GOP Chairman Hits 2008 Candidates on Illegal Aliens

The Republican Party's national chairman scolded his party's two top presidential candidates this week for their tough stance on illegal immigration, even as both men moved to try to one-up each other in calling for stricter enforcement.

Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida, President Bush's handpicked choice for party chairman, chided former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani for opposing and mischaracterizing the Senate immigration bill Mr. Martinez helped craft.

"It's about leading on the tough issues," Mr. Martinez told the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce in comments first reported in yesterday's St. Petersburg Times. "It was easy to say, 'This wasn't good enough, this isn't right, I don't agree with Martinez.' ... But at the end of the day, what is your answer? How would you solve this?"

Two Mitt Romneys on Immigration

The Washington Times has a great articles about Mr. Romney's stand on immigration and the "epiphanies" he has had since becoming a presidential candidate:

While the new Mitt Romney, campaigning for president, insists he is the candidate best credentialed to control this country's problem of illegal immigration, many of you may remember that under Mr. Romney, the illegal-immigrant population boomed in the commonwealth, illegal immigrants performed the former governor's yardwork and sanctuary cities in Massachusetts went unchecked.

Mr. Romney's recent immigration comments and his focus on "sanctuary cities" are especially baffling. "Sanctuary cities," Mr. Romney seems to believe, are at the very root of the illegal immigration problem.

But there is, once again, a bit of history that makes this promise more than a little unconvincing. As governor, Mr. Romney wielded control over a significant budget and oversaw three cities that were proud of their designation as "sanctuary cities": Cambridge, Somerville and Orleans. Yet as governor, Mr. Romney did not cut their funding. He recommended millions of dollars in state funding for them, and made no attempt to force these cities to change their policies. When he had the opportunity to actually effect change on a problem he now rates as a priority, Mr. Romney's actions were far louder than his words.

Need to know more? Take the link above and get the facts.

John McCain Claims "Threats" Over His Stand on Immigration

Fox News has a report that John McCain is claiming to have received "threats" due to his stands on immigration and the war in Iraq:

Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday that the issue of illegal immigration angered people unlike no other, including the unpopular war in Iraq, and sparked unprecedented death threats against him.

"It is unbelievable how this has inflamed the passions of the American people," the Arizona senator said in remarks at The Aspen Institute, a public policy forum. In an interview, he declined to elaborate on the threats he had received.

Still, McCain said, he continued to support a temporary worker program for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Derided by critics as amnesty, the program was one of the most controversial elements of the failed immigration bill supported by President Bush and a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate.

McCain acknowledged that the immigration issue, along with his support for the war in Iraq, had cost him politically.

Sanctuary Nation or Sovereign Nation: It's Your Choice

Michelle Malkin has written eloquently in the past about illegal immigration, even going so far as to create a site called Deport Them Now where activists can volunteer for work on the issue. She has produced a video about the issue that you can view by clicking the link on the right side of the page.

As usual, Ms. Malkin hits hard and accurately as in this piece written for Human Events on the sovereignty of the United States. She begins with the Newark murders and other deaths perpetrated at the hands of illegals and continues:

But now we are in the heat of a presidential election cycle. The open-borders opportunists in immigration enforcement clothing are professing to see the light. With illegal alien murder suspect Jose Carranza and his alleged MS-13 gang-banging boy helpers who are being sought in the brutal Newark murder case dominating the news on the Eastern seaboard, politicians can't find a camera fast enough to condemn the very sanctuary policies they promoted and tolerated for decades -- sanctuary policies I've highlighted for years in this column.

Amnesty-first GOP presidential candidate John McCain is now singing the enforcement-first tune. And GOP presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani vowed Tuesday to stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.

He's touting a "tamper-proof ID card" that includes fingerprints for everyone entering the country and a central database to track when they leave.

What Rudy-come-lately fails to comprehend is that there are already multiple alien tracking databases mandated by federal law that have yet to be fully implemented, integrated and used. The reason they don't work is because open-borders interests have sabotaged them by restricting funding for them, objecting to them on civil liberties grounds, and pushing local and state governments to forbid public employees from checking them to verify citizenship status. Ring a bell, Rudy?

Be sure to read the rest.

Getting Immigration Right

The American Conservative has a great article by John O'Sullivan regarding the impact of conservatives on the recent defeat of the "comprehensive immigration reform" bill in the US Senate:

Why did this apparent national consensus break down so spectacularly in 2006 and 2007? There are three explanations. Not surprisingly, the elite explanation is the least plausible: namely, that our system is broken. If our system had been less partisan, the argument goes, it would have passed a necessary measure that most Americans wanted. This is the opposite of the truth. In reality, a bipartisan elite tried to force a measure that most Americans opposed into law but were defeated by senators who heeded strong and widespread protests. In sum: our system worked.

The second explanation, advanced by Brimelow, is that ordinary Americans—in particular, grassroots Republicans—have been staging more and more rebellions against the elite consensus: the near-defeat of Utah Republican immiphiliac Chris Cannon in a primary; the clear victory of immigration reformer Brian Bilbray over a pro-immigration Democrat in the hard environment of Duke Cunningham’s former district; the astounding defeat of Republican football hero Tom Osborne for the Nebraska governorship solely over his support for in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants; the replacement of the mayor and five councilors in Herndon, Virginia by rebels running against their sponsorship of an official day-laborer site for illegals; the calls by state GOP conventions in Washington and Texas (yes, Texas!) for the removal of automatic citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants; etc., etc.

It's a fabulous read. Be sure to head over.

AUGUST ARIZONA BORDER MUSTER:

Patriots' Border Alliance will be coordinating a border operation for the dates August 17-19, 2007 on the southern Arizona border.  Registration to participate will commence at 12:00 PM on Friday, August 17 at the Palominas Trading Post, located in the town of Palominas, AZ.  All Minutemen are invited to attend.  We look forward to seeing you there as we show our commitment to protecting our borders and promoting respect for our nation's laws.