Dealing With Illegals In Virginia

Illegal immigration may not be that big an issue within the GOP anymore. Look at the impending nomination of John McCain. If conventional wisdom held true, Senator McCain would not be the party's presumptive nominee. Apparently, all those Republicans who claim that illegal immigration was tops on their priority lists either didn't bother to campaign or to vote in the primaries, or if they did, a hefty share of them voted for John McCain.

Here in Virginia, we have been trying to hit the illegal alien problem head-on and the nation is beginning to take notice. So much so that Cal Thomas made it the central theme of his latest essay.

Check it out:

Virginia's Republican Attorney General, Robert McDonnell, is beginning the deportation process with a class of people not even the most vehemently pro-immigrant activist should defend. They are sex offenders and McDonnell, working in cooperation with the Virginia State Police and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, has identified 171 people who have been convicted of sex crimes. Some are illegal aliens, others have legal status, but their convictions violate the conditional terms of their residency and make them subject to deportation.

That's a good start and it should be repeated in every state in the Union. If we can't deport them all at once (I actually think a mass deportation can be done) let's get rid of the most vile of them first.

Cal goes on:

Asked whether the targeting of illegal alien sex offenders is the first step toward going after other criminal aliens, McDonnell said, "We're planning to do all of them. My position is that criminal illegal aliens or criminal aliens have forfeited their right to be in the country. There is broad agreement, regardless of which side people are on in the illegal immigration debate, that the criminal alien should be detained and deported." ... One northern Virginia jurisdiction with a high illegal alien population is the city of Manassas. In response to intense citizen complaints, the Manassas City Council has authorized local police to begin checking the immigration status of people they arrest for any crime. If they find the suspects are in the country illegally, they are now authorized to begin deportation proceedings. On March 3, neighboring Prince William County will begin implementing a similar program to crackdown on illegals. These two jurisdictions are in sync with what McDonnell is now doing statewide. Immigrant rights leader Ricardo Juarez of Mexicans Without Borders (a name that tells you something about his goal) is quoted in The Washington Examiner newspaper as saying, "This policy will only make the situation worse and will drive people out." Precisely. That is the intent of the program; to drive criminal illegal aliens out, preferably back to where they came from and especially if they have twice violated our laws.

How unbelievable is it that Ricardo Juarez would come to the defence of criminals, including sex offenders and pedophiles? Is the entire pro-amnesty/open-boarders movement also on the pro-criminal bandwagon? If not, they better start writing press releases stating so.

More:

Not all of the Virginia sex offenders fit the demographic stereotype. Yes, most are from Mexico, or Central and South American countries, but quite a few are from other nations, including Ethiopia, India, Iran, Thailand, even Scotland. So this is not about ethnicity. It is about breaking the law. The issue of illegal immigration and most especially that of criminal aliens should be a major issue in the presidential campaign. It is bad enough when immigration activists countenance the breaking of our laws and defend people who do it; it is something else when they attempt to defend sex offenders and others who have broken other laws while here.

Not just in the Presidential campaign, but also in local Congressional elections. If Jim Gilmore hasn't already jumped on this issue in support of the City of Manassas then he should do so immediately and begin contrasting himself with Mark Warner. It would go a long way to making sure Virginia doesn't put another tax-and-spend, pro-amnesty, give-benefits-to-illegals liberal in the Senate.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Hit The Road Jack
Cal Thomas
TownHall.com
February 28, 2008

A Brokered Convention? Stupid Idea!

J.B. Williams and Frank Salvato published a column today in which they proposed a plan by which the conservative base of the GOP can derail a John McCain nomination in St. Paul. I have two words: Stupid idea. In fact, it would have been more appropriate if these two had waited and published this column on April 1st.

If Republicans Really Want Their Party Back ...
J.B. Williams and Frank Salvato
GOPUSA.com
February 14, 2008

And what's worse is that Williams and Salvato give the very reasons why it would be a stupid idea right in their own column:

If 62.4% of Republicans really do oppose McCain becoming the Party nominee, then they need to do something more than whine and complain about it. If their best plan is to stay home in protest come November, or buy into some insane third party fantasy, they will be sadly disappointed with the outcome of their plan. Further, the idea of getting involved in the RNC or Republican Party organizational process -- becoming a committeeman or precinct captain -- and effecting meaningful change is a genuine solution-based thought to consider for the future, but incredibly late for 2008 and a patently unrealistic method of dealing with the current McCain crisis.

Ever hear the old saying: "You snooze, you lose?" Well, look in that second paragraph above and you will see another poetic tag-line: "Incredibly late for 2008."

The vaunted "Conservative base" of the GOP was conspicuously missing from the voting booths on Super Tuesday and conspicuously missing from the campaigns of candidates like Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter and Tommy Thompson. The Conservatives jumped into the fray way too late to make a difference.

And now, after surrendering their chance to be heard the first time around, they are demanding a second chance? Here is what Williams and Salvato are proposing:

Mike Huckabee is still in the race with 240 delegates. Romney is sitting on another 285 delegates with his campaign in a "suspended" state. Both can still collect delegates. Even though neither can actually win the nomination before the convention, the two combined have the power to stop a McCain nomination and force him into an open convention where the delegates are all in play. Simply put, what has to happen between now and July 12th is this. Huckabee and Romney have to continue amassing delegates, denying those delegates to McCain and forcing an open convention. ... The goal of affecting an open convention achieved the process of selecting the legitimate Republican nominee will be rightfully back in the hands of the Republican electorate.

Yes, that same electorate that failed to show up on Super Tuesday or in any of the campaigns before that.

The only goal this ridiculous proposal will accomplish is the disenfranchisement of those GOP voters who got up off of their rear-ends and went out to campaign and vote! Not only would it have a seriously negative effect on the GOP Presidential campaign (two months is not long enough to mount an effective national campaign), it would also lead to disastrous results for local campaigns and elections.

Consider my home state of Virginia. Here in the Commonwealth, John McCain won by a 2-digit margin. What would happen if Williams and Salvato's scheme actually worked and the delegates that we pledged to John McCain were suddenly taken away and forced to vote otherwise? It would mean a huge loss of confidence in the GOP as a whole which would mean a lower voter turnout. After all, why vote if your voice has been deliberately silenced?

Well, we have several key Congressional races going here in Virginia, not the least of which is a Senatorial race for the seat being vacated by John Warner. The GOP candidate, Jim Gilmore has a serious uphill bettle ahead of him to defeat the Dem candidate Mark Warner. If the collective voice of the Virginia voters is silenced in St. Paul, the effect will be a smaller GOP voter turnout for the local races. That would mean a larger Dem majority in both houses of Congress.

This same thing would happen in every other state the John McCain won.

No, a brokered convention will only mean a broken and fractured GOP that won't recover from 2008 for at least six to ten years during which the Dem Socialists would run wild over the U.S. We cannot let this happen.

Williams and Salvato should be encouraged to take their brokered convention plan over to the Dems.