Maddow on the Brewer Debacle
 

p.s. fact: at 1.33 you actually see her mouth the word *shit*.

I wish one of the reporters had said "Answer the question, Claire!"

Jan Brewer Admits She Was Wrong About Beheadings


PHOENIX — A claim by Arizona's governor that rising violence along the U.S.-Mexico border has led to headless bodies turning up in the desert came back to haunt her during a stammering debate performance in which she failed to back it up.

Gov. Jan Brewer, who gained national attention defending the state's tough new immigration law and warning of increasing border bloodshed, has spent the time since the gubernatorial candidates' debate earlier this week trying to repair the damage done from her cringe-worthy contest against underdog challenger Terry Goddard.

"That was an error, if I said that," the Republican told The Associated Press on Friday. "I misspoke, but you know, let me be clear, I am concerned about the border region because it continues to be reported in Mexico that there's a lot of violence going on and we don't want that going into Arizona."

She said she was referring to beheadings and other cartel-related violence in Mexico in comments she made earlier this summer about decapitated bodies found in the state's southern region.

Brewer's candidacy caught a big break in April, when she signed a controversial new state immigration law that put local police officers on the front lines of enforcing federal immigration law. At the time, Brewer's primary campaign faced serious challenges, but signing the bill cleared her path to what proved to be an easy primary win on Aug. 24.

Brewer stumbled through her opening statement of the debate Wednesday. She lost her train of thought for more than 10 painful seconds as she laughed, looked down at the table and finally regained her composure.
Goddard, who trailed by 20 points in a July poll, said he brought up the beheadings comments because Brewer hadn't acknowledged she was wrong.

"It's a kind of fear-mongering that has hurt our economy. It has driven jobs away," he said. "She wouldn't come off it."

Brewer apparently first referred to beheadings during a June 16 interview with Fox News, talking about "the kidnappings and the extortion and the beheadings and the fact that people can't feel safe in their community" in discussing controversy surrounding the immigration law.

She went further in a June 27 interview on Phoenix television station KPNX when asked about the earlier beheadings claim.

"Oh, our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert, either buried or just lying out there, that have been beheaded," Brewer said.
A veteran Arizona political observer said her latest gaffes may not sway many voters but could put a charge into Goddard's campaign.

"I think it gave him an opening," said Bruce Merrill, a longtime pollster and retired Arizona State University journalism professor.

Goddard can now play the debate clips over and over as he attacks her competence to lead Arizona.

In fact, there have been beheadings in Mexico in violence associated with criminal cartels that include those active in cross-border smuggling.

And some violence has spilled over the border, including the March slaying of a southern Arizona rancher, Robert Krentz. Law enforcement officials have said they believe Krentz was killed by an illegal immigrant, likely a scout for drug smugglers.

But none of the southern Arizona coroners who handle immigrant cases have seen headless bodies.

Pima County's Dr. Eric Peters said some people might be confused when just skulls are sometimes found in the desert, but that's because of decomposition and animals that feed off bodies. He said it'd be clear if any one of those skulls had been severed from a body.

"You would find what we would call tool marks because you need to use some sort of tool to forcibly remove someone's head from the spine," he said. "You'd see saw marks," even on skulls that have long been in the desert.

A Republican legislator who was the prime sponsor of Arizona's immigration law said Brewer's critics were just playing games and ignoring the real issue – violence bleeding across the border into the United States.

"I can tell you there's been 300 to 500 beheadings and dismemberments along that border," state Sen. Russell Pearce said Thursday. "It is a national security concern, yet we're worried about this game-playing, this word-smithing."

U.S. shifts approach to deporting illegal immigrants

To unclog courts, federal officials shift focus to illegal immigrants who've committed serious crimes

...........

The Obama administration is changing the federal immigration enforcement strategy in ways that reduce the threat of deportation for millions of illegal immigrants, even as states such as Arizona, Colorado, Virginia, Ohio and Texas are pushing to accelerate deportations.

Full Coverage: Immigration policy in the USA

Among the recent changes:

• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton ordered agency officials on Aug. 20 to begin dismissing deportation cases against people who haven't committed serious crimes and have credible immigration applications pending.

• A proposed directive from Morton posted on ICE's website for public comment last month would generally prohibit police from using misdemeanor traffic stops to send people to ICE. Traffic stops have led to increased deportations in recent years, according to Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank whose research supports tighter enforcement.

The directive said exceptions would be made in certain cases, such as when immigrants have serious criminal records.

• ICE officers have been told to "exercise discretion" when deciding whether to detain "long-time lawful permanent residents, juveniles, the immediate family members of U.S. citizens, veterans, members of the armed forces and their families, and others with illnesses or special circumstances," ICE executive associate director of management, Daniel Ragsdale, testified July 1 in the administration's lawsuit to block Arizona's controversial immigration law. The law requires police officers to determine the immigration status of suspects stopped for another offense if there was a "reasonable suspicion" they are in the USA illegally. A U.S. district judge has held up the provision pending review.

• A draft memo from ICE's sister agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), to Morton discussed ways the administration could adjust regulations so certain groups, such as college students and the spouses of military personnel, could legalize their status or at least avoid deportation if Congress doesn't pass comprehensive immigration reform. USCIS rules on applications for visas, work permits and citizenship. USCIS spokesman Christopher Bentley said the memo was intended to stimulate brainstorming on how to legalize immigrants if new laws aren't passed.

The administration's new direction puts it at odds with those who believe the nation's immigration laws should be strictly enforced and that all illegal immigrants should be deported.

ICE is "thumbing its nose at the law," said Rep. Steve King of Iowa, the top Republican on the House immigration subcommittee.

The changes have also drawn complaints from immigration advocates. They say deportations under Obama are at record highs and immigrants who remain behind are living in limbo, without work permits, Social Security cards or driver's licenses.

"This isn't a free ticket," said Raed Gonzalez, a Houston attorney who saw cases against his clients dropped last month. "The government can put them back into proceedings at any time."

Morton said in an interview that the new strategy is smarter, not softer, enforcement. At a time when more than 10 million people are in the country illegally, record sums are spent on enforcement and the federal budget faces huge deficits, it makes sense to target people who pose the biggest threat to public safety or national security, he said.

"Congress provides enough money to deport a little less than 400,000 people," Morton said. "My perspective is those 400,000 people shouldn't be the first 400,000 people in the door but rather 400,000 people who reflect some considered government enforcement policy based on a rational set of objectives and priorities."

ICE statistics show that deportations have increased dramatically from 189,000 in 2001 to 387,000 in 2009. Much of the increase results from deportations of people who haven't committed serious crimes, according to TRAC.

This year, however, that trend took a sharp turn, according to an Aug. 12 TRAC report.

The number of criminal immigrants removed by ICE "climbed to an all-time high," the report said. In fiscal 2010, which began Oct. 1, "The removal pace of criminal aliens ... is fully 60% higher than in the last year of the Bush administration, and at least a third (37%) higher than in the first year of the Obama administration."

Jan Brewer still has a job :(

but Raul Grijalva looks to keep his job too. :)

Arizona election results

Raul Grijalva has guts and I hope he keeps his lead when all votes are counted.







U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) talks about Immigration Reform and Indigenous people's rights. Also about the need to recognize the presence and the rights of the Spanish-speaking Native peoples living in the U.S. as undocumented immigrants, and the racist attacks of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona who is supported by DHS Janet Napolitano:



"Desperation is a horrible devil."

- Raul Grijalva

Good for Raul!! I hope that he keeps up the good fight.

Have to post about this.

Got an email today from my oldest grand daughter who will turn 18 in July. her Mom brought home a voter registration card for her to keep on her dresser until she can fill it out and send it in plus booklets about voting rights, etc.

Haley says she is really excited to be able to vote soon so that she can help get rid of "people like that AZ govenor that hates immigrants. Great Grandpa was an immigrant!"

You GO, Haley!!!

Study: Latinos abandoning Arizona

MEXICO CITY — A new study suggests there may be 100,000 fewer Latinos in Arizona than there were before the debate over the state's tough new immigration law earlier this year.BBVA Bancomer Research, which did the study, worked with figures from the U.S. Current Population Survey. The study says the decline could be due to a new law that would allow police to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally, which partly took effect in July. It may also be due to Arizona's difficult economic situation.

The study also cites Mexican government figures as saying 23,380 Mexicans returned from Arizona to Mexico between June and September.

U.S. census figures from 2008 say about 30 percent of people living in Arizona are Latino, or about 1.9 million.

Panelists: Arizona SB 1070 has had profound impact on Native Americans

since the bill became law, racism has become legitimized, and violence against Native peoples "is more blatant than ever." Recently, "tribal members out in the desert chopping wood have been handcuffed and beaten because they didn't have any identification on them," he said. Although the people were on their tribal land, he noted, "somehow the border patrol saw this as a legitimate way to detain people and abuse people violently."

Makes me sick to my stomach. Thia has to be stopped. These are NATIVE Americans!

is this happening here in az? i live here and watch the news daily.. ive heard of no such thing. i also have many native american friends that well most of them like the seperation of themselfs not being clumped in. i dont care for the law much but there are alot of untruths flying around about it.

The article is by Native American spokespeople and stems from a panel of Native Americans as part of a discussion among Native activist leaders. It isn't from a news broadcast depicting one specific news event.

Now, I do remember that Gov. Brewer did take back her initial statements about headless bodies in the desert due to criminal Latino immigrants a couple of months back. That seemed to be a rumor and entirely false. Good she cleared that up.

yes it is good she cleared that up and im thinking the squeeky wheel is the one thats gets heard an that wheel is only a part of a group of wheels.

From the Economist

After SB1070
Adios Arizona

Lots of people are leaving

Nov 25th 2010

ARIZONA has changed a lot since April, when the state passed a tough new law against illegal immigrants. Known as SB1070, and controversial both because it could lead to discrimination against Latinos and because it usurps a federal prerogative, the law has not fully taken effect, and perhaps never will. A federal judge suspended parts of SB1070 in July, and it is now in an appeals court in San Francisco. But life has changed nonetheless.

In downtown Phoenix, usually a tidy and dull place, neo-Nazi supporters of the law recently confronted pro-immigrant demonstrators, and police had to spray tear gas. There are fewer concerts in the state because hundreds of singers and bands have joined in a boycott, called “The Sound Strike”. Business is also down sharply in the state’s convention industry. The Centre for American Progress, a think-tank based in Washington, DC, reckons Arizona has lost $217m in spending by conference visitors and $388m in economic output from cancellations and booking declines in this and the next two years.

Of course the law has had the biggest effect on immigrants, both legal and illegal, and Latinos generally. Researchers at BBVA Bancomer, a Mexican bank, this month estimated that 100,000 Hispanics, mostly of Mexican descent, have already left Arizona, for Mexico or for other states, because of SB1070. This means a lot of upheaval for families and individuals, and for Arizona’s economy. Ethnic Mexicans, whether native or immigrant, are younger on average than Anglos, reducing the average age of greying Arizona’s population. And immigrants pay more in taxes than they send to Mexico in remittances. Above all, they tend to have jobs—on construction sites, in hotels and homes—that do not replace but complement American jobs, according to BBVA Bancomer. A permanent decline in the immigrant population could thus destroy many more jobs than just those of the immigrants.

But Arizonans seem to regard these costs as acceptable, given that most of them continue to support SB1070. This month they re-elected Jan Brewer, the Republican governor who signed the law and was known for little else. Russell Pearce, the author of SB1070, has been chosen as the next president of the state Senate. He wants to follow up with more in the same vein.

gawd i dont like this thread... az is my home and i love it.. i dont always like what the gov. does here.. but there is so much more to this state that i will not boycot.. also there are still alot of unthuths about this..

Hey Cody, I am a bit confused about your statement. Do you feel the things we posted are untruths?

no i think some of the media has cause some untruths to be stated and repeated as truth..

Really cause your Governor was very clear about what she was lying about. Do you mean her lies about mexicans and how we are running around cutting heads off and leaving them in Arizona deserts?

Or this lie?

yes our government here is messed up.. lack of eductation yes.. i am saying alot of the stories have been blown way out of perportion then discribed in the media as such.. and yes there are many horiable truths also..
az is not as bad as alot precieve it to be and alot of the same things happen in the other "boarder states" .. not just az..
i am not a hater by anymeans.. but if you want to come to the states from canada,russia mexico or anywhere else please take the legal steps to do so..
i am aware its difficult for latinos here when they are pulled over out of random because they have the "look" at the same time i feel we need to get a grip on the influx of people blue eyed or brown eyed that come here esp. to suthern az. we are already a "broke" state and have no way to tax illeagles for servces rendered .. medical.. housing..ect..
as a whole this is an awsome state there would be no reason for the words boycot az if so many people didnt love it here and want to live here. its is painful when i see the words boycot az. yes we need help with many issues as do may states.

Do you realize the Governor of your state tried to pass a law that started racial profiling??

Have you really read the whole thread?

Do you think your state is broke cause of all the undocumented (not illegal) people in it? Could it be cause we had W as a president for 8 years???

Do you really think they are gonna pull you over and ask for verification of your race? What is the look??

Cause lemme tell you Cody Az is full of "that look" you have Native Americans, Chicanos who have been there longer than most of the white people there who will be harrased and tagged as having "that look" and they will be pulled over WAYYYYYYYYYYY before a Canadian, Chinese, or Russian undocumented worker.

I am gonna be honest I am a tiny bit offended by your term "that look" what does that mean?

What "look" does one have when one is of Latino Heritage?

Your Governor is a racist pig who tried to pass a law that would of made racial profiling legal.

If you can't see how gross that is then that is because your white skin allows you to have the safety of having that never happen.

i know all this first hand... and all i can say is "think" and "say" what you will i love my state and always will...
i will never be able to get my point across az is beautiful an i will not take other opinoins as personal but treat them as i do our local government.. shrug my shoulder and walk out wishing there werent so many haters in the world.

You can accuse me of being a hater all you want. It's fact, the people that were elected to run your beautiful racist state are and would pass racial profiling laws if you let them. A LOT of people (whites) backed this decision because "people with that look" were taking over their jobs, their women, their lands blah blah blah.

No one is telling you not to love the racist state you live in, you can love it and support it all you want, as I said your white skin gives you that security and freedom to do so. What I will never grasp is how a queer a part of the minority can shrug their shoulder off to the racial bullshit in the very place they live...

I would still like to know what a member of my online community considers to be "that look"

Cause I bet it has nothing to do with sunshine and lollipops or anything positive.

i am a member on this comunity like it or not. and even though im lt brn hair blue eyed i am 1/2 native american.. i live in az and i love it.. i vote to try to change things im not comfertable with.. i do not bash others states or there people.
as far as "the look" i mean the beautiful hispanic and native americans that make up this state.. yes its tuff because the "look" is like alot of the illeagles here. if there was some other way to identfy im sure it would be used.
i was not acusing any one person of being a hater sorry if anyone took it that way... i was only stating i wish it didnt exist.
an excuse us for being to broke to suport all comers

I don't even know what to say about your statements that are so filled with underlined racist issues.

WE ARE NOT ILLEGALS.. UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS.

How the hell would you suggest you differentiate between a native Latino or one who just got there yesterday?

No one is a hater who has decided to boycott your racist state, what we are is attempting to let your dislike for this kind of gross profiling be shown. Just remember these same people who don't want us here are the same people who don't like ANY KIND of queer.

I still think it bo be gross how you describe my people by saying "that look"

i dont like this thread because i do take it personal.. and everytime i post in here i am bashed because i live here and i love my home and my state.. i do wonder how other states would handle the exact problem we have.. so i come in here to read.. but i no longer will post in here either..

No one is bashing you Cody, you came to a thread that was started to discuss the bullshit that was going on at the time politically.

First they pass the Birther legislation. Now, Governor Brewer just signed SB 1070, the "Papers Please" law. Now any brown person in AZ can be stopped at any time by any cop and forced to prove that they are in the country legally. State officials claim that they won't profile, but I'm seriously doubting that the police are going to go around asking white folks to produce papers.

Polls show that 70% of residents support SB1070.

What has happened what is happening is fact, if Ohio did the same thing I would be just as adamant about not giving them my money.

I will NOT support anything that treats humans worse than animals and THAT is what your State's Government did, they painted a big ol' target on anyone who has what you call

"that look"

to borrow a phrase:
the personal IS political.

You *do* live in a physically beautiful state which is full of good people AND racist politicians and politics.

There are undocumented immigrants living in every state in this country, doing jobs that millions of unemployed "legal" citizens have no interest in, trying to build a life that is safe for themselves and their families.

Undocumented immigrants do NOT receive free housing. They do NOT receive free medical care. They are NOT taking jobs other people want. They are NOT negatively impacting the state of our public education systems. These are myths, very dangerous myths that allow people, like your state's politicians to pass very dangerous legislation with truly dire consequences - not just for anyone who looks non-white in Arizona, but for all non-white people in this country AND more broadly for our society as a whole.

This country IS a giant mess: economically, socially and politically - and none of the blame for that mess can be laid at the feet of immigrants (documented or undocumented); regardless of how convenient a scape goat they may be.

Arizona is a state I would love to explore, as a tourist; it is indeed full of natural beauty.
However, I will not be spending my dollars there while this legislation continues to exist.
I will feel the same way about Florida or Texas or any other state that tries to/and or successfully implements laws that are hateful, racist and create enormous divisions among us.

It is important, to me, that I am an educated voter, active politically and a conscious consumer.

Arizona citizens with the right to vote can help to reverse these horrible laws; I hope they do.