You know how the right wing always likes to talk about migrants, workers and refugees from Central America as “illegal immigration”/”illegals” or even an “invasion?” Also, notice how the right wing likes to talk about how they’re supposedly against only the “illegal” part, certainly NOT the “immigrant” part? Yet, time after time, we see clear evidence that what the right *really* cares about is the “immigrant” part of the equation, particularly if those immigrants just so happen to be from Latin America, to speak Spanish, to not be white Europeans, etc. Pure coincidence, of course, right? Yeah…no.
Anyway, a few minutes ago, we received more evidence for what the right wing’s true motives are when it comes to immigration, from Virginia’s own Ken Cuccinelli – the same guy who compared immigrant families to “rats,” as everyone hopefully recalls, and who:
- In December 2018, wrote in the far-right Washington Examiner, “the president could continue adding troops to the border and turn border security entirely over to the military. Defense of the nation’s borders is a matter of national security, not law enforcement…The migrant caravan remains an ongoing threat to our country’s sovereignty and safety.”
- “…advocated for denying citizenship to American-born children of parents living in the U.S. illegally, limiting in-state tuition at public universities only to those who are citizens or legal residents, and allowing workers to file lawsuits when an employer knowingly hires someone living in the country illegally for taking a job from a ‘law abiding competitor.’”
- Ranted that “we’ve been being invaded for a long time so the border states clearly qualify here to utilize this power themselves,” also that “because [the states are] acting under war powers, there’s no due process” and “you don’t have to keep them, no catch-and-release, no nothing. You just point them back across the river and let them swim for it.”
- Claimed (falsely) that “We’re being invaded, right? One person at a time, we’re being invaded. And the president isn’t protecting us from invasion, he’s encouraging the invasion, and he’s doing it unconstitutionally.”
So, this anti-immigrant fanatic and bigot is at it again this morning (see video, below), announcing “a regulation that could dramatically cut the number of legal immigrants allowed to enter and stay in the US by making it easier to reject green card and visa applications.” According to Cooch, this rule change “prevents aliens who are likely to become a public charge from coming to the United States or remaining here and getting a green card.” Uh huh. Cooch also claims, absurdly, that this new policy “is reenforcing the ideals of self sufficiency and personal responsibility“; that “there’s no reason for any particular group to feel this is targeting them”; and that “[i]f we had been having this conversation 100 years ago it would have applied to more Italians.“
In other words, according to the same nutjob who believes climate science is a hoax, who is a rabid anti-LGBT bigot, and again, who compared immigrant families to “rats,” is now…yeah, spewing bullshit at us while pushing an extreme agenda. I know, it’s shocking, but there is it…can’t say we didn’t warn you. Still…gack.
P.S. See below for the NY Times’ Maggie Haberman emphasizing that today’s rule “targets legal immigration,” as well as Beto O’Rourke pointing out that for the Trumpsters, “distinctions don’t matter…If you’re an immigrant, he believes you have no place in this country.”
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