Republicans take tough line as immigration becomes key election issue

Times Online ^ | December 27, 2007 | Tom Baldwin

[mdittmar]

The snow and fairy lights make Main Street resemble a scene from It’s a Wonderful Life, with only a glimpse of a Mexican flag in the grocer’s window or a handwritten sign in Spanish indicating that this is different from dozens of other mid-Western towns.

But on the outskirts of Marshalltown, the grey windowless bulk of the Swift & Co meat plant looms out of the fog like a battleship. And it is there that workers hurry away from the gates, waving away questions with a polite “No hablo inglés”.

In December last year US immigration agents raided the factory at dawn, divided the workers into two groups – US citizens on one side, Mexicans on the other – and detained 99 people for lacking legal documentation. Children arrived home to find that their parents were gone, others were left crying at school because there was no one to pick them up.

This Christmas, fears of deportation among the 7,000-strong Hispanic community have been exacerbated by a presidential election in which illegal immigration has emerged unexpectedly as the principal concern for Republican voters in Iowa. In this crucial state, where the nomination process begins on January 3, candidates for the White House have been loudly trumpeting – or tripping up over – the immigration issue.

[mdittmar]

Could somebody get me a tissue,sniff,sniff.

Blah,blah.blah.

[Cobra64]

A sight only a liberal could love:

[OCC]

For Mary Ibarra, who grew up in Iowa as the daughter of a Mexican immigrant and an American Indian mother, it has all become too much. Her partner, Mario, was deported for not having papers, and she has been left struggling to raise four children and hold down her job at the plant. She plans to move her family to Mexico. “If they don’t want him here, that is their mistake,” she says.

Mario is welcome if he comes through the front door instead of breaking in the back door. His choice of entry was HIS mistake.

[KarenMarie]

The UK has become a muddled, multicultural society that benefits everyone EXCEPT the Britons.

Street signs are in Punjabi, the national dish is curry and the influx of Europeans has made it nigh on impossible for the Brits to get a half way decent job.

They were labeled RACISTS for flying the Union Jack! So, they are getting a ‘flag redesign’! To reflect the multiculturalism of the UK... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2981038.stm)

TimesUK article did not surprise me. I have spent enough time in the UK to know that the left leaning media there are anti American, even though the people are not.

[Dagnabitt]

Leave the illegals alone!

[bill1952]

[Joe Boucher]

If you came here illegally GET OUT.
Take your babies and go back to from where you came.
No sympathy for lawbreakers.
No support for lawmakers who support anything other then deportation.

[LilRedXpress79]

Mike Huckabee was on the biggest AM station in Iowa - 1040 WHO Radio a month or two after this raid happened. He was saying we needed these workers to do the jobs Americans won’t do. I decided right then that I would not vote for him.

Swift was caught posting job ads in Mexico for workers to fill these jobs even though many Iowans lined up after the raid to fill the openings. Iowa has basically lost all it’s prior packing plant jobs to illegals who will work for half the wages.

[Kevmo]

Hunter is the best candidate on immigration.

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According to Intrade, the winner of the December 12th GOP debate was... Duncan Hunter.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1938773/posts

Why the smart money is on Duncan Hunter
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926032/posts

In this poll Hunter is up 3% and even with Paul and Thompson.
http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3481ef60-8195-46a9-af04-b87b907bcfdd

[wardaddy]

None of the current front runner GOP are tough on illegals