America's Voice Blog

Posted 05/29/09 at 06:40pm By Jackie Mahendra

NCLR Fights KKK Tancredo Attack, Tancredo “Not Sorry,” GOP Hispanic Outreach Team Convulses

Earlier today we asked, "Will Washington Republicans Repudiate Race-based Attacks on Sotomayor?"

Extremists in the anti-immigrant movement have become key mouthpieces in the race-based campaign against President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor. They have dropped the pretense that their opposition to immigration is grounded in high-minded principles. Instead, they are revealing an ugliness that is as blatant as it is offensive. Just yesterday, former Rep. Tom Tancredo attacked Judge Sotomayor for being a member of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a mainstream civil rights organization with a 40 year old history, by saying it's like a "Latino KKK."

While Tancredo has come out swinging again, even refusing to apologize on CNN, NCLR is going on the offense. They are demanding that Republican Party leadership say "enough is enough." Below is the petition, but the ask is simple: apologize, now - stand against the politics of division and fear.

Sign it here - demand better.

Here's what the petition says:

Condemn the Attacks on Latinos and Sotomayor, Now!

Required text:
(This text will be included in your message)
Chairman Michael Steele of the RNC
CC: Senator Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader
CC: Representative John Boehner, Minority Leader

Dear Leaders of the Republican Party:

We all know that Supreme Court nominations get political, even with nominees as qualified as Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Still, that does not mean politicians get a free pass to attack nominees solely on the basis of race or ethnicity.

Neither does it mean that politicians get a free pass to slander organizations that work to promote civil rights and justice for Hispanic Americans, thereby making America stronger.

During an interview about Judge Sotomayor yesterday, former Congressman and current anti-immigrant extremist Tom Tancredo, called NCLR 'a Latino KKK without the hoods and the nooses.' Describing how profoundly offensive this kind of smear campaign against Sotomayor and the nation's largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization would be impossible. This outburst was reprehensible not only to Hispanics and communities of color, but to all Americans who want to put this ugly chapter of our history behind us.

Unfortunately, sadder still is that Republican leadership has failed to condemn these extreme statements; not one leader has repudiated the outrageous claims.

We, the undersigned ask you, Chairman Steele, to gather your fellow leaders of the RNC, and firmly condemn these statements as soon as possible. It is time to stand against the politics of division and fear and work together for a stronger America.

Thank you.

Tom Tancredo responds unsurprisingly:

And in case there was any doubt about how this relates to the revolting immigration debate of years past and (likely) months to come, this, from Ali Frick of Think Progress. Frick argues in "G. Gordon Liddy On Sotomayor: ‘Let’s Hope That The Key Conferences Aren’t When She’s Menstruating’":

Yesterday on his radio show, conservative host G. Gordon Liddy continued the right wing’s all-out assault on Judge Sonia Sotomayor. First, just like Tom Tancredo, Liddy slammed Sotomayor’s affiliation with the civil rights group La Raza — and referred to the Spanish language as “illegal alien“:

LIDDY: I understand that they found out today that Miss Sotomayor is a member of La Raza, which means in illegal alien, “the race.” And that should not surprise anyone because she’s already on record with a number of racist comments.

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/29/09 at 11:32am By Jackie Mahendra

Video: Maddow Asks, Is NCLR the Largest Latino Advocacy Organization in the US…or the Klan?

Last night we reported on former Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo's  attack on Judge Sotomayor, in which he called NCLR "the Latino KKK Without the Hoods..."

The story spread out long and wide yesterday (The Politico, Think Progress, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, the Colorado Independent, and more), and Rachel Maddow wasted no time in setting the record straight:

That last line is classic.

What I just don't understand is, with all their Hispanic outreach talk, shouldn't the RNC be all over themselves condemning Tancredo's slander of the largest mainstream Latino advocacy organization in the US, which has consistently honored Republican candidates with awards for serving the community?

How can the RNC possibly justify not doing that?

Posted 05/28/09 at 06:45pm By Jackie Mahendra

Anti-Immigrant Tancredo Takes on Sotomayor, Calls NCLR the Latino KKK Without the Hoods

The anti-immigrant crowd just can't seem to stop attacking the President's Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, on the topic of race. In, "Media Matters' Boehlert goes head-to-head with Tancredo over Sotomayor on CNN," Media Matters exposes the out-of-touch sentiments and statements of the anti-immigrant movement's biggest national hero, Tom Tancredo. Tancredo calls the President's nominee a "racist" and the largest latino civil rights organization in the United States, NCLR, a quote-unquote:

...Latino KKK without the hoods or the nooses.

Just like the NAACP is the hoodless Black KKK, right Tancredo? Clearly these guys are just militant, racist, murderers, minus the sheets.

Watch it:

As Boehlert points out, it is unclear to begin with why the former Republican Presidential Candidate and Congressman felt compelled to damn a comment by Sotomayor, made eight years ago, in which she says that her life experience has made her a better judge. It is peculiar, as blogger Jed Lewison points out, that another Supreme Court Justice, Judge Alito, made a very similar, if not more direct, case without so much as a peep from Tancredo, Krikorian, or any of the other heads of the Anti-Immigrant Lobby: As Lewison notes:

Alito said that his family's experience as immigrants influenced his outlook on immigration cases.

It's clear that immigration hardliners just can't seem to stop attacking Judge Sotomayor, the President's nominee for the highest court in the United States, on race.

What's not clear is how this helps their cause one bit.

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UPDATE: Tancredo's KKK attack on NCLR is all over The Politico, Think Progress, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, Daily Kos, the Colorado Independent, and more.

On Crooks and Liars' Third Branch, Dave Meyer argues:

Mel Martinez should join Senator McCain in denouncing Tancredo. Less than three months ago, Martinez prominently accepted a Capital Award from NCLR in recognition of his "outstanding support of public policies that are vital to Hispanic Americans."

Somebody has to take a stand, speak the truth about an organization whose mission is to "improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans," and repair the GOP brand with Latinos, that's for sure. Michael Steele, maybe?

Posted 05/28/09 at 02:48pm By Jackie Mahendra

Five Key Facts on CIS’ ‘Worst Person in the World’ Krikorian, Leader of Sotomayor Attack

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies and a writer at the right-wing website, National Review Online. Apparently, he has now entered Keith Olbermann’s ‘Worst Person in the World’ fame. Watch it:

Why the Worst?  

This week, departing only slightly from his anti-immigrant agenda, Krikorian annointed himself a key leader in the GOP opposition to the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Krikorian's main line of attack against Sotomayor? It wasn't about her immigration-related rulings, or even her experience or capacity as a judge. Nope, he took offense at how she pronounces her name. Seriously. His remarks have been widely mocked at Think Progress and The New Republic.

Here at America's Voice, we have been following Krikorian, who is often cited as a neutral "expert" on immigration despite his extreme affiliations, very closely. Today we're releasing a report providing necessary background on Krikorian and his extreme viewpoints. As Olbermann's "Worst Person" continues to grace the national stage with his absurd commentary on the Sotomayor hearings and the upcoming immigration reform debate, here are five things everyone should know about him: 

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/28/09 at 12:11pm By Web Team

Weekly Immigration Wire: Child of Immigrants Nominated to Supreme Court

Note: This is a weekly feature by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

WireOn Tuesday, President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Sotomayor could be the first Latina appointed to the Supreme Court. Predictably, attacks and slurs from the Right are already flying. Regardless, Sotomayor would be an excellent choice for the Supreme Court, signaling to Latino/as that the White House is aware of our need for more representation in government.

Reporting on Sotomayor’s nomination, the Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar notes that, while the choice doesn’t push the envelope in terms of liberalness, it does indicate that Obama was “willing to stand up to unfounded criticism of Sotomayor as a far-left liberal.” Interestingly enough, President George H. W. Bush originally nominated Sotomayor for the district court, and her life reads like Many GOP-adored tales of hard work leading to success.

Which leads one to wonder why are they attacking Sotomayor’s nomination with such vitriol, by painting her as a “radical, judicial activist/scary Latina feminist/underqualified diversity pick“? As Michelle Chen reports for RaceWire, Sotomayor has a reputation for “principled independence suffused with real-world experience” and the GOP’s squawking is a typical barrage of “hypocrisy, shrill animosity and racist code words.”

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Posted 05/27/09 at 09:14pm By Jackie Mahendra

Sotomayor Debate To Test the GOP - First Shots

WH picture We've been reporting for some time now that the GOP has a bit of a branding problem when it comes to Latinos.

In the wake of extremely divisive immigration wedge politics that left the GOP sorely abandoned by Latino voters, cooler heads within the Party have called for a ceasefire and for more and better Hispanic outreach. Well, enter the Sotomayor debate.

SotomayorIn "Sotomayor's Confirmation Hearings Will Be a Trial of the GOP," New America Media and Of América Editor Roberto Lovato was one of the first to argue:

As she faces what is already expected to be a host of hostile questions from the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in her confirmation hearings, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama’s first nominee to the Supreme Court, should remember one thing: that it is not she who will be on trial, but the Republican Party.

Rather than allow herself to be put at the center of another racism and sexism-laden political circus around the qualifications of a candidate who brings more real-life prosecutorial and actual judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in the last 100 years, Sotomayor should consider another strategy. She – and we – should instead view those hearings as nothing less than a trial to determine whether the GOP is ready to make restitution for its role in a number of judicial and political wrongdoings perpetrated in the Bush era. Those wrongdoings include unleashing unprecedented and dangerous political attacks on Latinos, and breaching the political and electoral contract the “new GOP” said it wanted with Latinos, one of the country’s most important voting blocs.

And trial it is shaping up to be. 

Henry Porter in,"The sad spectacle of xenophobia run amok," slices it this way:

Exhibit A: Mark Krikorian's attack on Sotomayor.

It's sad Republicans have been reduced to playing the theater of the absurd in their never-ending efforts to whip up xenophobia.  It's also ironic the word for that is derived from Greek words ξένος (xenos) and φόβος (phobos), but that's another story.  

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/26/09 at 10:30am By Frank Sharry

Question on Sotomayor: What Does Obama’s SCOTUS Nomination Have to Do with Immigration Reform?

Sotomayor

Answer: Nada.

Well, almost nothing. To watch the coverage on mainstream news and in the blogosphere one might think exactly the opposite, however.

In “First thoughts: It's Sotomayor,” MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro announce today’s historic nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a Yale Law School graduate and Princeton undergrad who the President notes, has more experience ‘than anyone currently serving on the Supreme Court had when they were appointed.” Impressive stuff.

None of these credentials seem to top the fact that Sotomayor is a Latina woman, however. The piece— as well as many, many like it— begins:

At 10:15 am ET from the White House’s East Room, President Obama will again make history by nominating the first Hispanic to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor of the 2nd Circuit.

The commentators do not linger long on Sotomayor’s extensive qualifications or unique background before diving into the politics allegedly lurking behind the pick. They speculate that the nomination clearly signals the Administration’s desire to “check the box” when it comes to quote-unquote “Latino issues” in order to dodge a pesky immigration reform bill:

As we’ve mentioned before, Latino groups have been grumbling somewhat about their representation (or lack thereof) in the Obama administration, as well as the fact that immigration reform doesn’t appear to be on the White House’s front-burner. But this pick buys Obama A LOT of time with Hispanics -- a demographic he won last year, 67%-31% -- on immigration and other issues. Is it a coincidence that Obama this week heads out West to Nevada and California, two states with large Latino populations? [Emphasis ours].

It’s not just MSNBC making the claim that Obama can “buy time with Hispanics” on pressing national issues like immigration reform. Mark Krikorian, part of John Tanton’s anti-immigrant network, writes gleefully on the National Review today:

I predicted three weeks ago that Sotomayor was guaranteed to get the nod — as a consolation prize for Hispanic pressure groups, since there isn’t going to be an amnesty.

And while I love Chuck Todd (can't say the same of Mark Krikorian), here’s a little reality check-list for both, from yours truly.

Those who think Sotomayor’s nomination means no on comprehensive immigration reform (for those new to this whole world, “amnesty” is what Tanton’s clan call any plan to fix our immigration mess) should consider these four points:

1. Hispanic voters care about immigration reform. A whole lot.

2. So do swing voters. (In fact, the general public’s support for reform is at an all-time high, despite the economy).

3. Obama has renewed his campaign pledge to move reform forward in year 1. Again, and again, and again.

4. Two words: June 8th.

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/22/09 at 10:26am By Web Team

Weekly Immigration Wire: Women Central to Immigration Story

Note: This is a weekly feature by Nezua, TMC MediaWire Blogger

Woman and ChildCelebrated stories of early American pioneers, explorers, and immigrants typically center around men of fortitude and bravery. Depictions of modern-day migrants are still very male-centric, and this cultural lens is a default in most cases. But women play a central and overlooked role in today's immigration story. Even when not directly highlighted, women often bear the weight of keeping families together and helping them grow stronger.

New America Media has just released the results of a poll titled “Women Immigrants: Stewards of the 21st Century.” NAM surveyed 1,002 female immigrants from Latin American, Asian, African, and Arab countries. According to Sandy Close and Richard Rodriguez, "The story that has not been told is the story of the woman immigrant. This poll is an effort to capture her narrative, and what becomes clear in the responses–many to questions that seemed on their face to have nothing to do with family per se–is that the gold thread giving meaning to her life is family stewardship."

The poll reveals that the typical model of migration, in which the man left to find work and send home money, has changed. Women are assuming head of the household duties, even if in their prior situation they were in less of a leadership role. The women interviewed for the poll named "securing family stability" as the most important motivator for seeking U.S. citizenship.

NAM also features a number of articles that break down the poll's findings, all available on the Immigration Ladder. Some feature short videos such as the one below, titled Family, Work and Progress -- Latina Immigrants Speak. In this video, Latinas talk about why they came to the U.S. The reasons range from political asylum to simply being able to raise and feed their children. These are hard-hitting pieces because we can see and hear people tell their own story in their own words.

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/21/09 at 04:34pm By Frank Sharry

GOP Trots Out Old Extremist, J.D. Hayworth, as Spokesman against Immigration Reform

GOP Ostrich

Note: Cross-posted at Huffington Post

Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration held a hearing about border policy. Its chairman, Chuck Schumer (D-NY), has declared ‘game on’ for immigration reform.  This is the same Schumer who was architect of the Democratic takeover of the Senate, who always has his eye on what the party needs to do in order to win. As such, it takes a sledge hammer to the tired conventional wisdom that immigration reform is “too hot to handle,” and instead confirms that the time is most certainly now.

President Obama gets it, too, despite some troubling moves that the Administration has been roundly criticized for this week.
The President announced just yesterday that he will host a White House strategy session with Members of Congress during the second week of June and has consistently pledged to get started on immigration reform this year.

Besides being the right thing to do, moving forward on reform is smart politics, plain and simple. Real immigration reform is the key to earning the trust of our nation’s fastest growing block of voters – Latinos— and also to showing moderate and swing voters who are sick of demagoguery on the issue that Washington is stepping up to the plate to solve tough problems.

But while the President and Senator Schumer look to the future, the panel’s ranking member, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), was caught facing squarely in the other direction.

Cornyn called talk show host, defeated Congressman, and notorious blowhard J.D. Hayworth to testify as an expert on the border.  Until his 2006 defeat, Hayworth was one of the most outspoken immigrant bashers in Congress, whose screeds were parroted on David Duke’s blog and cheered by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – labeled an anti-immigrant hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Hayworth is indeed the poster child for a politics that has driven Latinos away from the GOP– and that has failed to scare up the support of key swing voters.  Even conservatives blame the immigration issue for Hayworth’s 2006 loss, according to a study promoted by Linda Chavez:

In Arizona's 5th district, six-term GOP incumbent Rep. J.D. Hayworth actually switched positions on immigration from being a sponsor of guest worker legislation to becoming one of the most outspoken opponents of immigration, even advocating a moratorium on legal immigration from Mexico. In 2004, Hayworth received almost as many Hispanic votes as his Democrat opponent, with each receiving about 48 percent; but in 2006, Hayworth lost 59-36 percent in Hispanic precincts.

This is consistent with what we saw in the 2008 election. As I’ve consistently chronicled, in 20 out of 22 competitive races during the 2008 cycle, the pro-reform candidate defeated the anti-immigrant hardliner.

What’s more, new polling of Hispanic voters in 13 states conducted by Bendixen & Associates found  that, by a 71 percent to 11 percent margin, respondents believed that the Democratic Party best represented the opinion of the Hispanic community on immigration issues vs. the Republican Party.  Additionally, only 23 percent of respondents in the Bendixen poll thought that Republicans “will do the right thing” on immigration issues, while a whopping 60 percent thought Republicans “will not do the right thing” (17 percent don’t know).  

This, with Gallup reporting that self-identified Republicans have dropped to a near-historic low of 21% and that the GOP’s share of nearly every major demographic subgroup had shrunk since 2001.

Note to Senator Cornyn: step away from the extremist – he is dangerous to your party.

Click here to read more.
Posted 05/14/09 at 11:37am By Frank Sharry

Profile in Extremism on Postville Anniversary: Congressman Steve King (R-IA)

Rep. Steve King

A  year ago this week, nearly four hundred men and women were corralled into  the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa, in an immigration raid that has  come to be known as one of the least-just immigration operations in U.S. history.  

In fact, since the raid  happened on May 12th, 2008, religious leaders and  elected officials across the nation have come out strongly in condemnation of the  abuses that took place in Postville, Iowa. Not Congressman Steve King, however.

In a December  2008 op-ed in the Des Moines Register, King praised the immigration raid in  Postville, calling it a "step  in the right direction." Then,  in a February 2009 interview with Radio  Iowa, King said that the raid "was a good thing in the long run." From  that interview:

King is the top-ranking Republican on a House subcommittee on immigration, and King says he will keep pressing for action to reduce the number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. "I do have to carry that banner and I do so willingly..."

King’s perspective on the Postville raid, and his likening immigrants to cattle, are just two  examples of a Congressional leader out of step with mainstream America and in step  with the most disturbing arm of the extreme anti-immigrant movement.  The Congressman’s record is the focus of our  latest report: "Rep. Steve King  (R-IA): Carrying the Banner for Anti-Immigrant Extremists."  

The report details ways in which Rep. King’s bogus claims about immigrants have served as talking points for the extreme anti-immigrant movement for years. It shows that King is not only beloved by the extremist anti-immigrant groups, but he is also a regular speaker at their events-- even FAIR, which was designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In the report, we show how, from the House floor, King released now-debunked information about immigrants that has widely accepted and regurgitated on anti-immigrant websites.

Some highlights:

The  Anti-Defamation League reported on King’s use of "anti-immigrant  rhetoric," which extends to comparing undocumented immigration to both a "slow  motion Holocaust" and a "...slow-motion terrorist attack..."

According to an April 3, 2009 article in Politico,  Rep. King dismissed the seriousness of sworn testimony detailing racial  profiling by Latino witnesses at a Judiciary Committee hearing.
   
On April 30, 2009, Rep. King called the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus "separatist groups" in a speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In March of 2008, during an interview with an Iowa  radio station, Rep. King opined on Barack Obama’s middle name, which he  believed would have terrorists "dancing  in the streets..."

"We  could also electrify this wire with the kind of current that would not kill  somebody, but it would be a discouragement for them to be fooling around with  it. We do that with livestock all the time."   - Rep. Steve King, on ideal  border fences, immigrants, and livestock.

Congressman King’s perspective on immigration and race is far from mainstream. It is, rather, the kind of position embraced by some of the most extreme political forces in America. 

Here’s a parting message to Rep. King and other Members of Congress who abuse the immigration issue for political gain:

With a whopping  sixty-one percent of Americans now favoring a "pathway to citizenship  for illegal immigrants," it is time for leaders from both parties to rise  above the vitriol and division which has blocked comprehensive immigration  reform for years and work together on real, practical, and humane solutions to fixing  our broken immigration system.

And no, the mass deportation of  12 million people or the railroading  of immigrant workers through "assembly-line trials" is no longer an  option.

UPDATE: Watch the video of Rep. King's ideal border fence:

 
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Note: Cross-posted at Daily Kos.
 
Photo by the Associated Press.

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