The Shame of Postville, Iowa

"Anyone who has doubts that this country is abusing and terrorizing undocumented immigrant workers should read an essay by Erik Camayd-Freixas, a professor and Spanish-language court interpreter who witnessed the aftermath of a huge immigration workplace raid at a meatpacking plant in Iowa."

New York Times Editorial, July 13, 2008.

http://www.nytimes.%20com/...

Who is paying for this?

Originally posted on Citizen Orange.

One of the last anti-migrant politicians that had a chance at winning the presidency will suspend his campaign, according to CNN.  I hope I don't need to remind people of Mitt Romney's contradictory deportation-only approach to undocumented migration that he made a centerpiece of his campaign.

Originally posted at Citizen Orange.

It was a lot of fun watching Kieth Olbermann lay the smackdown on Lou Dobbs for his complicity in hiring the same migrants that he rails against nightly.  Yave wrote a brilliant post on this, and Duke writes that the blogosphere was way ahead of Olbermann on this one.  Still, there was one part of Olbermann's monologue, quoted below, that bothered me a bit.

copyright © 2007 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

During this Thanksgiving Holy Day observance, we, the citizens of this nation say grace for all that G-d, and country, have given us.  We celebrate the harvest.  Our countrymen venerate the Native Americans that kindly shard their food and grain-filled lands with our European ancestors.  We revel in what we reap.  With thanks to our ancestors, the mavericks of the past, we, the children of immigrants, grew gloriously.  Yet, while white Americans, descendants of the foreign born, rejoice, the darker complected grieve.  

For about a year now I've been leaning towards Hillary as my "If the election were today, who would you vote for?" candidate. And lately I was feeling that Hillary was being attacked too much here. A little while ago I was at another diary defending Hillary as having the most liberal congressional voting record. Another comment pointed out that the National Journal has Hillary as not being most liberal (in 2006).

I'm not withdrawing my support because she is less liberal in the National Journal in 2006. I was looking for her voting record with other liberal organizations. I know she had a 95% rating with ADA (Americans for Democratic Action) in 2006.

But then I came across this "Hillary's Now against Licenses for Illegal Immigrants." If she had said it was for the states to decide and Spitzer backed down and she supports Spitzer's decision, I would understand.

was posted on the Immigration Prof Blog.

The questions to Obama were asked by Jennifer Chacón, Bill Hing, and Kevin Johnson, who have served as members of an Immigration Policy Group for the Obama campaign. In spite of the fact that the are connected to the campaign, they did ask tough questions and the answers were very enlightening.

When Obama was asked what he would you do as President on the difficult issue of immigration reform he responded that:

"We need comprehensive immigration reform that creates a system that is fair, consistent, compassionate, and emphasizes both maintaining the rule of law and the security of our borders while working to keep families together and putting the undocumented on an earned path to citizenship. "

The Bush administration is trying to stem the tide of illegal immigration across the Arizona border, pero, son mensos. Unfortunately, it affects us detrimentally.  Read below the fold to see how it affects us here in Baja, AZ.

Originally posted on Immigration Orange

Immigration Orange Lessons are a series of essays aimed at combatting the talking points that derail every public conversation about immigration.  They can all be found on Immigration Orange.

It is impossible to have a real conversation about immigration in the U.S. if people can't even agree on the terminology that they are debating with.  Conservatives automatically become hostile when they read or hear the word "undocumented immigrant", and progressives often call people that use the term "illegal alien" racists.  Both terms are incorrect.

Welcome to the Overnight News Digest.

A big thanks to Sidof79 who edited last night's digest and best wishes to him on his graduation day.

Top Stories

• A half-mile wide tornado destroyed Greensburg, Kansas, killed 9 people, and injured dozens of its residents. At least 90 percent of Greensburg was either destroyed or heavily damaged. Governor Kathleen Sebelius declared Kiowa County a disaster area.

• George W. Bush hit all-time approval low of 28 percent in a new Newsweek poll. "A majority of Americans believe Bush is not politically courageous: 55 percent vs. 40 percent. And nearly two out of three Americans (62 percent) believe his recent actions in Iraq show he is 'stubborn and unwilling to admit his mistakes'".

• Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson obliterated Sean Hannity at a University of Utah Debate on Impeachment.

I've made diaries in the past about Bush's penchant for secrecy and his war on government reports, so this should come as a surprise to no one.

From McClatchy:

Migrant farm workers face life-and-death questions about elusive health care.

So far, though, the Bush administration is keeping potential answers close to the chest.

Four years ago, eager for solutions, Congress ordered a study of farm worker health care. Three years ago, the study was done. It's been buried ever since, caught in a bureaucracy working at a pace of its own.

Originally Posted at TexasKaos.com

If you have been following another diary written by David Harris himself (Iraq War veteran running for District 6), you'll know that David's being Swiftboated by a bunch of trolls who "have no connection to the Joe Barton campaign" - wink, wink. For those of you who don't know, David Harris is an Iraq War Veteran running for District 6 here in Texas against one of the worst Tom-Delay connected, Net Neutrality killing Rethuglicans named Joe Barton. This was posted by a troll at TexasKaos.com and frankly it tells me everything you need to know about what kind of person Joe Barton is:

The topic of immigration is once again being used by extremists to ignite the basest forms of nativism in the electorate.  This week's passage of the monstrous Sessenbrenner bill in the House is a clear signal to the Tancredos of the world that the word "immigration" can easily be used to whip Washington into a frothy craze.  Everyone's got a plan.  Everyone's got a different answer.  Everyone's got the right, correct, real solution.

Except, they don't.  By and large, the "ideas" that have come out of Washington are fundamentally flawed.  Republicans and Democrats alike have reduced the complicated factors that are forcing people to walk 60 miles across a freaken Arizonan desert in July to a cold, statistical analysis, devoid of emotion.  Devoid of humanity.  And that's where the problem begins.  

[more below the flip]