Senator Marco Rubio is no Senator Mel Martinez.
After all, Rubio is the Tea Party darling that has been beating the anti-immigrant drum for several months now. On the other hand, Mel Martinez was a champion for pro-immigration policies and Latino-related issues.
The Trojan Horse trick comes from a mythological story about Greeks tricking the Trojans in the City of Troy to end a conflict. The Greeks needed to get into the Trojan community so they built a huge wooden horse and hid a Greek force of 30 men and spies inside of it. Later that night, the Greek army was able to enter and destroy the city of Troy, which eventually ended the war.
While the Trojan Horse may be a mere mythological story, in reality we see Rubio effectively being the trick that the Republican Party uses against Latinos. Rubio supported Arizona's harsh anti-immigrant law, he does not support the DREAM Act, in essence punishing children for the sins of their father, and now he fully supports Texas Republican Congressman Lamar Smith's national e-verify program. The United States has been pushing enforcement-only policies for over a decade now, and it has met all operational goals of the Bush Fence Act of 2006, which is why we believe it is time to seek legal immigration reform.
In light of the Presidential elections, I see the Tea Party Republicans wanting to use Rubio as a tool that contradicts their own economic principles. The Tea Party was supposed to be for less government, less taxes, and government entitlement reform; however, early on in their movement, they have allowed anti-immigrant politicians their microphone to preach the "anti-Latino and anti-immigrant message." Republicans have forgotten that the GOP has indeed supported immigration amnesty for years under the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA). Far right extremists are accusing President Obama of giving amnesty to immigrants, when he merely wants to focus on deporting the real criminal element of the undocumented first. It shows good stewardship of our taxpayer money to focus on the real criminal element because it is moronic to waste millions of dollars to detain farm workers, fast food workers and nannies.
With the mounting debt crisis, it makes sense to focus on dangerous criminals first, which would save millions in taxpayer dollars. Congressman Smith was the chief architect of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), where 287(g) language was inserted that effectively created bureaucracies that are wasting millions of our taxpayer dollars, and a monster like Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona. According to a report by the Department of Homeland Security, the 287(g) resources have not been focused on undocumented immigrants who pose the greatest risk. Officers have not been trained or supervised properly, and costs have increased from $5 million in 2006 to $55 million in 2010 -- this shows us that Smith's Act does not work. The results of IIRIRA have been very poor, and it appears we might be headed towards the same ideas from the Neanderthal Age.
Under the unique Cuban amnesty program, Cuban immigrants can receive at least one year of government entitlements once their foot touches American soil. Since the Tea Party claims to be champions of government entitlement reform, it will simply be a matter of time before they want to do away with the CAA and their government entitlements, too. The Tequila Party supports the CAA, however, we also believe it is just as important to address the other immigrants who are living here in the shadows of society. We know the immigration system is broken so we need to fix it by implementing comprehensive legal immigration reform, but without the government entitlements offered to Cuban immigrants. I believe Americans can still afford to give newly arrived Cuban immigrants their benefits, but understand that we cannot give the millions who are living in the shadows the same.
Rubio's main Latino constituency in Florida are of Cuban descent, therefore we believe he doesn't understand, feel or hear the outcry experienced by Mexicans and other Latin groups who do not receive the privilege of automatic citizenship given to Puerto Ricans, or to Cuban immigrants. Instead, he chooses to support unreasonable enforcement-only policies with Senator Jim DeMint and Congressman Smith.
In the last year, we have witnessed anti-immigrant organizations like NumbersUSA and the Tea Party movement align themselves with Latino Republican politicians who will support their similar anti-immigrant policies. They use the Cuban community who benefit from unique amnesty to attack those of Mexican descent because Mexicans account for a significant 67% chunk of the total Latino population.
The actions of Tea Party members and anti-immigrant GOP politicians are clear when they implement legislative bills to curb future Mexican-American voters. Republicans have been attacking the Constitution via the 14th Amendment because they don't believe all babies born on American soil are citizens anymore. This is unfortunate because we believe immigrants and children born of immigrants are the new taxpayers that will sustain the future American economy.
The Tea Party Republicans may try to trick Latinos using politicians like Rubio with their continued efforts in attacking our rights by going after the largest segment of the entire Latino population (or those of Mexican descent); however, in the end what is to say that these same Tea Party anti-immigrant Republicans will not try to eliminate the Cuban Adjustment Act and their government entitlements, too? Do the 14th Amendment changes being proposed by extremists affect the Cuban immigrant community, too?
Indeed, within the last decade the Republican Party has transformed since 2000 when they used to fight to keep Elian Gonzales as Latinos galvanized themselves in Florida. Now we see the GOP using Marco Rubio as a Trojan Horse today to deport the "Mexican equivalents" to Elian Gonzales, and this will only serve to galvanize Latinos in the entire southwest against Republicans during the 2012 election cycle.
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