegal immigrants would "self-deport." The media villagers all seemed to think that this was a new term that Romney had invented. As we here in Arizona all know, they are wrong.

Recalled former Sen. Russell Pearce has long promoted the anti-immigrant agenda of the Federation of Americans for immigration Reform (FAIR). Pearce has frequently said his goal with immigration laws is "attrition through enforcement," enforcing laws against illegal immigrants to encourage them to self-deport. This is hardly new to Romney. It is the established GOP position on immigration.

What it does reveal is that Willard "Mittens" Romney has gone all Russell Pearce extremist on immigration. Steve Benen reports at the Political Animal – ‘Self-deportation’:

Last night, Adam Smith, the political editor at the Tampa Bay Times, asked the former governor a good question: “You say you don’t want to go and round up people and deport them, but you also say that they would have to go back to their home countries and then apply for citizenship. So, if you don’t deport them, how do you send them home?”

Romney replied, “Well, the answer is self-deportation.”

And what, exactly, does that mean? Adam Serwer explained that the point is to make life so miserable for these immigrants that they simply leave on their own.

This is the right-wing’s answer to the question of how you deport eleven million unauthorized immigrants: You don’t. You force them to “deport themselves.” Although immigration reform advocates would prefer a solution that involves a path to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants already here, Romney and his top immigration advisers believe they can remove millions of people through heavy-handed enforcement that makes life for unauthorized immigrants intolerable. This approach is notable for its complete lack of discretion and flexibility. Unauthorized immigrant parents with citizen children who need to go to school? Americans who are married to an undocumented immigrant who needs medical treatment? “Self-deportation” hits them all with the same mailed fist. […]

[M]ake no mistake, when Romney is discussing “self-deportation,” he’s talking about creating a United States where parents are afraid to register their kids for school or get them immunized because they might be asked for proof of citizenship. He’s talking about the type of country where local police can demand your immigration status based on mere suspicion that you don’t belong around here. “Self-deportation” is just a cleaner, less cruel-sounding way of endorsing harsh, coercive government policies in order to make life for unauthorized immigrants so unbearable that they have no choice but to find some way to leave. 

On immigration, it’s fair to say Romney is the most right-wing candidate of the modern political era.

Ahem, Steve, come visit us in Arizona. I'll introduce you around.

I was sent a forwarded e-mail in which recalled former Sen. Russell Pearce announces that he is the new President of Ban Amnesty Now,  "the nativist anti-imigrant group created by Sean McCaffrey, erstwhile executive director of the state GOP," as Stephen Lemons writes at the Phoenix New Times. Russell Pearce Scores Paying Gig as "President" of Ban Amnesty Now.

Pearce's email wanted to promote his hate radio program BanAmnestyNow-Radio on KFNX 1100 AM. Apparently they are so popular that ol' Russell is making an urgent e-mail appeal to his nativist mob to raise funds to stay on the air.

Stephen Lemon adds:

If Pearce decides to run for a "public elective office," he would have to step down from the BAN gig, as the organization is a non-profit, and cannot back candidates, McCaffrey said.

He told me Pearce gave him no definite commitment for his tenure as BAN prez. Which means Pearce could still make a bid for some office on the 2012 ballot.

Maybe Willard "Mittens" Romney will give him an exclusive interview that only Pearce's family members and the guys in the control booth will ever hear.