Condoleezza Rice Breaks With Right Wing And Says We Should Be For ‘Welcoming’ Immigrants
Condoleezza Rice Breaks With Right Wing And Says We Should Be For ‘Welcoming’ Immigrants
Last Sunday, on a trip to Sacramento, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice briefly praised the nation’s history of welcoming immigrants, saying that it’s a tradition that should be preserved:
“Our national myth is the log cabin. That you can come from humble circumstances and do great things. That’s what has brought immigrants to this country for years. We’ve got to keep welcoming these people.”
A few months ago, Rice expressed deep regret about not being able to pass comprehensive immigration reform while her boss, President George W. Bush, was in office:
“We need immigration reform. I don’t care if it’s for the person who crawls across the desert to earn $5 an hour, or for Sergey Brin, who came here from Russia and founded Google. As a country, we can’t have people living in the shadows. It’s just wrong. It’s not only ineffective, it’s wrong.”
Rice’s comments are a much-needed departure from the Bush administration’s generally unwelcoming immigration enforcement tactics that drove undocumented immigrants deeper underground and contributed to the current atmosphere of hate, hostility and ethnic intimidation towards immigrants, Latinos, and other foreign minorities living in the US. While the Bush administration did advocate for comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented population, it implemented oppressive immigration enforcement measures to win the public’s support for broader reform. And when the immigration reform bill failed in 2007, the administration’s brutal enforcement tactics continued. In fact, they escalated.
In late 2008, Peter Markowitz, professor of law at the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York, explained:
“Something really shifted in the Bush Administration once it realized comprehensive immigration reform was not going to pass on its watch…When they saw the public policy battle was lost, they moved instead to public relations. The strategy now is to shore up the Republican base by demonstrating a big, flashy show of force.”
The Bush administration did a good job of riling up its right wing base, but it didn’t win itself any new votes. Instead, Bush left immigrants and Latinos with a situation in which hate crimes against them are increasing, racial profiling is soaring, and dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric continues to dominate the airwaves. Bush may have won the hearts and minds of right-wingers, but Latino and immigrant voters overwhelmingly turned against the Republican party in the November 2008 elections. And while several members of the GOP are now trying to clean up their party’s rhetoric, ultimately its actions will speak louder than its words.
35 Responses to “Condoleezza Rice Breaks With Right Wing And Says We Should Be For ‘Welcoming’ Immigrants”
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From the article:
“While the Bush administration did advocate for comprehensive immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented population….”
I can sum up in 1 word what the author took 8 words to say: Amnesty. Also, the “undocumented population” are called illegal immigrants or illegal aliens.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:57 pmGreat piece. It’s good to see her being a spokesperson for this.
An absurd percentage of Republicans actually support immigration reform- check out the latest polling:
http://www.AmericasVoiceOnline.org/GOPVoters
Time for the GOP to change its tune.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:58 pmI think it’s great that Ms. Rice is speaking out for this cause. It’s so important and, as Jackie pointed out, has support from both sides of the aisle. Finally a Republican who will speak strongly on it! Thanks, Andrea!
July 15th, 2009 at 3:09 pmSome great quotes there. I’m definitely spreading this around…
July 15th, 2009 at 3:10 pmThis is the type of coalitions we need to start building. People from both sides of the aisle that understand that we need to reform the US Immigration laws in order to have our American Dream. We need to invest now to enjoy the benefits in the future. We need to continue building our middle class that is what makes the United States every day stronger and stronger.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:20 pmIt’s refreshing to hear that politicians can set party politics aside and really get workin’ on issues that affect our country…if only others on the right could follow suit and stop blaming immigrants for every bad thing that happens.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:28 pmRice is another intellectual without any basic principles. So, now she is going along just to get along with the Democrats who have no fidelity to the Rule fo Law, only power.
Notice how this sophomoric essay makes no distincition between illegal, criminal, aliens and legal immigrants.
Yes, the Nation needs a revision in the 1965 Immigration Act, the 1986 Amnesty and the 1996 Federal Immigration Act so the process of legal immigration is fair and equatible.
Amnesty for line-jumpers, murders, rapists, identity thieves, child molester and gang members—Never.
I recemtly read a very good essay, by an Hispanic naturalized citizen, who argued against counting illegal aliens in the up-coming census. He argued that counting illegal aliens, especially illegal Hispanics, in states such a California, Florida and Texas, damaged the representation of legal Hispanic Americans in states such as Indian; this, because the allocation/redistribution of seats in the Federal House of Representatives would see Indiana, and other states so situated, lose seats as a result. His argument was based on the concept and issue of fairness, a reading of past civil right legislation, as well as, the concept of one man-one which is encompasses the those same civil rights enactments.
So, in closing, the sophomoric essay about Rice is just another piece of rather bad propaganda.
Andrea Nill, a name says a lot, do you grasp the concepts such as— The Rule of Law and One man One vote?
July 15th, 2009 at 3:41 pmRice is another intellectual without any basic principles. So, now she is going along just to get along with the Democrats who have no fidelity to the Rule of Law, only power.
Notice how this sophomoric essay makes no distincition between illegal, criminal, aliens and legal immigrants.
Yes, the Nation needs a revision in the 1965 Immigration Act, the 1986 Amnesty and the 1996 Federal Immigration Act so the process of legal immigration is fair and equatible.
Amnesty for line-jumpers, murders, rapists, identity thieves, child molester and gang members—Never.
I recemtly read a very good essay, by an Hispanic naturalized citizen, who argued against counting illegal aliens in the up-coming census. He argued that counting illegal aliens, especially illegal Hispanics, in states such a California, Florida and Texas, damaged the representation of legal Hispanic Americans in states such as Indian; this, because the allocation/redistribution of seats in the Federal House of Representatives would see Indiana, and other states so situated, lose seats as a result. His argument was based on the concept and issue of fairness, a reading of past civil right legislation, as well as, the concept of one man-one which is encompasses the those same civil rights enactments.
So, in closing, the sophomoric essay about Rice is just another piece of rather bad propaganda.
Andrea Nill, a name says a lot, do you grasp the concepts such as— The Rule of Law and One man One vote?
July 15th, 2009 at 3:42 pmColin Powell and now Condoleezza Rice have come out of the closet beating the drum for amnesty for illegal aliens. President George W. Bush really knew how to pick em.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:45 pmComprehensive Immigration Reform including a pathway to citizenship – is political smart, morally right, and economically sound. So why aren’t all the Republican leaders on board? Its crazy.
Condoleezza Rice seems to be one of the few leaders in the republican party who wants to win more then just primaries.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:48 pmMy brother, who is a left winger, always claimed Rice was an airhead.
It looks like I have to begrudgingly admit that he was correct.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:06 pmPolly:
Do you really believe that bipartisan crap or are you just engaging in spin?
Anyone who has followed this issue knows that the open-borders position is supported by both elements of the left and right.
The right-wingers who support open-borders policies tend to be the sweatshop interests as well as members of the ivory tower elite.
Rice fits smack dab into that category.
There is nothing new or unique about this. Rice is part of the same coalition of left and right wing elitists that have always advocated this morally and intellectually banrkupt policy.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:09 pmjackie:
Forget the propaganda. So America’s Voice, which is an open borders extremist organization, publishes a push poll that shows, surprise, that the public supports its extremist agenda.
Politicians up for re-election don’t believe such lies, because they know that they don’t get elected based on what a phony populace believes, they get elected based on what the actual populace believes.
Lie all you want, you open borders wackos, you aren’t going to see your extremist agenda ever see the light of day.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:12 pm“I think it’s great that Ms. Rice is speaking out for this cause. It’s so important and, as Jackie pointed out, has support from both sides of the aisle.”
Are you also aware that this cause also has OPPOSITION from both sides of the aisle?
Were you aware that “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” was killed in the Senate in 2007 by a coalition of Republicans plus a substantial number of moderate Democrats, roughly ten as I recall?
Look, the open-borders lobby has tried to create this false impression for years that the public supports its agenda.
If professional lobbyists have been unable to succeed in getting politicians to believe those likes, what makes you guys think you can?
Of course, maybe you ARE professional lobbyists and figure, what the heck, let’s throw our lies out everywhere we can just in case there is anywhere they will stick.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:16 pmNot only do anti-migrant Republicans constantly lose elections, many within their own party disagree with them and actually see the benefit of fixing the U.S.’s broken migration system.
—
P.S. As usual the nativist commenters in this thread, John and Larry Brown, clearly show that all they do online is go from forum to forum spreading their misinformation.
July 15th, 2009 at 4:58 pmLets pass immigration reform this year! :D
It makes sense.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:02 pmReally Lance? It’s interesting how you label an organization extremist without backing it up in any fashion. Would you care to enlight us on your views and how they are not extremist?
I would imagine from you’re tone that you believe in “attrition through enforcement” which is easily one of the most extreme policy solutions I’ve ever come across that almost all nativist organizations support. Attrition basically acknowledges that it is impossible to deport millions of people, so the solution, instead, is to make them so miserable they leave on their own.
Please rather than tear down others, give solutions.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:02 pmRice is a globalist, Open Borders fool. Even though roughly 80% of the American people want enforcement of the Fed. Immigration laws on the books, she like other Bushies is still pushing Amnesty down our throats. Amnesty is one of the few issues that the power elite will never succeed in ramming thru. Pols are scared crapless when they are faced with being thrown out of office for voting for such idiocy, so even though the Socialists have control of the House, Senate and White House, they aren’t going to get their beloved Amnesty.
The reason is simple. Americans are generous to a fault, but they aren’t stupid. “Fool me once…” applies to Amnesty. We were fooled once when Reagan foolishly signed Simpson-Mazzoli, the Act that really opened the flood gates. Amnesties don’t work. They only beget more Invaders, and that’s what illegal aliens are–Invaders!
Rice may as well be a La Raza/MALDEF member, because her policy on Amnesty isn’t any different from what the reconquistas are desiring. Thankfully, none of them are going to get their wish. The country instead is going the other way!
July 15th, 2009 at 5:04 pmPlease sign Petition:
July 15th, 2009 at 5:07 pmhttp://www.numbersusa.com/petition?ID=4&jid=178962&lid=9&rid=698&tid=15795
This is completely innaccurate. It’s always easier to organize against something than for something, as can be seen in the health care debate, the energy debate, any political debate, you name it. It wasn’t just nativist that opposed CIR, but pro-migrant advocates as well, who thought CIR was too punitive.
If nativist positions are so popular, then why did so many nativist politicians lose elections in 2008? We can both play this game of claiming that the U.S. citizen public is on our side.
Ultimately though, what’s going to make the difference is offering real solutions to these problems. Not terrorist solutions like “attrition through enforcement” which seems to be the only policy innovation that nativist politicians have.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:07 pmOh great,
The NumbersUSA commenters are now here. Do any of you have anything better to do than spread your misinformation everywhere? Do you get paid to comment on these forums?
As I’ve said multiple times in this thread, NumbersUSA supports the terrorist policy of “attrition through enforcement” and does not deserve to be considered a legitimate voice in the U.S. migration policy debate.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:10 pmEven Roy Beck has admitted, in public, that numbersUSA is filled with racists that are not into restricting immigration as much as they are into not liking “the other”. Clearly, John, Larry, Lance Sjorgen and the rest of the mass deportation crowd are willing to do more damage to our country by opposing immigration reform that is good for local, state and national tax coffers and is supported by clear majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans in poll after poll. Look at NYT/ABC polls, CBS/WaPo polls, etc.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:19 pmBravo Condoleeza!
““We need immigration reform. I don’t care if it’s for the person who crawls across the desert to earn $5 an hour, or for Sergey Brin, who came here from Russia and founded Google. As a country, we can’t have people living in the shadows. It’s just wrong. It’s not only ineffective, it’s wrong.”
I agree!!
July 15th, 2009 at 5:30 pmI love how people paint this as black and white. “Oh, if we have immigration reform, we’re just opening up the borders and taking jobs away from Americans!” Because we all know, it’d be impossible to reform immigration, work on giving illegal immigrants who deserve a shot and are otherwise law abiding people a chance to become legal or to leave, and to secure the borders.
I see it as that simple. The US needs immigration reform. Too many people are in the shadows. We paint ourselves as the best nation in the world then seem surprised when people do anything to come here for a better life. Its about time we lived up to our reputation of freedom and opportunity, secure our borders, and make immigration viable in this country. We need to support the children of immigrants who did nothing but follow their parents. We need to see that those with good moral and mental character stay, and those are are otherwise against society punished. Otherwise, we need to stop pretending we’re that special.
July 15th, 2009 at 5:48 pmI keep hearing that
First of all why do they call it reform?? we have all the laws in place to manage the situation.. we just won’t enforce them! I have been unemployed for almost 22 months now but all I see are immigrants working for nothing EVERYWHERE here in Florida.
We need less immigrants..so why do you limo liberals want to stuff illegals down my throat.. because it makes you feel good? Most of you jerks will never have to deal with the disrupting effects of massive immigration. Our systems are already stretched to the limit..states are crashing under the massive weight of millions of uneducated labors. Our environment is is overwhelmed by the millions of new resource users. I thought you LIBs cared about the environment??? Whats wrong with you people.. are you crazy? EVERYONE should abide by the law..thats why we have it!
July 15th, 2009 at 6:49 pmYou know, I voted for Bush, once. My only comment on Ms. Rice’s suggestion on allowing illegal immigration is–when will the Bush people finally go away? Don’t they understand, that despite the jolly Rush Limbaugh, a huge number of conservatives, like myself, DON’T WANT TO HEAR FROM THEM ANYMORE!!
July 15th, 2009 at 8:43 pmI’m compelled to make a last point. Forgive me, because I know a large number of posters will already know what I’m about to say. We are in an economic meltdown. The U.S. taxpaying citizenry has been sold out by Wall Street, the elite, and our political leaders. There isn’t even a debate about that. Yet, YET!!, people like Condoleezza Rice, Charles Schumer, Lindsay Graham, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Mayor Bloomberg, Ted Kennedy and company, Orin Hatch–oh, Lord, why go on, the whole rotten political establishment WANTS TO CONTINUE ALLOWING BOTH MASSIVE LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Is there any other word for these people but TRAITORS!! Traitors to the American citizenry. If there is, let me know what it is–please.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:49 pmIn 1986, President Reagan signed bipartisan legislation billed as a “one-time only” amnesty for an estimated 1.5 million illegal aliens [actual number given amnesty: 4.3 million]. The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) included promises of fines for employers of illegal workers and promises of stepped-up border security.
What happened? Washington delivered on the amnesty. An overwhelmed Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)—under political pressure from Coongress—sped through and approved 4.3 million applications, many fraudulent. What about the employer sanctions? Over time they were forgotten.
How many times has the U.S. given amnesty to illegal aliens? Seven times since 1986. Each time amnesty is given, the rate of continued illegal immigration rises. The welfare safety net for illegal aliens costs U.S. taxpayers, according to the Edwin Rubenstein Report of 2008, a whopping $346 billion annually across 15 federal agencies. Amnesty-with-promises-of-future-enforcement has been tried and has failed time after time.
Controlling immigration is not only the moral thing to do; it is mandated by our Constitution. Our government must constitutionally ensure the financial security of its citizens and protect our borders from invasion. Regulating immigration to serve the needs of our most deserving citizens is the only ethical choice.
Every public official who enables this illegal alien invasion is just as guilty as those who are here illegally. Neither has any respect for our laws, nor for our citizens. No Amnesty ever again!
July 15th, 2009 at 9:40 pmRice was un-qualified to be the Secretary of State. Actually she is un-qualified to be the local librarian. She demonstrated that with her embrace of the incredibly stupid Bush foreign policy.
She is just as stupid on immigration reform. Her arguments rely on emotions and not rational thought. She is a solid reason the Republicans lost in 2008. This article is transparently a pro immigration propaganda piece.
Even worse is a link that jackie put up in a previous post. Some garbage about how enforcment policies hurt Republicans. Nonsense. My guess is that if you looked closely at that web site you would find the US Chamber of Commerce supporting it.
Illegal means illegal. Deport every damn one of them.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:00 pmFirst of all, Bobby, “illegal” is not a noun, so please do not dehumanize millions of people people by referring to them as “illegals”. Secondly, you speak disparigingly of liberals, but do you not notice you’re commenting on a blog run by the Center for American Progress? Emphasis on progress, that is “progressive”?
So, you’re blaming migrants for state budget crises, the environment, the economy, anything else you’d like to blame unauthorized migrants for Bobby? Why not education and health? I think it’s hilarious how nativists like yourself like to blame every problem on unauthorized migrants. If only it were that simple. Each of these major problems that you like to blame migrants for, Bobby, are extremely complex and reforming migration is, at most, peripheral to solving all of them. Scapegoating migrants might work on most people incapable of critical thinking but it doesn’t work on me.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:40 amWhoops, I just noticed the first quote about illegals was written by big clown hunter. That comment is directed at that person.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:41 amThe notion that we should evict all immigrants or stop immigration is a great example of self-defeating xenophobia. I think history has proven many times over that xenophobia simply leads to more problem… one of the freshest being World War 2, where our desire to keep immigrants out and stay away from the rest of the world kept America from getting involved in the war until Pearl Harbor was attacked, and having to fight a massive retaliation campaign. On the other hand, if America had helped from the beginning, neither the Nazis nor the Imperialist Japanese would have gained a fraction of the power they did.
America is founded on immigration, the influx of new ideas and concepts. Each of those immigrants who gains citizenship is American. You can’t simply divide the two and pretend there is some authentic American group (f there was, its the Native Americans anyway).
Americas failings today aren’t the fault of recent immigrants by any means. In fact, its companies like Google, an American company founded by a foreigner, that are succeeding now, regardless of a economic downturn. In truth, its American capitalistic greed that’s a problem. Why bother hiring an American for minimum wage and have to offer them required benefits when you can hire a bunch of undocumented immigrants for half the price, if even? You wanna be mad at someone? Be mad at everyone who’s more concerned with their pocket then their country.
Immigration made this country great. And today’s immigration laws are designed to screw people over. I know a family who got notified that their visa expired 3 months after it happened, and when they appealed, it was somehow their fault. The notion of getting rid of immigrants and the laws designed to keep America apart are the real travesties. True citizens should embrace those who want to be a part of America as part of the solution, not the problem. Yes, the laws should be enforced, but a set of laws should make sense too.
July 16th, 2009 at 12:58 amIt’s good to see Rice supporting immigration reform. The system is broken and has been preventing the country from bringing in talent and helping to grow talent in this country. Hopefully, Rice can help gather more Republican support to pass bills such as the DREAM Act. The politicians in this country are not willing to compromise, and this prevents the government from getting solutions. Other government officials should follow Rice and do what is the right thing for this country so young people can prosper.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:48 am#32 No Easy Answers, I think you are misinterpreting why so many American citizens are against illegal immigration. First of all, there probably are bigots among them. Let’s get that out of the way immediately. However, bigotry, xenophobia, and all of the other complaints so many liberals have isn’t the problem. That’s right. IT ISN’T THE PROBLEM. The whole danger with illegal immigration is that it is no different from any other policy that the government allows to get out of control. It leads to chaos. It leads to criminal activity, unaccountability, exploitation, makes the citizenries voice void, and unimportant, and in fact, makes U.S. laws, that the citizenry has seen fit to establish, FOR THEIR BENEFIT, VOID. Understand that last phrase. The citizenry has made immigration laws FOR THEIR BENEFIT. Not for the benefit of illegal alien foreign nationals, not to benefit some church(s), not to benefit the local chamber of commerce, not to allow politicians to manipulate policy with, BUT FOR THE BENEFIT OF AMERICANS. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION DOES NOT TAKE THE AMERICAN CITIZENRIES CONCERNS INTO CONSIDERATION. That is why it’s WRONG. It makes the citizenries voice is null and void. Every other issue should be second, to the voice of the American citizen.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:41 am@Bobby: Could you explain how it makes the citizens voice null? How it doesn’t take into account consideration of the US citizen? I’m not sure I follow you at all.
And I do strongly disagree that the citizens voice should be first. In fact, the Constitution was setup to make sure that majority voices couldn’t simply overrule minority voices.
As for crime and violence, there is as much data supporting crimes committed by undocumented immigrants as their is for gun owners. The notion that we should villianize one group for the actions of the few is preposterous. The vast majority of undocumented immigrants are not violent, nor have any criminal intentions, and are no different the the common citizen. You’re right in that it leads to exploitation, but its exploitation of the undocumented immigrants, who have to work, and so any American who’ll offer them a job sounds good. Its not the citizens who are being exploited by this.
But I still don’t understand why you think it makes our voices null. In fact, I can’t think of any reason. Its not like all other laws are being put on hold to work on this one… we’re not putting aside the Constitution and federal government to legalize immigrants.
Illegal immigration is as much against “the benefit of Americans” as violations of traffic law, gun abuse, theft, etc. Except, most undocumented immigrants haven’t hurt anyone, and never will. Most just want to make a good life for their family, kids, the same as all other humans, and are taking the desperate route to do it, as ANY OF US would. When down to the write, any family man would take desperate measures to protect and provide for his family, whether it means forgoing their ego, working a crappy job, or pretty much anything that doesn’t hurt someone else. That’s just what’s happening here. We just get to sit on our high horses and pretend that we can’t relate when in truth, many of us have probably been in similar situations.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:54 am