The Blue State

Iraqis being smuggled into US from Mexico

For the last year, two issues have dominated opinion polls: the war and immigration.  Now for the first time, the two areas of concern are affecting one another.  Mexican smuggling rings are bringing the Iraq war onto our soil:

The FBI is investigating an alleged human smuggling operation based inChaparral, N.M., that agents say is bringing "Iraqis and other MiddleEastern" individuals across the Rio Grande from Mexico.

An FBI intelligence report distributed by the Washington, D.C. JointTerrorism Task Force, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, says theillegal ring has been bringing Iraqis across the border illegally formore than a year.

Smuggling organizations are making a boatload of money as a result:

The FBI report, issued last week, says the smuggling organization "usedto smuggle Mexicans, but decided to smuggle Iraqi or other MiddleEastern individuals because it was more lucrative." Each individualwould be charged a fee of $20,000 to $25,000, according to the report.

So this probably answers the question of whether these are refugees or terrorists being smuggled in.  It is highly unlikely that refugees have the resources to pay the $20,000 per person fee.

Yet another example of how the war in Iraq has made our country less safe.

Why the Mexican election scandal should be embarrassing to the U.S.

There has been a lot of interest as of late in Mexico's close presidential election.  Let me just say, as a disclaimer, in comparison to Near East and Southeastern Asia policy, I am not as knowledgeable about Latin America.  So, for the most part, there is no point in me even trying to put forth a somewhat educated stance on the Mexican election.

I will say, however, that the vote reminds me of something that went on in Florida nearly six years ago.  As the Guardian Unlimited newspaper reports, there are allegations that liberal voters were taken off the rolls:

As we found in Florida in 2000, my investigations team on the groundin Mexico City this week found voters in poor neighbourhoods, theleft's turf, complaining that their names were "disappeared" from thevoter rolls. ChoicePoint can't know what use the Bush crew makes of itslists. But erased registrations require us to ask, before this vote iscertified, was there a purge as there was in Florida?

Notably,ruling party operatives carried registration lists normally in thehands of elections officials only. (In Venezuela in 2004, during thespecial election to recall President Hugo Chavez, I saw his opponentsconsulting laptops with voter lists. Were these the purloined FBIfiles? The Chavez government suspects so but, victorious, won't pressthe case.)

There's more that the Mexico vote has in common withFlorida besides the heat. The ruling party's hand-picked electoralcommission counted a mere 402,000 votes more for their candidate,Felipe Calderón, over challenger Andrés Manuel López Obrador. That'snoteworthy in light of the surprise showing of candidate Señor Blank-o(the 827,000 ballots supposedly left "blank").

As I told one of my visitors to this web site via e-mail, I favored Calderon because his foreign policy was more pro-American.  The last thing we need is another leader on our doorstep that hates the United States.  But regardless of who any of us wanted to win, vote tampering on any side of any election is fraudulent and threatens democratic institutions.  Can we say for sure that the Mexican election was rigged?  Not necessarily.  The Mexican media is not as open as the press in the United States.  We may never know.

Overall though, I am not surprised that there was a voting controversy in Mexico.  There are similar scandals in other third world countries.  But when you read about those third world scandals, it is sad to think that you could even compare them to what went on in Florida.  We are the United States after all -- the shining democracy.  What happened in Florida in 2000 and in Ohio in 2004 were inexcusable.  So, in a nutshell, whenever I read about a foreign election controversy in the news, it brings back the feeling of embarrassment that I got when I was a senior in high school, looking on with my jaw dropped as the Supreme Court gave the election to Bush.
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Other blogs writing about this issue: Worldwide Sawdust, The Constant American, The Humane Rights Blog, Rain Crow Calling, Reconstitution, Lazy Iguana, A Call to Action, Cwech Blug, Daily Kos.

July drive to register new Hispanic voters is a Republican nightmare

House Republicans expect to hold hearings throughout the country later this summer on the issue of immigration.  This localization of politics is designed to make the Republican party look more connected to the grassroots in the months leading up to the midterm elections.  Most importantly, the testimony of angry conservative citizens against immigration will bolster the image of House Republicans, and put pressure on the Republican Senate to bow to their radical wishes on this issue.

While the conservative base is fired up, no one should underestimate Hispanic interest groups that are trying to register new voters.  Latino rights groups are using this first day of July to kick off their nationwide effort to register millions of new citizens to vote:

"Our people are angry. They are angry at theway that Republicans have treated them. They are scared that theirfamilies will be broken up. They are angry and they are going to dosomething about it," said Christina Lopez, the deputy executivedirector for the Washington-based Center for Community Change, anational umbrella group of immigration-focused groups.

Saturday's events — some to register voters and some to begintraining volunteers to do so — will take place in at least 40 cities in17 states.

Several events are taking place around Florida on Saturday,including one in Lake Worth sponsored by the Immigrant Rights Coalitionof Palm Beach County to help legal permanent residents become citizens.

In Georgia, the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials isholding a session Saturday to train team leaders from across the statefor a voter registration drive.

In North Carolina, Communities for Comprehensive Immigration Reformwill be registering voters at nine sites in and around Charlotte onSaturday and Sunday.

In Texas, informational sessions are planned Saturday in Harlingenby the South Texas Immigration Council and in Houston by the Centro deRecursos para Centroamericanos, the Service Employees InternationalUnion and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

The goal is to harness potential new voters by educating permanentlegal residents about how to become citizens, and to register theAmerican children of immigrants.

Together, the two groups make up just over 14 million people, all ofwhom could be potential voters by 2008, according to a report publishedby the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

While House Republicans prefer to pander to their base, they will be in for a surprise if this voter registration drive is successful.  Many Latinos are furious at the xenophobia coming from the far-right.  If the Republicans cannot suppress the anger coming from within their base, which will boil over during these hearings, then expect to see a strong show of support by Hispanics for Democratic candidates in November.

Lastly, you had better believe that blogs such as this one will be tracking and exposing any effort by the Republicans to suppress the Hispanic vote.

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Other blogs writing about this issue: Out of my Mind, Double Strollers, Pro-Tech, Radio Active with Steve Mitton, Hispanic Trending, Migra Matters, Institute for Black Intellectualism, Vivir Latino.

GOP is teasing their base

There is a surprise on the immigration front.  After word came down two weeks ago that Congress had pretty much shelved any opportunity before November of solving the immigration stalemate between the House and Senate, the two sides are now talking again, says the Washington Post:

"I've really been rather encouraged about what's happened over the lastseveral days with regard to the issue of immigration," said HouseMajority Leader John A. Boehner  (R-Ohio).

The plan being negotiated on would call for the "construction of triple-layer walls, deployment of surveillance aircraft and other means of tightening the border with Mexico."  Two years later, the situation would then be evaluated and, if all went well, a quest worker program would be enacted.

But most Washington insiders will tell you that this is a big gamble.  If the GOP start talking about this issue again and gets nothing done, they will find themselves in an even worse position with their base voters than just month ago.  Every time Republicans talk about immigration, passionate feelings take hold within the conservative base, and those voters become even less tolerant of inaction.

I will give the GOP Congress credit for one thing: they are taking chances, something that Democratic strategists usually are too chicken to even consider.  If this thing does not work out, even after talking about it to death once again, the GOP will have voter turnout problems this November.  By not getting anything done, it would be like teasing their base.  Really, who likes to be teased?  Think of it as a baseball analogy.  Losing a game 8 to 3 is one thing.  But losing it 8 to 7 after the bullpen blew the lead can be worse.  Sometimes good intentions coupled with good effort can lead to high expectations.  If those expectations are not met, then everyone gets angry.  That is the gamble that the GOP faces by revisiting this issue.  Either they get their base revved up before November, or they anger them and millions of them stay home.

If an immigration compromise is made, expect the GOP to have a better shot at narrowly maintaining control of Congress.  But if no immigration deal is reached, then say "good-bye" to the Republican majority this November.
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Other blogs writing about this issue: Blog Reload, The Ford Report, Hot line Blog, The Influence Peddler, Beltway Blitz, The Hedgehog Blog, Blog for Arizona, Class Struggle.