Hispanics Favor Census Citizenship Question, Deny Trump “Too Tough” on Immigration

For the left, anybody who wants to control the border must be a racist. And Donald Trump’s desire to ask about citizenship status on the 2020 Census is also racist.

Of course, white leftists pride themselves on being very sensitive to racism. But what do Hispanics, the “racial group” (actually not a racial group, but let’s play the game) think?

The Center for American Political Studies at Harvard asked them, in an online poll that included 2,182 respondents, including 282 Hispanics.

Not Very Politically Correct

Asked “Should the census be able to ask whether people living here are us citizens?” Sixty-seven percent of the entire sample said “yes,” and only 33% said “No.”

But even a majority of Hispanics said “yes:” 55% did, as opposed to 45% who said “No.”

Even More Politically Incorrect

The survey also asked “Do you think President Trump is too tough, too lenient or just right in dealing with illegal immigrants caught trying to cross the border?”

Among the entire sample, 42% said “too tough,” 24% said “too lenient,” and 34% said “just right.”

But among Hispanics, the results were very similar: 46% said “too tough,” 30% said “too lenient,” and 24% said “just right.”

Thus Hispanic opinion was a bit more polarized, with 4% more saying “too tough” but also 6% more saying “too lenient.”

Bottom Line

Taken at face value, both Hispanics and the entire sample show a majority favoring Trump’s policies, or policies even more strict.

But it is a well-known artifact in polling that, when given three alternatives, people tend to choose the middle option (“just right” in this case). It seems “safer.” But this only applies when people don’t have a strong, clear opinion.

If the nation’s Hispanics were convinced that Trump’s policies are too harsh, or that asking about citizenship is a racist attack on their group, nothing would prevent them from expressing that.

We have yet another case where the white Social Justice Warriors and their pet ethnic activists don’t represent the group they claim to.

The Political Game

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GLENN MCCOY © Belleville News-Democrat. Dist. By UNIVERSAL UCLICK. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.

The Real Dreamer

Donald Trump On Illegal Immigration. Wait! That’s Not Trump!

Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan

From Fox News Watters’ World:


Let’s try an experiment. How about readers of this blog look at the video and post their reactions as comments.

Eventually, we will post our own reaction as an update.

Immigration Debate Today

We are participating, later today, in a debate on immigration sponsored by the Les Aspin Council.

The liberals on the panel with be Ed Fallone, a professor at the law school, and Barbara Graham, an immigration lawyer for Catholic Charities.

The conservatives will be us and State Senator Glenn Grothman (R)from West Bend.

It will be in Raynor Libraries Conference Center, Rooms B & C, at 5:30 this afternoon.

We expect a rather vigorous debate.

Our position will be simple: nothing makes any sense unless we control the border. Control the border, and everything else eventually falls into place sensibly. Fail to control the border, and the problem continues.

Should We End All Immigration? Debate Coming Up

An announcement via e-mail:

“Should We End All Immigration? Legal and Illegal?”

WHO: A debate between author Mark Krikorian and Marquette Law Professor Ed A. Fallone sponsored by The Federalist Society

WHEN: Tuesday, November 18, 2008; 12:00 noon (we will begin serving lunch a few minutes before)

WHERE: AMU, Room 157 (directly across from the post office)

FREE LUNCH FROM EINSTEIN’S BAGELS

Mark Krikorian is the author of a controversial new book, “The New Case Against Immigration, Both Legal and Illegal.” In it he argues that today’s immigrants aren’t too different from a century ago, but we are, in ways both good and bad, but ultimately in ways that mark us as a mature, grown-up society. And these changes mean that mass immigration of any kind is now a problem for our modern society in a way that it wasn’t in the past, and so we need to end it. Krikorian is the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies. You can learn more about the book here.

You can also read a Q&A he did on the book for National Review Online here: here.

Ed A. Fallone is an Associate Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School where he teaches immigration law. He has published numerous articles on immigration and is a frequent speaker on the topic. He was instrumental in the founding of the Catholic Charities Immigration Legal Assistance program which represents immigrants and citizens with immigration-related issues. More information may be found here.

We have a couple of things to say about this.

First, we have long been an advocate of controlling the borders, but allowing a high level of legal immigration. So we apparently differ with Krikorian on the latter point. But Krikorian appears to be much more than a simple-minded nativist, and his arguments deserve to be considered.

Second, we have to again note The Federalist Society arranges balanced debates with capable advocates on both sides. That’s very different from what normally happens on a university campus.

Illegal Aliens: Why “Deported” Should Mean “Deported”

From Front Page Milwaukee, student paper at UWM, a dandy piece of investigative reporting.

One hundred eighty eight previously deported felons identified as illegal immigrants by federal and local officials were booked into the Milwaukee County Jail on new criminal charges, municipal violations, and other violations in the past four years, a three-month Frontpage Milwaukee investigation found.

Many of the previously deported felons have a long history of police contact. For instance, Osvaldo “Shootout” Lares had at least 19 interactions with law enforcement officials for crimes involving drug possession, weapon charges, murder, and traffic violations. Some on the list are gang members.

On Nov. 11, 2004, when the Milwaukee police came to arrest Lares on the charge of Attempted Homicide, they found $1,465 and marijuana in a shoebox. The criminal complaint also reports that marijuana was found in a plastic baggie hidden within a white sneaker. Lares was subsequently found guilty and sentenced to the House of Correction for 9 months. In a criminal complaint filed Nov. 5, 2004, Lares told police that he was a former member of the Mexican Posse gang, which represents Southern Mexico on the south side of Milwaukee.

In total, the felons had at least approximately 388 contacts with police and have been charged with at least 497 offenses dating back in some cases to 1986. The number of past law enforcement contacts is almost surely higher since the tallies only include those that resulted in criminal charges or non-municipal issued traffic offenses.

In addition, about nine previously deported felons have reoffended yet again after the federal detain holds were placed on them by the Milwaukee County jail, the Frontpage Milwaukee student journalists found.

Alfredo Rebollo is one example. Having already racked up 11 contacts with police for traffic violations, driving while his license was suspended, and reckless driving, a federal detain order was placed on him in 2005 for soliciting a prostitute. The criminal complaint states that Rebollo offered to pay a female $20 for oral sex. Though the detain order was placed on him in 2005, in October 2007, he was arrested for parking or standing in a prohibited area and his third offense of driving with a suspended license. He was fined. It is not clear if he was deported in 2005 and reentered the United States, or if he never left Wisconsin.

Of the cases involving deported felons who landed back in jail:

• The criminals were in contact with the police at least 388 times prior to their federal detain holds
• The criminals were charged with 59 violent crimes, and six were sex offenders
• At least 52 were granted bail, 19 received work release in their sentencing, 23 were ordered to obtain work, 13 were told not to vote, 25 had their driver’s licenses suspended, 22 were ordered not to possess firearms or weapons, and three were ordered to have the Ignition Interlock system installed in their cars
• 14 used state taxpayer-funded public defenders, and 61 used translators

None of this is to suggest that Mexican immigrants -- or even illegal immigrants -- are criminals. The data simply don’t support that.

But when people violate U.S. laws, in addition to violating the immigration laws, they should be deported.

And they should stay deported.

Which is why the very first step toward reforming immigration policy is to control the border. When that is done, other problems tend to fall into line. For example, in five or seven or nine years, when all the illegal immigrants in the country have been here for that many years-- mostly working and obeying the law-- a humane “path to citizenship” will be politically possible.

But failure to control the border will undermine anything and everything else about immigration policy.

That’s Unfortunate

Immigrant National Anthem

A rather sharply pointed commentary on the whole illegal immigration debate:

From the American Comedy Network, the Immigrant National Anthem.

It starts out “Jose can you mow, all the grass on my lawn.”