Posted on 01/13/2007 6:47:22 PM PST by A. Pole
Greetings:
You are being sent this letter because you were recently registered to vote. If you are a citizen of the United States, we ask that you participate in the democratic process of voting.
You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time and you will be deported for voting without having a right to do so.
[...]
Sincerely,
Sergio Ramirez
This letter was sent to some 14,000 foreign-born registered Democrats with Spanish surnames in the 47th Congressional District in Orange County, an area that includes part of Fullerton and much of Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wasted no time in declaring that the letter was “a despicable act of political intimidation and a hate crime.” His Democratic challenger, Phil Angelides, claimed it was “the latest in a disgraceful pattern of efforts to intimidate Latino voters” by Republicans. Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh called the letter “reprehensible and stupid.” The incumbent representative from the 47th, Loretta Sanchez, said, “To have an opponent who is an immigrant who is suppressing the immigrant vote is disgusting and sad.” Sanchez was referring to Tan Nguyen, a one-time Vietnamese boat person, who lives in an area of Garden Grove known as “Little Saigon.” He is her Republican challenger, and, after much finger pointing at anti-illegal-immigration groups, his campaign was ultimately fingered for sending the letter.
The hyperbolic rhetoric in response to the mailing comes as no surprise, although Governor Schwarzenegger calling it a “hate crime” was beyond even my expectations. That Democrats would use the letter as an opportunity for rhetorical ballistics should surprise no one, but for Schwarzenegger and other Republicans to use even more inflammatory language needs an explanation.
Outside California, people may not understand that Republicans in the Golden State live in abject fear of the Latino vote. Whether legal or not, Latinos are voting in record numbers. The Latino Caucus already dominates the state legislature, and the Latino population is exploding. During the last four years, Los Angeles County has added a million people, nearly all illegal immigrants from south of the border.
[...]
Although Republicans have denounced and abandoned him, Tan Nguyen has hung tough. “What is wrong with the letter?” I heard him ask on a local radio talk show. While not admitting that he was responsible for the letter, he defends its contents and claims that voting by illegal aliens is a problem in the 47th District. The claim is not unfounded. Back in 1996, then-Democratic challenger Loretta Sanchez upset multiterm incumbent Robert K. Dornan by a mere 984 votes in what was then the 46th District. Dornan claimed that Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, an organization of Mexican nationalists, had won the election for Sanchez by registering noncitizens to vote. A special U.S. House of Representatives probe found 750 illegal voters and “substantial fraud” but decided against further investigation, saying that it was unlikely that it could prove there were enough illegal votes to reverse the election. The probe also established that Hermandad Mexicana Nacional had registered noncitizens to vote, but no indictments against the organization followed. Further investigation and a recount probably would have given the election to Dornan, but the Republicans decided against it and against indictments of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, fearing a Latino backlash and foolishly hoping Hispanics would vote Republican in the near future.
Now, a decade of massive illegal immigration later, the number of noncitizens voting in the 47th District is likely in the thousands. Illegal votes will decide any close election. Tan Nguyen knows this, and so, too, does everyone else.
[...]
The hysterical reaction to the letter may very well mean that the battle for the integrity of the election process in California was lost in 1996. Elections are corrupt in Mexico; why shouldn’t they be corrupt in California as well? Moreover, the demographic sea change in California means that the state will come to resemble Mexico or another Latin American country by the middle of this century. Voter fraud, mordida, narco drug lords, overcrowded neighborhoods, trafficking in human beings, pimping, and an exploited laboring class have already caused parts of the 47th District to look more like Mexico than the California of the 1950’s that was the envy of America.
[...]
Great letter.
If you're not illegal; ningún problema!
Schwarzen-Kennedy is a "new world order" stooge.
LA MORDIDA", translation "the bite" is the term used for a bribe in this country. It is the traditional and customary way of getting things done. The bureaucrat who does your bidding takes a bite out of the cost of completing your objective. Mexican reformers are trying to change this condition with little success. It is so institutionalized that it could take decades before the situation changes appreciably. Bribing a cop, a judge or a permit agent is not the exclusive domain of Mexico. News stories about bribery scandals in the United States are not uncommon but in Mexico it is a way of life instead of an aberration in the system.
Why limit it to California?
They are just voting in the elections that Americans won't vote in.
Indeed. What is?
Little by little, we're losing this country -- not to immigrants, but to governmental apathy and illegal aliens.
Not surprising that Loretta Sanchez hates refugees. They don't allow them in Mexico either.
"...the actual letter that was mailed was written in Spanish and used the word emigrado, meaning a legal but noncitizen resident..."Accordingly, the letter as (questionably) translated should not be read to include legal citizens:
"...if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant ... "
No, "Republicans" are not those who live in fear. Americans live in fear of the so-called latino vote (which is simply the Mexican vote; all others are a tiny fraction of the total).
And why do they fear it? Because they don't want to be ruled by Mexico. The Mexican nation is wherever Mexicans are, as their own former Presidente has said. Sort of obvious and understandable, right? A nation is not the dirt that it stands on. That's the country it inhabits.
And if the Mexican nation inhabits the American country, well then....that's where Mexico is. And when they outnumber the Americans, well...they will rule.
And we will then live in their country, under their government, and not ours.
And if that is true...are we free?
I've always understood 'naturalized citizen' is the proper term for an immigrant who has become a citizen. Until that stage is reached, immigrants who have not become naturalized citizens cannot vote. They are here legally, no question. Using the original term illegal alien kept away all confusion. Guess that's why the term became demonized.
Moreover, the demographic sea change in California means that the state will come to resemble Mexico or another Latin American country by the middle of this century. Voter fraud, mordida, narco drug lords, overcrowded neighborhoods, trafficking in human beings, pimping, and an exploited laboring class have already caused parts of the 47th District to look more like Mexico than the California of the 1950’s that was the envy of America. For this California kid who remembers the 50’s fondly, and has traveled extensively in Mexico, it is nothing less than a disaster.
McGrath sums it up quite nicely.
RE: "if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime . . . ."
As I recall the hubbub that resulted from this "immigrants can't vote" dirty trick was caused by a Mexican newspaper that's published here; the word "emigrado" was in the original letter sent out by the Republican candidate.
The original letter simply reminded the recipient that he or she cannot vote if not a citizen. (Remember B-1 Bob's election loss?) Immigrants can of course be citizens.
Guess who done it? No not a Mexican language version of the LA Times. A Mexican newspaper published here in the U.S., La Opinión’s version changed it so that readers think even former immigrants who are now citizens are being told that they can't vote. Obviously that would make the reader mad at the Republican candidate.
http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2006/10/emigrado_versus_inmigrant.php
There is nothing wrong with the letter, as a matter of fact it is helpful to illegals who don't want to be arrested, we should have immigration at the voting stations to prosecute and deport illegals.
An aberration or a way of collecting taxes?
As I understand it Mexicans avoid paying their taxes. Taxes pay salaries of government employees. Las Mordidas pay government employees. Ergo, Las Mordidas are a form of taxes. Hey, makes sense to me.
This way the rich pay more and get more. No arrests, no convictions, no waiting in line at the DMV. . . . What a deal!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
There was an anti illegal immigration demonstration on the Embarcadero in San Diego today.
I wonder whether it will be noted in the MSM.
Without some action by the legal citizens of CA..CA will slide into the third world.
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