Karl Rove: “An anti-Hispanic attitude is suicidal.”

Read fascinating quotes from GOP leaders waxing eloquent on immigration, courtesy of the website of  the pro-immigration reform America’s Voice.

Many of these quotes seem at odds with the shrill restrictionist tone of current Republican presidential primary candidates.

Mitt Romney photo licensed by Creative Commons.

In the last weeks, Mitt Romney voiced satisfaction over the endorsement of the lawyer who wrote SB1070 and said he’d veto the DREAM Act. (The federal measure, introduced for years but  never passed, would give temporary legal residency to kids who were brought to the United States illegally as minors, came up through our schools, have no criminal records, and want to serve in the armed forces or attend college. If they succeed, they get green cards.)  And now NumbersUSA, a John Tanton spinoff, is sponsoring anti-immigrant ads in South Carolina.

In the meantime, Barack Obama is reaching out to Latinos,  promoting  Cecilia Munoz to domestic policy czarina and making administrative changes in immigration policy.

Who do you think has a better chance in Arizona? Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?

President Barack Obama got an unexpected present today — thousands of Latino votes –  from Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who just endorsed Mitt Romney.

Before he became Kansas SOS, Kobach helped draft SB 1070, with funding from the Immigration Reform Law  Institute, which is the legal arm of the Washington non-profit Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR. Like its founder, Jon Tanton, FAIR wants a moratorium on all immigration into the United States. The Southern Poverty Law Center has compiled a  creepy dossier on FAIR.

If you want to get a sense of Kris Kobach, take a look at this video. Kobach was apparently under contract with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, and in the video he talks about what constitutes “reasonable suspicion.”

Time travel from video circa 2010 forward to now.  January, 2012.

Kobach is quoted on  Romney’s s website:

“We need a president who will finally put a stop to a problem that has plagued our country for a generation: millions of illegal aliens coming into the country and taking jobs from United States citizens and legal aliens, while consuming hundreds of billions of dollars in public benefits at taxpayer expense,” said Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. “Illegal immigration is a nightmare for America’s economy and America’s national security. Mitt Romney is the candidate who will finally secure the borders and put a stop to the magnets, like in-state tuition, that encourage illegal aliens to remain in our country unlawfully. He is also the candidate who will stand shoulder to shoulder with the states that are fighting to restore the rule of law. I am pleased to stand with this true conservative.”

Millions of illegal aliens taking jobs from US citizens? Consuming hundreds of billions of dollars in public benefits?

Reality check: Unauthorized immigrants don’t qualify for  many public benefits, except for free k-12 public education, which economists call an asset, not an expense.

And illegal  immigration is hardly a “nightmare” these days; it is at the  lowest its been for decades, which explains why the economy trumps illegal immigration as a voter issue — except, of course, with Latinos who have seen what happened when Kris Kobach helps write immigration laws for  Alabama and Arizona.

Romney, who also said he’d veto the DREAM Act, is angling for extremist voters who tend to vote in primaries in the South.  He likely figures once he gets the nomination he’ll take a more moderate stance to attract moderate voters in the general election.

But a Kobach endorsement is something that many Americans of Latino descent, and their friends, aren’t likely to forget in the general elections.

Or forgive.

Too much has happened in Arizona. And now Alabama.

Long story short — the  Kobach endorsement  delivered many a Latino vote to Barack Obama.

And Obama, who has been working hard to mend fences with Latinos following a lackluster,  failed effort to pass the  DREAM Act and  immigration reform, needs to write a thank-you note.

To Kris Kobach.

In some Latin American countries,  “notarios” are well-respected and have a reputation for honesty. In Arizona and other parts of the United States, like Minnesota, self-described “notarios” sometimes prey on the most vulnerable immigrants,  as Minnesota reporter Gregory Pratt explains in this  Ciity  Pages story.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-described toughest sheriff in America, is now in the national spotlight because his office allegedly did not investigate sex crimes in 2005. This is old news in Arizona. In 2008, a Mesa newspaper won a Pulitzer for exposing irregularities in the sheriff’s office — and the apparent siphoning of resources into well-publicized immigration raids instead of community policing — including the investigation of sex crimes in El Mirage.

Here’s a quick geography lesson for those of you who don’t live in Arizona. Maricopa County, which elects the sheriff, is the  most populous county in Arizona. The sheriff is allowed to police every community in Maricopa County, including Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler , Tempe, Guadalupe and El Mirage.

The sheriff has long been under fire for failing to police while diverting resources to immigration, as I said before. The sheriff’s department has cost the county millions in lawsuits filed by relatives of dead inmates alleged to have died wrongfully, or judges and other county officials who alleged the sheriff’s baseless but well publicised investigations of them were meant to harass them and ruined their careers. Sheriff Joe’s  office has been under scrutiny for misspending and abuse of power, and the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating alleged civil rights abuses for three years. His chief deputy and several officials were dismissed or resigned amid allegations of abuse of power and yet, the sheriff goes on, bolstered by out-of-state campaign donations that almost guarantee he will be elected in 2012.

But things may change — the same group that managed to recall Russell Pearce, the once powerful senator who sponsored Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, now wants to recall Arpaio. And locals are predictably calling for his ouster in the national media frenzy over the old Arizona news of botched sex crime investigations.

If you want to see a video of me and Sheriff Joe, go to my  main page, and click on “videos and excerpts,” you can see a video of me and the sheriff.

Today the Associated Press reports that apprehensions of unauthorized immigrants at the border declined for the fifth straight year, and are at the same rate we saw during the Nixon administration.

In the meantime, the Obama Administration continues to deport at a record clip.

And Republicans are moderating their hardline stance on immigration reform.  Republicans are historically  the party that enacts immigration reform. The last big reform was led by Ronald Reagan.

Newt is talking about a kinder, gentler policy. And so are pundits like  Bill O’Reilly.

The Republicans have a chance of winning this election if they can win over Latinos, who are disenchanted with what they see as the the Obama administration’s broken promises to enact reform.

This all leads me back to my book, which chronicled the vivid stories — and the stunning effects of a broken immigration policy — of undocumented immigrants in the Phoenix area during the Arizona immigration law controversy. In the book, Illegal, Life and Death in Arizona’s Immigration War Zone, I posited that the real problem wasn’t the right-wing frenzy over illegal immigration, because despite the heated rhetoric illegal immigration was waning significantly.

The real immigration problem centers on the unauthorized immigrants who live here  — and the  way in which our nation chooses to treat human beings.

Washington state provides half of the nation’s apples. A worker shortage, attributed largely to immigration laws, coupled with a late harvest will probably make apples more costly this year. Here’s an explanation from the guys who grow our apples.

SB 1070 SPONSOR RUSSELL PEARCE FACES TIGHT RECALL ELECTION, THANKS IN PART TO ARIZONA UNDOCUMENTED KIDS

Arizona state senator Russell Pearce capitalized on the  (still unsolved) death of an Arizona borderlands rancher (Pearce blamed an “illegal alien” for the killing) in the spring of 2010. Pearce rode a wave of fear to push through Arizona’s controversial immigration law and was subsequently elected president of the Arizona Senate.

Now Pearce, a Republican and Mormon who just last year was  the most powerful politico in Arizona, faces a super-tight recall election in his heavily Mormon, heavily conservative district in Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix.

Pearce’s opponent, Jerry Lewis is a charter school company guy who is inexperienced politically. He’s a Mormon, just like Pearce. He’s a Republican, too. Pearce got more money.  And yet, Lewis is enjoying a slight lead, according to an ABC News-Arizona Capitol Times poll released last week.

Political observers said Pearce was so entrenched in the district no one could defeat him.

But a new breed of Arizona activists proved them wrong. They are young, energetic and tirelessly optimistic. Some are white. Some are brown.  Some are citizens.  Others are unauthorized immigrants.

***

On a recent afternoon, I followed two of these young activists as they walked on the sidewalks of east Mesa, canvassing.

 Zack  is 21, an ASU student  majoring in urban planning and minoring in Chicano and Latino studies.

Lily is 25, and was brought to the United States by her Mexican parents when she was 10. The family came to the country legally, with visas. But the visas expired. And Lilian is an unauthorized immigrant.

The two knocked on doors, asked people if they were registered to vote, and if they had their early ballots.

LILY AND ZACK

“I don’t like anything Pearce has done,” said Zack, an American citizen who has canvassed “a lot.” He told me this after he had canvassed the entire neighborhood that day.

And Lily chimed in that even though she couldn’t vote, she wanted to help. (I took their picture while they canvassed.)

 I’ll get back to Lily and Zack in a bit, but first  some background.

***

Arizona’s immigration law, SB 1070, makes it a  state crime for unauthorized immigrants to set foot in Arizona and turns all law enforcement officers in Arizona into immigration enforcers.

The law was crafted in large part by Kris Kobach, now the Kansas secretary of state, who wrote the law while working for the legal branch of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The  controversial non-profit was founded by alleged white nationalist John Tanton, who still sits on its board. (FAIR’s sister non-profits are Center for Immigration Studies and NumbersUSA. If you visits their websites, you’ll see they are cut from the same cloth.)

Pearce did not write the law, as he sometimes suggests. He did sponsor the law in Arizona.

But after a brief period in which Pearce enjoyed tremendous popularity, the tables turned on him.

Arizona business leaders,  stung by boycotts and employment problems that resulted from SB 1070, paired with moderate Republicans in Arizona’s senate and legislature. They  managed to kill Pearce’s immigration measures in 2011. Those measures included a bill denying Arizona birth certificates to children born in the United States to undocumented immigrant parents.

In another blow to Pearce, the Mormon Church headquarters in Utah voiced its approval of  the Utah Compact, which says among other things that  immigration is a federal, not a state  problem. And privately, some Mormons in Arizona expressed deep concerns about Pearce.

What’s more, data showed that illegal immigration was simply not the problem Pearce said it was. The  most reliable measure for illegal immigration — apprehensions at the border — slipped down to a low not seen since the 1970s, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank in Washington.

And just a few days ago, the Department of Homeland Security announced a 40 percent decrease in the already declining numbers of unauthorized migrants  apprehended at the Arizona border.

It became clear that Pearce’s fear mongering was more political than real.

***

 I talked to a couple of Latina voters in Mesa who had already sent in their ballots. They told me that incredible as it may seem, some Hispanic voters still want to vote for Olivia Cortes, a sham candidate put up by Pearce supporters to deflect votes away from Lewis and give Pearce the edge.

Cortes is no longer running, but her name is on the ballot.

The women also told me that some Latinos don’t know Pearce is affiliated with SB 1070.

And some didn’t even know what SB 1070 was.

Could this be possible?

Yes, the two women  told me. People watch TV, but they don’t watch the news.

They don’t read. They don’t get things straight.   They don’t do their own research.

Yes, some will vote for Cortes.

***

This really is a neck-in-neck race.

After we got back to the canvassing headquarters, I asked Lily how she’d react if Pearce won.

She said she’ll just keep on. She understands what it takes to overcome obstacles.

Photo by Farmer Dodds from Flickr

Almost three years ago, on a cold night in November, two Border Patrol agents allegedly came across four “Mexican National” pot smugglers in the Arizona desert. The agents, Dario Castillo and Ramon Zuniga, forced the smugglers to take off their shoes, socks and jackets (just like drop house kidnappers) and burned them. They forced the smugglers to eat pot. Then they sent them hightailing into the desert. Now the two agents have been indicted for human rights violations by a federal grand jury in Tucson. Again, this is all alleged.  It’s too early for the BP agents to respond. But you  can read the DOJ press release below.
Border Patrol 2011-170(Castillo et al)

PHOTO OF RUSSELL PEARCE VIA FLICKR BY GAGE SKIDMORE LICENSED BY CREATIVE COMMONS

In an exclusive salon.com  story,  Jeff Biggers carefully documents how the sponsor of Arizona’s famed SB 1070, Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, “borrows” entire passages from extremist nut jobs for his Facebook page and in his writings. In at least one case, the “borrowed” material had already been thoroughly debunked as hate-filled nonsense before Pearce copied it.

Biggers reinforces in a new and fresh way what Arizona journalists have been pointing out for years.

Pearce lacks integrity.

For years, Arizona journos have been pointing out that Pearce, a former director of the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles, had to leave that post after allegations of tampering with a driver license record of a constituent.  He was not prosecuted.

Although Pearce has long spouted off about family values, both is former and current wives told police Pearce bullied them. One wife said Pearce tried to choke her, but later retracted the statement.

Pearce’s son Joshua is a troubled soul with a substance abuse problem and an arrest record. CPS took his kids, Pearce’s grandchildren.

In December, Phoenix New Times published my investigative piece documenting Pearce’s ties with the extremist group FAIR, the powerhouse behind SB 1070 that was founded by John Tanton and is closely allied to its cousins NumbersUSA and Center for Immigration Studies, or CIS.

Now Pearce is the only legislator in Arizona history to face a recall election. It’s scheduled for early November.

Russell Pearce’s long, sorry saga has long evoked outrage in Arizona.

But should it also evoke pity?

Arizona’s most famous state senator, Russell Pearce, the guy who sponsored SB 1070 on behalf of very controversial right wing non-profits,  is now facing a recall election on Nov. 8.  (I snapped this photo of Pearce, flanked by Sheriff Joe, in October 2009, when Pearce announced he’d push a “trespassing bill” through the Senate. That “trespassing bill” morphed into SB 1070.)

Photo by Terry Greene Sterling

This recall is history-making. It’s the first time a legislator has ever faced a recall election in Arizona. The  Mormon church seems to be behind the recall in a big way. (Pearce is a Mormon, but he’s not a popular one. ) The Mormon hierarchy in Salt Lake City recently signed off on the Utah Compact, which says immigration is a federal, not a state, issue.  After all, the church includes many undocumented immigrants

A conservative Mormon and former church bishop will likely run against Pearce in the recall. Democrats hope nobody else will run against Pearce, not even a Democrat. They dislike the guy that much.

And they’re not the only ones. On St. Patrick’s Day, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and several conservative Republicans successfully quashed six of Pearce’ proposed immigration bills, including the “birthright citizenship” law that would have made aliens out of babies born in the United States if their parents were unauthorized migrants.  It was a stunning  defeat and marked the decline in Pearce’s power as senate president. It took courage to stand up against Pearce, because he’s a bully backed by an electorate that includes bikers and face smashers. One of Pearce’s (defeated) critics, Rep. Bill Konopnicki,  told me last year he got a death threat after speaking out against SB 1070. He thinks the threat came from Pearce supporters.

But for years, few stood up to Pearce.

Not the two wives who claimed he was a violent and ill-tempered mate. (His current wife  later retracted the charge.) Not Janet Napolitano, then the Arizona Attorney General, who many say should have prosecuted Pearce after he stepped down from the DMV for allegedly tinkering with a friend’s DUI record. Not the son with the addiction problem, the removed kids, and the sad face.

Pearce grew so powerful it finally took a church, a chamber of commerce, an  immigrant-rights movement and moderates in two political parties to force the recall.

And now Russell Pearce is  scared.

Very scared.