A friend of mine has written an interesting post (funny and not serious) on immigration. His political ideology is clearly to the right of center. He is a businessman who has done well and unfortunately has bought into a lot of the rhetoric of the Right. He and many others in the conservative movement have charged that Obama has no intention of protecting Arizona and other states from economic refugees. (This is the term that I use for illegal immigrants because it more precisely defines why they’re here and why they’ve been allowed to stay here). The attack on the Obama administration has come from a two-pronged approach — First, the president has failed to protect the country from a growing threat. Secondly, he does not listen to us, the American people, who have cried out to have something done.

Let’s take the second allegation first. My friend has followed the lead of other conservatives and has looked at polls. Polls? Conservatives are suggesting that the president should not lead, but instead should follow American public opinion. I love this myopic view of American political life. It was less than four years ago when these same conservatives were telling us that we needed to follow Bush and not look at the polls. As a matter fact, just before the invasion of Iraq, a country that did not attack us was never a threat to us, Americans favored continued weapons inspections by a vast majority over a military invasion. It was okay for President Bush to ignore the polls, but Barack Obama must follow them.

What threat? (Like an Al Qaeda threat or a Soviet Union take over the world kind of threat?) Economic refugees have been allowed to pour into our country because it’s beneficial to business. Both Democrats and Republicans have had opportunities to stem the tide but they have failed. Why? It isn’t like these economic refugees are a solid voting block for Republicans or Democrats — they can’t vote! Therefore, they have no political power. The businesses that hire them — they have the political power. Whether it is agriculture, construction or the restaurant industry, a large segment of our economy depends on cheap labor. Cheap labor is like crack to business. They simply cannot get enough of it. If they can’t find enough cheap labor here in the United States, they will move manufacturing to Mexico, Thailand or China. We have seen this. We all know this to be true yet, for some reason, conservatives are bashing Obama for something that was already in place before he took office.

Of course, this brings me to President George W. Bush. He was in office for eight years. Where were the calls for his impeachment over his immigration policy? (He didn’t develop one until he was in office for over seven years.) During the go-go years of the housing bubble, millions of immigrants poured into this country and most conservatives said nothing. Why? Immigration was a problem then and it’s a problem now.

Conservatives want it both ways. They want the federal government to spend money on things that they want money spent on and they still want to shrink the size of government. The Obama administration has deported more economic refugees in this first year than any other administration in history. The Obama administration has set aside over $400 million to strengthen border security and hire more border agents. Conservatives whine about Barack Obama being weak but when he stands up and says the Constitution has given border security to the federal government, conservatives whine about states’ rights. Which is it? Defend the constitution or not?

Fixing the problem with immigration is easy. For the most part, economic refugees come here to get jobs. Clamp down and increase fines on businesses that hire economic refugees. Continue to enforce the current laws. If economic refugees cannot get jobs, they will not come here. This is extremely simple and it will work, but there is no political will on Capitol Hill to do this. The business lobby is too strong. If Congress begins to listen to the people instead of the lobbyists and comprehensive, meaningful immigration reform is passed, we will have one less hurdle in order to completely fix this problem. This last hurdle is clearly the toughest. What do you do with economic refugees who are already here in the United States? To me, the answer does not matter. We just have to come up with an answer. No matter what the answer is someone is going to be furious.

The problem is that conservatives are not serious. Once conservatives walk into the offices of the American Chamber of Commerce and demand that they began to clamp down on members who are hiring economic refugees, then I’ll believe that they are serious. Once the American Chamber of Commerce comes out and openly denounces businesses that are hiring these illegal immigrants, then we will have a chance to get meaningful comprehensive immigration reform passed through Congress and signed by President Barack Obama.

Day Laborers from AP

The Arizona law which was signed into law earlier this week has caused a firestorm. We have nobody to blame but our politicians in Congress. Immigration has been a problem in this country for more than 15 years. We have seen it. We have studied it. We’ve introduced legislation into both houses of Congress and yet nothing has been done. So, Arizona was fed up with the problem. They decided they’d waited too long for the federal government to do something meaningful. Unfortunately, doing something is not the same as doing the right thing. I think it is clear that this law is racial profiling. I’m not sure that Arizona police have the resources to seriously enforce this law. I suspect the law will be struck down by the courts. I’m not even sure the Supreme Court will hear this argument because this law is so obviously unconstitutional.

Yet, this still doesn’t solve the problem. The fact is that we have millions of people who have come to this country illegally. Why? People did not risk capture, deportation, harassment and even death just to wear American jeans. They came here because they believe the economic opportunities were better here than in their own home country. (This is why I’ve stopped using the term “illegal immigrants.” That term seems to play right into conservative ideology and talking points. “Economic refugee” is a more descriptive term because it explains exactly why these folks came here.)

I discussed this problem just the other day when I was interviewed on Local Edge Radio. The place to start is by enforcing the laws that we have now. We have laws on the books that fine employers for hiring people who are undocumented. These laws must be enforced. If we are going to be serious about reform, then this is the place to start. Economic refugees come here for jobs. If the jobs are available then they have only two alternatives — become an American citizen or return to your home country. There are no alternatives.

Now, I think it is important for all of us to consider the ramifications of enforcing, strictly enforcing, the laws that we have on the books now. When you go to Burger World, who is bussing your table? When you go into your kitchen in the middle of the night to make a BLT sandwich, the lettuce and tomato are extremely affordable. Who picked the lettuce and who picked your tomatoes? As a matter fact, who was mowing your lawn? Who is doing the maintenance at the place where you work? Economic refugees have filled these low-wage jobs for more than 15 years. Employers have kept the wages low,making these jobs unattractive to Americans. So, if we are going to start enforcing our laws, our food is going to cost more. It’s going to cost more to get our lawns cut and our houses built.

Without much fanfare and hoopla, Congress could pass a bill today that would increase the budget for enforcement of the laws that we have on the books now. That’s where we need to start. We can worry about the other stuff later. When American businesses understand that there’s a penalty for not hiring Americans, they will start hiring Americans. If they have trouble filling job positions, sooner or later, they will raise wages. This will put Americans back to work and help us get out of this recession faster. How is this not the right thing to do, right now?

A dispute over who will pay the bill has stopped the airlift of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims to Florida.

These folks cannot get the help they need in Haiti.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has written a letter asking the federal government to pay some of the costs of treating these patients in Florida.

Other states have also received a smaller number of these patients and those flights have stopped for the moment as well.

This dispute could not have been resolved while the flights continued?

Some say it is the military that is halting the flights. The military says some hospitals are denying the patients.

Governor Crist is running in a Republican primary for the U.S. Senate against a tea party-type. This primary is closer than had been expected.

Is Governor Crist raising this point to protect himself from a charge that he is allowing Florida to spend money on dark-skinned foreigners?

Could nobody in the federal government contact the White House so the President could order flights to continue? I’m sure that in the end something will be worked out to pay for these treatments.

Meanwhile, it is possible that somebody has died already because they could not get airlifted out of Haiti and receive better treatment.

Can’t people get their acts together when lives are on the line?

It really is sickening. It’s all about money.

The relief effort in Haiti is ongoing. Doctors Without Borders is one of a number of groups that is offering needed help.

There are 46.3 million people in the United States who do not have health insurance. This has increased from 45.7 million people in 2007. 34 million of these people are American citizens. 9.5 million are not American citizens. This leaves approximately 2.7 million Americans who don’t have health insurance who have become naturalized citizens. So, it is not correct to call them all illegal aliens. (I hate that term. I’ve been pushing “economic refugees” because that accurately describes why they are here.) On the other hand, it is not correct to call them all American citizens. I think this is important. The vast majority of the 46 million Americans without health insurance are American citizens!

Now, to jump into the mess, what shall we do with 9.5 million economic refugees were not citizens? Some have suggested we do nothing. Others have said if there’s an emergency, send them to the emergency room; otherwise, do nothing. Here’s my thought. As a surgeon, if I’m at a football game watching my Dallas Cowboys and the guy next to me is coughing up some infectious disease — tuberculosis, influenza, etc… — his health is affecting me. If I’m in New York on a subway or in an elevator, his health affects me and those around me. Also, if these economic refugees get brought into the healthcare system, it will cost me and you less in the long run. Complications of disease always cost more. Preventing those complications should be our goal.

I know that this is a contentious issue. I also know that we need to fix this problem that has been created by corporate greed. If corporations weren’t hiring economic refugees, they wouldn’t be here.

* Busted: “The government is charging Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, and two other company executives with civil fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday afternoon that its case also accused Mr. Mozilo of illegal insider trading.”

* Sonia Sotomayor finished the Senate Judiciary Committee’s questionnaire in record time. Bonus points for turning it in early?

* A court has ordered South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) to take $700 million in stimulus money, whether he wants it or not.

* Immigration reform this year?

* President Obama’s policy towards Israel is being undermined by lawmakers in his own party.

* How dishonest is Liz Cheney’s political analysis? She’s willing to say things Dick Cheney has already rejected.

* Ezra explains, “The toxic loans portion of Tim Geithner’s Public Private Investment Program looks to be officially dead.”

* Harold Koh’s nomination isn’t going anywhere for a while thanks to an anonymous hold.

* Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) makes children cry.

* House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) believes the PMA Group controversy deserves more scrutiny.

* Good move for transparency: “The House will begin posting representatives’ expense reports online, giving the public easy access to records of the millions of dollars lawmakers spend on staff and items such as catering, cars, computers and TVs.”

* Karl Rove thinks the health of the economy will affect the president’s popular support. He’s quite a genius, you know.

* The New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin walks back his anti-union remarks.

* And congrats to my friend Rachel Maddow on her nomination for a Television Critics’ Association Award. Note, her show is the only prime-time cable talk show to get a nomination. Well deserved.countrywide

I’m going to try to do a daily report of the major items, but I have this day job that might prevent me from doing this regularly.

• In case you missed it, all of those high-tech computer geeks who were laughing at those video game programmers, aren’t laughing any more. Grand Theft Auto IV raked in $500 million in sales in its first week.
• Is China that different than Myanmar, where some aid has been reportedly stolen? Is China letting in international aid workers? It appears that the weather is better. Helicopters and soldiers have finally reached the epicenter of the worst earthquake to hit China in over 30 years. Tens of thousands are thought to be dead.
• I wrote about Senator Hillary Clinton’s big mistakes in this primary season. Time Magazine lists their top five. It is nice to know that our lists are similar.
• I know what Michelle Obama meant when she said that she was finally proud of her country. There is a lot to be depressed about for those who open their eyes and see America. There’s a new series of articles by Dana Priest (who I really admire) and Amy Goldstein on the consequences of the economic refugee crackdown. This series is really heartbreaking.
• Polls show that seven in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard of living.
• The House is looking into phone jamming in New Hampshire. The House isn’t looking into anything that happened in 2008 ,or even 2006. They are looking into that incident that happened in 2002 where over 800 hang-up calls clogged the New Hampshire Democratic Headquarters and killed their effort to get out the vote.
• Roger Wicker left the House when he was appointed to fill Trent Lott’s seat in the Senate. This created an open seat in the House. Travis Childers (D) and Greg Davis (R) fought over this Mississippi seat. Last night Childers won. The Republicans threw everything into this race. Even Dick Cheney came out of the bunker to campaign for Davis. Mike Huckabee and Governor Haley Barbour campaigned for Davis. And President Bush even recorded a telephone message for robo-calling. All for nothing.

This is an ongoing subject of debate here in Houston.

The core of the matter is do police and other officials ask people they come in contact with, if they are legally in the United States.

It seems that on the whole, whatever city officials might claim, the basic policy of Houston and much of the surrounding area conforms with the idea of a sanctuary city.

Though here is a conflicting view from the Houston Catholic Worker.

From the Catholic Worker article, here are some proposed immigration policy guidelines from the Catholic Bishops of California.

–Easily available temporary visas for those willing to work

- Improved border security and enhanced humanitarian training for border guards

- Fair and equitable rules and reasonable time frames for processing applications to become legal permanent residents

- Compassionate rules and practical time frames for family reunification for legal resident aliens and naturalized citizens

- Reasonable requirements for legal residents to become citizens.

- Recognition of the impact of globalization and free trade on patterns of migration.

I support the idea of  Houston being a sanctuary city for the following reasons—

1. It is the job of the federal government to police immigration. The federal government can’t come up with a coherent policy.

2. Allowing immigrants to go about their affairs reflects the fact that much of our local economy turns of the work these people do and that Houston residents don’t complain about cheap prices brought about by cheap labor.

3. It would inject a measure of humanity into a city that has, justifiably, pollution, massive freeways lined with billboards, and longstanding poverty, as a large part of what it is know for across the country.

Of course the promise of sanctuary is only as good as the people making the promise.

Here is an example of a pledge of sanctuary in 19th-century American history from a book called Sitting Bull and the Paradox of Lakota Nationhood by Gary Anderson.

From the book—

“Several hundred Cheyennes and Arapahos had settled at Sand Creek in southeastern Colorado after the army had assured them of the regions’ safety. Unfortunately, a vengeful colonel in the Colorado militia, John Chivington had no intention of honoring this sanctuary. He attacked the village and killed several hundred people.”

I’m not suggesting city officials in Houston or elsewhere in America will shoot undocumented people. You don’t have to shoot them when they die crossing the desert or coming to America on a leaky boat.

Who cares how they got here as long as we can get cheap labor when needed, or have a ready made political issue when that is what is required.

Promises of sanctuary are as good as the political needs of the politicians, and as good as the morality of the electorate when they feel under economic stress.

Which in short means that Hispanic folks and other immigrants from across the world had better start registering to vote and taking part in the political process.

Just for one second, let’s look at the absurdity of this statement. There is somewhere between 12 – 15 million undocumented economic refugees in this country. There is somewhere around a 400 – 500,000 folks crossing our borders every year. Mike Huckabee is talking about 600 people?  According to Homeland Security, there are far more economic refugees from the Philippines, Korea, China and Vietnam.  Talking about grabbing for straws to save a candidacy.

This story dovetails into yet another poll. The Democratic race is tightening up. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee is fading fast.

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From McClatchy News:

John Edwards has clawed his way into contention to win Iowa’s caucuses on Thursday in the first vote for the Democratic presidential nomination, gaining strength even as rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have lost ground, according to a new McClatchy-MSNBC poll.

At the same time, Mitt Romney has regained the lead among Iowa Republicans as Mike Huckabee has lost momentum and support, even among the evangelical Christians who had propelled him into the top spot just weeks ago. (more…)

Immigrant-basher Tom Tancredo is a U.S. Representative from Colorado and a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination.

As a member of the Colorado House, Mr. Tancredo was a member of a group called “the crazies.” These were representatives engaged in extreme tax cutting in Colorado. Before joining Congress, Mr. Tancredo was head of a libertarian think tank.

Congressman Tancredo has written the book In Mortal Danger about immigration to the United States. ( That title might also cover the genocide of Native Americans that made white settlement in Colorado possible.) He has called Miami a “third-world country.” Mr. Tancredo wants to tax money that immigrants send back home. He may feel Mexico is not poor enough already.

Here is the Tancredo Watch blog which stopped adding new entries when Mr. Tancredo announced he would not be running for reelection.

I’ve wondered who would elect such a mean person to Congress? ( I know— Plenty of people would.)

Representative Tancredo represents the 6th District of Colorado.

Here is information about the 6th District of Colorado from the 2008 Almanac of American Politics.

” Two generations ago, most people in metro Denver lived inside the city itself….Today, more than three-quarters of metro Denver residents live outside the city, some in long-settled suburbs, some in huge new subdivisions raised up in the 1990′s and 2000′s…..You can see the boundaries to these areas in Littleton, originally a long-settled suburb just south of Denver, but now extending to vast new tracts; this is the site of the massacre at the Columbine High School….Just south of Littleton is Douglas County…from 1990 to 2003 it was the fastest growing county in the United States as young families moved into 35 acre “ranchettes”…and took high paying telecommunications jobs.

In 2000, Douglas was the nation’s most affluent county in median household income and had the smallest percentage of people living in poverty….This is patio land, as David Brooks has described, with a high-tech economy, a highly educated population with relatively conservative cultural values, family men and women who want to create a safe, comfortable environment for their children with the serenity if not the personal ties of the traditional small town…”The fastest growing regions of the country tend to have the highest concentrations of children, young families move away from what they perceive as disorder, vulgarity and danger and move to places like Douglas County,” Brooks wrote…”

Just a few thoughts–

What took place at Columbine High School was awful, but can you imagine how mean some of those kids must have been to students who were different or perceived as “losers.” You don’t deserve to die for insulting people, yet one wonders what adult supervision and help there was to create a culture of respect in the schools of a community such as the one detailed above. It’s clear enough that the parents in that school district were content to have a Congressman make his name off of attacking people who are different.

I also note that the people of this district do not seem very vulnerable to losing their jobs to lower-paid immigrants. What is it they are afraid of? Denver-proper has long had a large Hispanic population. I don’t always subscribe to fully racial explanations of anti-immigrant sentiment, but in this case it seems race might play a large part.

Here in Houston many of the high-growth areas are very ethnically diverse. That does not seem to be the case in at least Mr. Tancredo’s part of the Denver-area. His district is listed as 1.9% black, 2.6% Asian and 5.8% of Hispanic origin.

I’m glad Mr. Tancredo is leaving Congress at the end of his current term.

The Teamsters have over the years endorsed Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush. Many Teamsters have voted for these men and for other candidates such as George Wallace.

The Teamsters have often permitted corrupt leadership.

But the problem is trucks from Mexico.

Right.

We always have to move forward. If the Teamsters have something useful to add to the debate, that’s great. I look forward to Teamsters leadership on a broad array of social and economic justice issues.

As the Teamsters’ membership considers this new trucking development, they should be certain to take a good look in the mirror when considering what has gone wrong.

———

From NYT:

A truck carrying ammonium nitrate to a mine caught fire after a highway crash and blew up, killing at least 28 people and injuring some 150, state and federal officials reported Monday.

Authorities said two trucks smashed into each other Sunday night on a busy highway in northern Mexico, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers as well as a small army of police, soldiers, emergency officials and journalists.  (more…)

Immigration reform is clearly dead for the next year and a half. The whole thing was put together strangely. The Dems who were pushing this bill thought if they could lump enough stuff together everyone would have to vote for it. I would have do it piecemeal. First, border security. Next, fix the process for getting into this country. Next, fines and enforcement here. crackdown on businesses hiring these economic refugees. Fourth, figure out what to do with the folks that are here. That’s the way that I would have tackled the issue but then again, there is a reason that I’m a trauma surgeon and not a politician.

Update: As I have looked at this clip, I see a president Bush without the swagger that he once had.  He looks sad.  He looks beatdown, defeated.  When you think about how the president looked 2 years ago when he had “political capital”, he was a completely different man.  A lot has happened in 2 years.  During this time, President Bush has not had one major accomplishment.  Not one.  Social Security went down in flames.  Immigration has gone down twice by his own party.  He did get Alito and Roberts but Miers was sunk by his own party, again.  President Bush may turn out to be the lamest of all the lame duck presidents.   

——–

From WaPo:

The most dramatic overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws in a generation was crushed yesterday in the Senate, with the forces of the political right and left overwhelming a bipartisan compromise on one of the most difficult issues facing the country.

With 53 senators against moving on to a final vote and 46 in favor, supporters fell dramatically short of the 60 votes needed to overcome the delaying tactics and parliamentary maneuvers that have dogged the bill for weeks. With no way to cut off debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) pulled the bill from the Senate floor for the second time this month, and this time it is not likely to come up again before a new president comes to power. (more…)

The book is Richard Hofstadter: An Intellectual Biography by David S. Brown. Richard Hofstadter was a political scientist and author who lived between 1916 and 1970. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning Age Of Reform.

Hofstadter grew up in Buffalo.

As Eastern European immigrants moved into Buffalo in the first third of the 20th-century, the old WASP establishment of that city knew its days of political power were numbered.

The response of the Buffalo establishment was not to work out a transfer of power or a sharing of power with the newcomers.

Instead, as Brown quotes a Buffalo historian—“the WASP gentry strove consciously to define and to strengthen their identity and their legacies as the bearers of a noble, yet clearly threatened, New England Tradition.”

Anglo voters in my state of Texas realize that a big demographic switch is on the way. Already Anglos are a minority of all Texans.

The response of many Anglo voters in Texas so-far has been to support immigrant-bashing and right-wing candidates such as our terrible Senator John Cornyn.

These voters may figure that once power is lost to a coalition involving immigrants, that it may not return in their lifetimes. This is what the old-line residents of Buffalo understood nearly 100 years ago.

This reason as much as any other is an obstacle to reasonable discussion and progress on immigration issues.

Wow. Really? Man, I figured I would of known that. I read that book by Senator Bob Graham, Intelligence Matters. I don’t remember reading that in there. I also read, well, to be honest, I skimmed the 9/11 commission report. I don’t remember reading that the 9/11 hijackers were in the country illegally. So, I decided to do some research, something that Newt Gingrich and his handlers should have done. From the Staff Statement #1 of the 9/11 Commission, “Beginning in 1997, the 19 hijackers submitted 24 applications and received 23 visas. The pilots acquired most of theirs in the year 2000. The other hijackers, with two exceptions, obtained their s between the fall of 2000 and June 2001. Two of the visas were issued in Berlin, and two were issued in the United Arab Emirates. The rest were issued in Saudi Arabia. One of the pilots, Hani Hanjour, had an application denied in September 2000 or lack of adequate documentation. He then produced more evidence in support of his student visa application, and it was approved. Except for Hanjour, all the hijackers sought tourist visas.”

As a matter of fact, the Staff Statement is so bold as to say that the hijackers could have tried to sneak in this country illegally but they didn’t. “As we know from the sizable illegal traffic across our land borders, a terrorist could attempt to bypass legal procedures and enter the United States surreptitiously. None of the 9/11 attackers entered or tried to enter our country this way.”

My only conclusion is either Newt Gingrich didn’t know or is lying. Newt is a very smart man. You decide. (BTW, this guy is thinking of running for President. Please. Give me a break.)

From CNN.com:

President Bush broke bread with resistant Senate Republicans on Tuesday, but the fate of a White House-supported immigration bill remained uncertain.

After emerging from the private luncheon, Bush provided no specifics on whether any minds were changed.

“Some members in there believe we need to move a comprehensive bill, some don’t,” Bush told reporters in a Capitol hallway. “I understand that. It’s a highly emotional issue.

“But those of us standing here believe now is the time to move to a comprehensive bill that enforces our borders and has good workplace enforcement, that doesn’t grant automatic citizenship, that addresses this problem in a comprehensive way.”  (more…)

DeMint is 100% wrong when he says we need to go slowly to prove that the American government can be trusted. That is a stalling technique while businesses continue to rake in big profits. We need a comprehensive immigration bill that can be understood by anyone walking the street.

From WaPo:

Senate Republicans pressed President Bush to show a more determined commitment to border security when they met behind closed doors today during a rare presidential appearance on Capitol Hill.

The meeting was described as cordial, even jovial, but Bush’s efforts to rally GOP support for his sweeping overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws did not appear to win any converts.

“We’re off the bill. We ought to stay off the bill for awhile,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), one of the legislation’s sternest critics. (more…)

My good friend, John Porter, is a star in this clip!

(BTW, how to tackle any subject “In Depth” in 2:38?)