Anti-immigration bill pits Jewish Republicans against House hard-liners

With the passage this week by the House of Representatives of tough new anti-immigration legislation, political observers are warning of a growing rift on the issue between moderate Republicans allied to the White House and party hard-liners in the House.

.......

The issue is also raising new barriers between Republican leaders and Jewish organizations, which have long advocated liberal immigration laws, based on humanitarian concerns and historic sentiment. Jewish Republicans, too, have emerged as key figures on the pro-immigration side in recent months, pitting many of them against the hard-liners who dominate the House leadership.

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Jewish organizations, including the major Jewish civil rights agencies as well as the main federated philanthropic body, United Jewish Communities, support a mixed approach that emphasizes border control, increased legal immigration and paths to legalization for undocumented immigrants, such as guest-worker programs. Most groups say they follow the lead of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which has aided immigrants for more than a century.

Beyond favoring more liberal immigration rules, some Jewish organizational leaders warn against what they see as extremist tendencies within the anti-immigration movement.

"We have spoken out on the vigilante groups patrolling the border," said the Washington representative of the Anti-Defamation League, Jess Hordes. "That is an important piece of that has links to white supremacist groups."



http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/662684.html

Many other responsible individuals have legitimate concerns about the extremists that are pushing for this bill.

It is not a Jewish "Republican" thingy, a horrible Ha'aretz headline to begin with.

See, for example:

http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?docid=10307

Ultimately, our research, most of it carried out by Beirich, revealed a tight-knit and interlocking network tying the CCC - a hate group that has described blacks as "a retrograde species of humanity" - to several prominent anti-immigration activists going all the way back to the early 1990s. Emblematic of this relationship was a panel held at a 1999 CCC conference that featured Spencer and the leaders of three other well-known anti-immigration organizations: Wayne Lutton of The Social Contract Press; John Vinson of the American Immigration Control Foundation; and Virginia Abernethy of Population-Environment Balance. Not long after, Abernethy and Lutton joined the editorial advisory board of Citizens Informer, the racist tabloid published by the CCC. Since then, the publication and its parent group have shifted their attention more and more to the supposed evils of non-white immigration.

Our investigation also included a visit by Beirich to the border to look into charges of vigilantism against the Barnetts and others. Documentation provided by the Mexican consul's office showed that detentions were frequent and often involved force. And the number of self-described immigrant-catchers was growing. In 2000, the armed outfit Ranch Rescue, which the Center sued in 2003 for violating the rights of seven immigrants, began patrolling ranches, first the Barnetts', and then those of others. According to its publicity materials, Ranch Rescue was repairing fences, but the Report investigation found that the group's activities were more paramilitary in nature. And e-mails later secured by the Center made clear that the leader of the group, Jack Foote, showed substantial racial animus towards Mexicans. This research ultimately led to our first major anti-immigration story, "Blood on the Border," published in spring 2001 http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=230 >. Our research also led us to list as hate groups three organizations: American Patrol, American Immigration Control Foundation, and The Social Contract Press. The following year, Coe's California Coalition for Immigration Reform would also be added to the Center's hate group list.

See also http://www.press.uillinois.edu/epub/books/tucker/ch4.html for more on the racist origins of the scheme to deny citizenship to children of immigrants.

But I'm nto for this hard line version that turns away those who genuinely are fleeing totalitarian regimes or others in a heartless fashion... I just don't like 15 illion unregistered illegal immigrants running around inside the country taking jobs.

among us too long. We must reveal what and who they are.

Good for the Jewish Republicans! (this time...)

those two words sound kinda odd together

Every group has a bunch of retards willing to swallow the Republican feeding-tube.

from other countries to come to the US where they are usually granted citizenship after a few years. Same is true for Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Indians and Pakistanis.

I'm surprised they have not come out of the woodwork yet on this message. They've bought the Lou Dobbs nonsense argument that American jobs are being stolen by immigrants. A) this is not true and B) this is the argument every nativist movement has used over the last two centuries to justify keeping out foreigners. Somehow, history is different this time according to these nativist, xenophobic Dems.

Folks, let the Republicans own the anti-immigration issue. A lot of good it did them in California which shortly after Proposition 187 in 1994 and went on to become a very dark blue state. Bush may be dumb about most things, but he's very much on the ball when it comes to understanding that the GOP will have difficulty sustaining majorities and the White House if they are known as the anti-Hispanic party.

CNN and MSNBC are turning into a televised version of talk radio.

My marketing professor explained it to me once, and I'm not sure if I remember the rationale correctly. But I think it the reasoning was something along the lines of, "My family and I are already here, so I don't want to share what we have by letting any more immigrants into the country."

I could very well be wrong about that. I am, after all, wrong 1/12 of the time.

with wacko communists on many issues, as well, but let's not go down THAT road.

I can personally attest to having my wages affected by a CRIMINAL employer CRIMINALLY hiring ILLEGAL aliens. It was NOT a good situation. Once he tapped into a pool of labor, ILLEGAL aliens all, that he could pay half as much- yes, half!- I never got another increase in pay, and my hours, along with the hours of other LEGAL workers, were cut. I also lost that job when I turned that CRIMINAL employer in, and he subsequently went to jail and paid a HUGE fine. Too bad, so sad. There were LEGAL immigrants involved in turning him in as well. I'm a right-wing hating social liberal, but I'm an American first, and I will ALWAYS stand for what is good for our nation. We have laws, and laws must be obeyed. My Father was an immigrant, and he entered this country LEGALLY. I am by no means anti-immigration, or a nazi, or a racist, or whatever you want to characterize me as. I hate the right-wing stance on this issue because it does come from the basis of racism.
I am also aware that there are people who need to escape bad governments and bad economic situations. It's not fair, but life isn't even fair for those of that allegedly "have it all" here in America. My whole point is, obey the law, and enter the US LEGALLY.

You took the words out of my mouth, er keyboard. I have worked alongside illegals and they were overworked, underpaid and cheated. But they were afraid to speak up for fear of losing what little they had. And yet, we want to continue this type of employment. We want to continue the abuse of illegals? Because if we don't make a change, this will continue. The "look the other way policy" that this country has been operating under does not work. We have to make a change and we have to do it legally, by following the law and preventing illegals.

the example from the very top, in this country, is lie cheat steal to win and profit. I almost dont blame the red cross workers in California for trying to grab some pie for themselves its the NeoCon way.

AJC poll indicates that 70% of U.S. Jews oppose the war in Iraq
By Shlomo Shamir, Haaretz Correspondent

NEW YORK - Approximately 70 percent of Jews in the United States oppose the war in Iraq, compared to 28 percent who support the war, according to a poll conducted by the American Jewish Committee. The poll indicates that 60 percent of U.S. Jews do not agree with the manner in which the U.S. government is conducting the war on terror.

<snip>

According to the poll, 36 percent of American Jews consider themselves very close to Israel, while 41 percent regarded themselves as somewhat close to Israel; 5 percent of respondents said they feel very distant from Israel.

When asked whether they are more optimistic regarding chances of peace between Israel and the Palestinians compared to last year, 21 percent said they are more optimistic, while 19 percent said they were less optimistic; 59 percent of those polled said their opinion had not changed in the past year.

<snip>

Only 16 percent of those polled said they were Republicans, while 54 percent said they were Democrats; 29 percent said they were Independents.

More:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/660353.html


Also:


Resurgence Of Religious Right Among Top Concerns

"The resurgence of conservative Christianity was one of the key issues affecting American Jewry in the past year, according to a new report.

The attempt by evangelical groups to “reclaim America for Christianity” was named as “a key domestic challenge to the Jewish community” in the Anti-Defamation League’s annual top-ten list.

The increased role played by religion in the country’s public sphere was reflected elsewhere on the hate watchdog’s list, highlighting the intense public debate on America’s legally-enshrined separation of church and state.

The list points out that a special report commissioned in June supported claims of “a pernicious climate of religious intolerance” at a Colarado Air Force base and that a new Congressional petition backing the right of chaplains to use specifically Christian language proved the problem was still current."

More:
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/?content_id=2333