AP Photo/Kathy Willens.
State’s rights? Oh, forget those. The ugly hypocrisy of republicans rears its collective head. Where they once never shut up about state’s rights, when attempting to foil every move by President Obama, they aren’t so concerned about them now. As a matter of fact, they are quite prepared to run them right over, in quite fascist manner – coercion. How do you force local cops to become your personal deportation goons? By tying federal monies to going along. It’s important to understand this current attempt at legislation.
Remember the Tenth Amendment?
The Constitution’s vague nod to states’ rights was a staple of Republican rhetoric for much of the Obama presidency, with many Republicans claiming that pretty much anything Obama supported violated this amendment. At its peak, “tentherism” seeped so deeply into the GOP’s bones that the party’s House leadership embraced a radical reading of the Constitution that individual GOP candidates used to argue Social Security or Medicare is unconstitutional (although, in fairness, it is far from clear that they understood the implications of their words at the time).
But all of that deep concern for the constitutional balance between federal and state power has fallen by the wayside, now that Republicans are set to control all three branches of the federal government. In a speech on the Senate floor last week, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) urged his colleagues to pass the so called “Stop Dangerous Sanctuary Cities Act,” a plan to effectively conscript state and local police into President-elect Trump’s plans to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
[…]
Toomey’s legislation would prohibit cities from receiving certain grants, including Community Development Block Grants, if the city’s police has a policy of not cooperating with certain federal efforts to round up immigrants. These grants fund a diverse range of programs, many of which have little, if anything, to do with immigration. In Philadelphia, for example, which Toomey represents, these grants paid for a litter removal program and they contributed to an effort to renovate 12 storefronts.
Full story at Think Progress.
That guy looks like an illegal alien, himself. Or is his problem just the latest wave of illegal aliens?
If they start deporting people, I think that could be the trigger for an insurgency. Seems like a real damn dumb idea to drive a chunk of the population underground. Especially when saying “you’re next” to other chunks.
I think we’re supposed to feel grateful that his sign doesn’t read “Nuke Sanctuary Cities” (yet).
A number of Indian nations have declared their rez’s to be sanctuary; and I think there’s a growing number of people willing to provide sanctuary in their own houses. Naturally, if you’re willing to do such, it’s best not to say online, and to be cautious about it offline.
It’s going to be interesting to see all the white americans jumping at all the newly opened jobs, cleaning toilets, scrubbing rich peoples’ houses to a gleam, picking fruit and all that other really not important stuff. (Contains sarcasm, for those who are sarcasm impaired.)
I want to add to Caine #4‘s:
If you want to help those people please reread The Diary of Anne Frank. The methods for hiding people who would be harmed by the regime have never changed. It doesn’t have to be as drastic, but the general idea still stands. Those ideas are currently being used by LGBT activists in Tel-Aviv to hide LGBT Palestinians who are being hunted by both Israel and their own families.
If you want to spread the word about being an ally and being open to housing immigrants it’s best to do so discretely by approaching an immigrant that you’re in good relations with, or somebody who works with immigrants. They’ll make sure that the information gets to the right place without leaving a trail.
Finally, thank you. Whoever preserves a single soul preserves a complete world.
Alexander @ 5, good advice, thank you.
Next to Trump’s, which left me numb because I just can’t process it, Pat Toomey’s is the win that hurt me the most. I vote in Illinois, but my US heart is in PA.
That reads like Fugitive Slave LAW 2016 Edition
The only things missing in this picture is branding of illegal immigrants with numbers tatooed on their forearms and forcing them to wear clothing with clearly visible symbol while being rounded up and deportated.
Giliell: It pretty much is. :(