It’s way too early to tell whether the United States under President-elect Barack Obama will restore realism, sanity and lawfulness to its immigration system.

If Mr. Obama’s team is confirmed, the country will have a homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, and a commerce secretary, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who understand the border region and share a well-informed disdain for foolish, inadequate enforcement schemes like the Bush administration’s border fence.

If you uphold workers’ rights, even for those here illegally, you uphold them for all working Americans. If you ignore and undercut the rights of illegal immigrants, you encourage the exploitation that erodes working conditions and job security everywhere. In a time of economic darkness, the stability and dignity of the work force are especially vital.

| Read Full Editorial Here: In a time of economic crisis, it is especially vital to uphold workers’ rights, even for those here illegally. Exploitation erodes working conditions and job security everywhere. |

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References:

1. Republicans on Immigration: The War Within
2. Immigrant Deaths in U.S. Detention ‘Gulags’ Go Unnoticed — In U.S. jails and detention camps, immigrants are dying of gross mis-treatment including medical neglect
3. Immigrants Dying In America’s ‘Detention Gulags’
4. Legionnaires’ Disease — American Legion Pushes Nativist Falsehoods
5. CNN’s Lou Dobbs – The Minister of ‘Propaganda and Enlightenment’

Immigration Hate Crimes Across America!

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SPLC Report: An ‘American Legion’ booklet, full of anti-immigrant falsehoods

America’s largest veterans organization has launched another campaign — a hard-line attack on undocumented immigrants that’s at odds with the legion’s mainstream image. As part of this effort, the legion, which purports to speak for 2.7 million members, recently issued a booklet that regurgitates discredited and often completely false information about how “illegals” are bringing crime, disease, and terrorism to this country, even as they wreck the economy for natives.

   An American Legion post in East Haven, Conn., opened its doors last year to anti-immigration
   activists including Walter Moore (with sign). (AP)

The legion’s 34-page booklet, A Strategy to Address Illegal Immigration in the United States, asserts that “poverty, political instability, disease and war” are “on our back doorstep” because of porous borders and the failure of the government to stringently enforce immigration laws. But in making its case, the legion repeatedly cites dubious sources, ignores well-known facts and makes baseless claims — such as the false assertion that the undocumented infected more than 7,000 people in America with leprosy during a recent four-year period…..[ more ]

NOTES: CNN’s Resident “Anti-Immigrant Nativist,” anchor Lou Dobbs, repeated and popularized false claims about immigrants and leprosy. When confronted by “60 Minutes” and numerous critics, Dobbs refused to correct his statements, saying his program did not make errors.

Lou Dobbs is a major media Bigot. A Racist, Xenophobic Extortionist of NAZI proportions — in the mode of Dr. Joseph Goebbels — “Minister for Public Enlightenment & Propaganda in Nazi Germany.” Lou Dobbs’s anti-immigrant campaign is very similar to that conducted against Jews in NAZI Germany…..[ more ] [ Lou Dobb's NAZI Propaganda ]