Kay Bailey "Cry Baby" Hutchison strikes again!
The senior Senator from Texas, who earlier this year lost her composure over Priscilla Owen's nomination holdup and who last month proposed a repeal of anti-segregation rules for homeless children has laid ANOTHER rotten egg of a bill. What's she up to this time? According to the San Diego Union Tribune article of October 6th, she's proposed a bill that would give "local police the power to arrest illegal immigrants and for creation of a "border marshal" program to let local peace officers help patrol the border."
Read on to see the rest of it, and to hear the response from her opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky (http://www.radnofsky.com). Barbara Ann was kind enough to send me the actual legal code for local officers in Texas, so you can also see just how bad this bill really is...
The article
"Texas senator calls for 'border marshals'
Illegal immigrants could be arrested by local police officers
By Todd J. Gillman
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
October 6, 2005
WASHINGTON - With complaints mounting about lax border controls, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison called yesterday for giving local police the power to arrest illegal immigrants and for creation of a "border marshal" program to let local peace officers help patrol the border.
"Our borders have been hemorrhaging for too long. It is a national-security and safety threat to our nation," said the Texas Republican, vice chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference. "I just don't think we'll ever have enough Border Patrol agents."
The proposal is one of a slew of proposals around Congress to tighten borders, and like many of the others, this one drew swift denunciation from immigrant advocates, who warned that police aren't properly trained and have enough to do already.
Hutchison called her plan a direct response to the Minuteman Project, the controversial group that has sent hundreds of volunteers to deter illegal crossings in Arizona, Texas and other states, and "the Minutemen have shown that citizens are now really wanting to be helpful in patrolling borders."
But she added that it's "not safe" for untrained volunteers to take on those duties. Her bill would let the Homeland Security Department create a "Volunteer Border Marshal" program involving police, sheriffs and other licensed peace officers. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was noncommittal about the idea during a 45-minute meeting in Hutchison's office yesterday, the senator said.
The bill would give cities and states the option to enforce and prosecute federal immigration laws.
Immigrant advocates warned that local authorities are more likely than federal agents to injure or kill nonwhites - immigrant or citizen. They also predicted sweeps of construction sites and day-laborer pickup areas across the country, deterring immigrants from reporting crimes.
"They'll be easy victims. No one will protect them," said Brent Wilkes, executive director of LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. Wilkes called the proposal a sign of an immigrant-bashing spiral.
"They're getting more and more aggressive, more and more outrageous in the proposals," he said. "It's like immigrants are all mass murderers. . . . You could turn the whole country into a police state and that still won't solve the problem. People come here for jobs that are offered by American employers."
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The response:
October 6, 2005- Radnofsky for US Senate
"The Hutchison immigration bill is a grandstanding effort. Local law
enforcement and volunteers should not be asked to do the federal government's job.
Passing the buck to Texas cities and counties who are already struggling to balance their budgets and control crime with an out of control
deficitand burdens of unfunded mandates is wrong.We must solve this problem at our borders and with a national security policy. Asking local law enforcement or groups of "volunteers," which is a nice word for vigilantes, to hunt down and imprison alleged immigrants, does nothing to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into this country.
The bill's sloppy wording alone will generate controversy. It empowers anyone by the nonsensical, yet broad language describing volunteers as "licensed by a state authority to enforce State or local penal offenses."
It's only a matter of time before someone is killed, and then Ms. Hutchison will wonder how things got out of hand with vigilante
proposals. Until we gain control of our borders, we cannot begin to face the tragedy of ten million - far more than ten million mothers, fathers and children - who are already here. Ms. Hutchison's grandstanding proposal fails
to protect our borders or our national security."
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Now, a few things ABOUT Barbara Ann:
1)She's a moderate, but not a DINO-in fact, she's called for a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.
2)She's a professional mediator and prominent attorney, and is an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
3)She's been endorsed by many Texas Democratic officials, and will likely be unapposed for the Senate nomination. Harry Reid, Debbie Stabenow, Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Ron Wyden and Frank Lautenburg are holding a fundraiser on her behalf, meaning she's got national support as well.
4)She voluntarily stopped her fundraising operations in September in order to personally help victims of Hurricane Katrina. Her campaign staff worked with her at the Astrodome and elsewhere to provide aid and comfort for those in need. We've raised over $600,000 already.
5)Zogby's Interactive polling may be off for Texas and elsewhere, but the trend is NOT favorable to Hutchison. She led Ron Kirk (who is not running) by a 55-33 margin in August; it is now 50-37 according to Zogby. Her approval rating has shrunk from 64 to 57% in the SUSA tracking polls.
So, in other words, Barbara Radnofsky is going to take advantage of every mistake KBH makes-and Hutchison's been making more gaffes than Dubya lately. So, if you don't mind helping out someone who's slogan is "Tough Name, Smart Dame", go to http://www.radnofsky.com, and help her out. Thanks!
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You can find the link for the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education Rules at http://www.tcleose.state.tx.us/Commission_Rules/March%201%202003%20w%20Occuptions%20Code%201701.pdf . The relevant section is pp.23-27, Section 217.1