The big news on immigration this week has been the pro-migrant community’s anger at President Obama and the Democrats for not taking executive action on immigration reform. But Republicans should not forget that they are in huge trouble with the community for killing legislation in the first place — which is why our Executive Director Frank Sharry recently said that Republicans are “dead to us.” Part of the reason why involves the GOP’s continued tolerance of right-wing extremists, who continue to spend their time demonizing immigrants and throwing out ridiculous arguments without a shred of proof to back them up. Here’s some of what they’ve been saying recently:
- There’s a new respiratory illness breaking out among US grade school children, and radio talk show host Michael Savage — citing zero evidence — recently claimed that children fleeing violence are the cause: “The CDC is claiming they don’t know why this rhinovirus is suddenly breaking out in your area. … Don’t you think it would be rational to say, ‘Wait a minute. Let’s look at these clusters to see if these kids are in schools where Obama dumped illegal aliens? You know that the government will not release the schools or the districts when they move these kids from Guatemala into this country? They won’t even disclose where they are?” (Right Wing Watch)
- No less than current Lieutenant Governor of Texas David Dewhurst recently called children fleeing violence “a mirage,” saying “This whole conversation about the unaccompanied children, ladies and gentlemen, this is a mirage, it is a public relations effort, this is an effort by the Obama administration to divert your attention.” His claim is a common argument among right-wing conservatives, who insist that the children on the border do not comprise the refugee crisis everyone else agrees they are. Despite evidence that some minors who have made it to the US and then been deported have actually been murdered in their home countries, the Dewhursts of the right still see no reason to acknowledge them as children who need help. (Right Wing Watch)
- Today’s cake, however, goes to Pat Buchanan, who during an interview this week with Laura Ingraham claimed that immigrants are a greater threat than ISIS: “Look, we’d better realize here that the United States itself is in tremendous long-term danger, I think, and the bleeding border along our southern border, the mass movement of people from all over the world into this country, the decomposition of this country socially and culturally, politically, all of these things, it seems to me, are far greater long-term threats to the United States than even those dreadful characters over there in Syria or Iraq beheading people.” That’s right, Buchanan is saying that immigrants — who commit less crimes than native-born Americans and start more businesses, while promoting the long-held reputation of the US as a promised land — are more dangerous than ISIS, the terrorists who behead people whom President Obama is announcing a major initiative against tonight. What kind of world do right-wingers like Pat Buchanan live in? (Right Wing Watch)