March 30, 2008
Governor's Executive Order: Backing Out the Fiction
Back up a dump truck!
However, the various misinformed assertions about the Governor's Executive Order are quickly disposed of:
Racial profiling - N/AScapegoating - N/A
Hate - N/A
Political grandstanding for campaign purposes - Humorous and N/A
As are these:
National origin, color of skin, accent - N/ATaking the law into one's own hands - N/A (... except, apparently, when one is a member of the state Senate and hungry after hours)
That such baseless statements are still being trotted out a couple of years after this discussion began confirms the complete absence of any substantive or rational arguments for not enforcing our borders, not upholding our immigration laws, not affirming our sovereignty and not respecting the efforts of those immigrants who complied with our laws to come here.
Switching for a moment from the macro to the micro and focusing on the remarks by the Executive Director of the Rhode Island Democrat Party after the Governor's press conference - Mr. Executive Director:
1.) Please look up the definition of the word "plummet" before employing it again.
2.) As for your statement
Doesn’t the governor understand that hundreds of thousands of immigrants have legally come to Rhode Island’s borders for the past two centuries and have greatly contributed to our society?
Yes, in fact, we all understand and concur. This is a proud tradition that we are seeking to continue through enforcement of our immigration laws and this Executive Order. At last, a point of agreement has been located.
It's true that hundreds of thousands of immigrants came to Rhode Island legally, but it's also true that tens, and possibly hundreds of thousands of immigrants also came here illegally, including some Italians, who were derogatorily called "WOPS", meaning "without papers".
In other words, they were "illegal", yet they weren't sent home, and neither were many of the illegal Irish immigrants.
Then we have the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of slaves who were dragged into Rhode Island through Newport.
This historically selective enforcement of immigration law in Rhode Island is misguided, and is needlessly causing fear and trauma to many members of our fellow human beings and community members whose lives and families are being torn apart, with no measurable positive impact on our states financial and social problems.
We need to resist this urge to scapegoat people, and refocus our efforts and attention on the issues that are really crucial to the future of all Rhode Islanders.
Posted by: Erik Dufresne at June 2, 2008 2:14 PM